Glenwood girls dominate at state qualifier; boys third

A year ago, the Glenwood girls track team qualified in 13 events but didn’t score a single point at the Iowa State Track Meet.

With a school-record 16 event qualifiers this year after Friday’s state qualifying meet at Carroll – where the Rams won nine events and the regional title – needless to say, a scoreless finish on the blue oval at Drake this year appears unlikely.

Glenwood topped a competitive field in Carroll with 182 points. In all the Rams punched 17 tickets to state – Elle Scarborough and Audrey Arnold finished first and second in the 100-meter hurdles to both earn spots and Sydney Bierman qualified in both the shot and discus.

Atlantic’s girls were a distant second with 108 points. The Glenwood boys placed third in the team standings and qualified for state in seven events at the district meet.

The Iowa State Track and Field Championships gets underway Thursday morning in Des Moines and run through Saturday evening. Class 2A and 3A competition begins at 9 a.m. Thursday at Drake.

With a school-record 17 event qualifiers, Glenwood’s meet title was a true team effort.

“It’s hard to pick out one person on this team,” said Glenwood girls coach Cory Faust. “The depth on this team is phenomenal.  We scored in every event and double scored in over half of the individual events I believe.”

Janette Schraft was again a linchpin the Glenwood girls success. The senior Iowa State recruit, who open enrolled at Glenwood last summer, won gold medals in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meter runs as well as the 400-meter hurdles at Carroll Friday. She is seeking her first class 3A medals in Des Moines after winning gold in the 400-meter hurdles, 800 and 1,500 at the Class 1A meet as a part of the East Mills squad last season.

Biermann had a great day for the Rams, setting a new personal-record in the discus and the fourth best performances in the state that day in both the shot and discus.  

Schraft, Bailey Ostrander, Marissa Ausdemore, and Audrey Arnold all qualified in four different events for the Rams.

“We’ve got some other girls who could have done that as well, but we didn’t do so due to the order of events,” Faust said.  “The girls have understood the team concept all year long and been willing to sacrifice personal recognition for the sake of the team."

Ostrander (100-meter dash), Jaeda Wilson (400) and Coryl Matheny (high jump) all punched tickets to state.
Glenwood also had a strong showing in the relays, winning the shuttle hurdle, sprint medley and 4x100-meter relays and earning state nods in the 4x800, 4x400 and 4x200-meter relays.

With all the talk of his team’s depth and dominance much of this season, Faust still hesitates to call his team “the favorite” in Des Moines.

The coach said Dubuque Wahlert and Davenport Assumption look like the top contenders, to him, to win the Class 3A team title this year. With Bishop Heelan and Pella “in the mix.”  

“We’ll need most or all of our entries to have season’s best performances and move up in their seedings, but I think this team is primed and has earned the right to do that based on the work they have put in this year,” Faust said.  “It would be a huge accomplishment to bring home a top three trophy.  We’ll need to scrap for every place and point, and control everything we can control.  I know the girls will do that.”

The Glenwood boys, who are seeking their fourth straight top 10 finish in the Class 3A standings, earned four automatic and three at-large qualifiers for state.

Christian Stanislav had a hand in three of those automatic bids after winning the 100-meter dash and running legs on state qualifying 4x100-meter and 4x200-meter relays. Stanislav was joined on second place 4x100 team with Jon Lee, Zach Vondra and Cooper Silvius. The 4x200-meter relay team of Jack Hughes, Silas Bales, Vondra and Stanislav also placed second.

Stanislav also helped earn an at-large bit as part of sprint medley relay team of Lee, Hughes and Bales that placed fifth at a tough Carroll district but whose time of 1:37.01 was among the eight fastest in the state to not place in the top two.

Vondra won the long jump with a career-best leap of 21’ 1.25 inches and also punched a ticket to state in the 200-meter dash.

The Rams’ 4x800-mete relay team of Brett Mower, Sam McIntyre, Mason Parks and Parson Covington ran a 8:22.73 to place third at Carroll but earned an at-large bid to state.

“This was a loaded district in some respects and we had a difficult time staying in the top two to get the automatic bid,” said Glenwood coach Mark Starner. “I was pleased with a lot of things and feel bad for other events that were on the outside looking in.”

One of those events was the Rams’ 4x400-meter relay. The quartet of Bales, Hughes, Mason Parks and Covington ran a 3:32.57 to place fourth at districts, just missing qualifying as an at-large team by three tenths of a second.

“We were not quite where we needed to be to get into with our hurdle events and our discus throwers really improved their performances on the day, but not enough to get in,” Starner added.

Class 3A State Qualifying Meet
Girls Team Results
    1. Glenwood, 182. 2. Atlantic, 108. 3. Humboldt, 104. 4. Creston, 98. 5. Harlan, 92. 6. Boone, 65. 7. Carroll, 62. 8. Perry, 21.

Boys Team Results
1. Humboldt, 157. 2. Atlantic 143. 3. Glenwood, 115. 3. Harlan, 115. 5. Boone, 91. 6. Carroll, 60. 7. Perry, 41. 8. Creston, 13.