Thursday marked the opening day of the Three-Day 2024 Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Webster City, South Hamilton, Roland-Story and Eagle Grove would all see athletes compete in Day 1 of the 2024 meet.
The highlight of the day came in the 2A Boys 400m Dash, as South Hamilton’s Ty Koehnk captured the state title in season-best, school-record time of 48.35 seconds. Koehnk said his energy level didn’t dip at all throughout the race.
“Coach told Kolby [Hodnefield] and I that this wasn’t a regular race and you got to go from the start and I did,” Koehnk said. “He said it would be there in the last 200 and it was there.”
Sophomore Kolby Hodnefield, who placed 5th in a personal-best time of 49.71, competed in the final heat with Koehnk. It was a moment, Koehnk said, he’d always cherish.
“The most special thing about this is competing with Kolby. We’ve been competing with each other in every meet the last half of the year, winning a championship is cool, but it’s the little moments like that one that’ll stand out in my mind.”
Hodnefield, when asked about his performance, turned the subject back to his teammate and newly crowned state champion.
“I broke our old school-record, but Ty already got it by a mile. I mean, 43.38 is just crazy,” Hodnefield said. “I’m just so proud of him and how hard he’s worked, if he had gone out the past 2 years he’d be running 48’s regularly.”
The day would start with Roland-Story’s girls shuttle hurdle relay, as they would place 10th in a time of 1:10.07 with the team of Jondle-Lucas-Scarrow-Helgeson. Webster City’s Keegan Hisler would follow up with a 15th place finish in the 3A Boys High Jump, clearing 6′ 1″. Action on the track moved to the 200m Dash preliminaries, as Roland-Story’s Kam Lande qualified for Saturday’s final with the 7th-fastest time of 25.82 seconds, a new season-best. Webster City’s Jayden Weinzetl would put together a new personal-best in the 200m Dash, placing 18th in Class 3A in a time of 22.78.
KQ-Radio athletes would score points in the afternoon, as Webster City’s Jaxon Cherry would place 6th in the 3A Boys Discus with a throw of 163′ 8″. At the same time, Eagle Grove’s Addy Jeske placed 6th in the 2A Girls Long Jump, with a mark of 16′ 9.75″, while Roland-Story’s Adalyn Sporleder placed 13th with a mark of 16′ 3.75″. Roland-Story’s 4×200 would then place 21st in the 2A Boys 4×800 in a time of 8:29.83 with the team of Kilstofte-Clark-Dahlsten-Voga.
To end the session, Eagle Grove’s Ayden Feske was 17th in the 2A Girls 100m Dash in a time of 13.12 seconds, followed by South Hamilton’s Cici Herrick placing 22nd in the 2A Girls 400m Dash in a time of 1:04.95. Webster City freshman Izzy Grossoehme would place 14th in the 3A Girls 400m Dash with a time of 1:00 even, before South Hamilton picked up their 1-5 duo of Koehnk and Hodnefield in the Boys 2A 400m Dash. Roland-Story ended the session by placing 10th in the 2A Boys Shuttle Hurdle Relay in a time of 1:02.36 with the team of Berggren-Long-Barber-Strum.
Action resumes on Friday morning, as Webster City junior Adysen Poppen competes in the Class 3A shot put, that begins at exactly 9 AM.