Rams sending 24 to state track

The Glenwood girls and boys each won the district title and combined to qualify in 24 events for this week’s Iowa State Track Meet.

At the Class 3A State Qualifying Meet in Atlantic in Thursday, the Glenwood girls won the district title with 173 points to easily out distance runner up ADM’s 121 points. The girls qualified in a school-record 14 events at the meet.
The Glenwood boys punched 10 tickets to state of their own while winning the district title over the host Trojans 160 to 151 in the team standings.

The state track meet kicks off Thursday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Class 3A events begin at 2:40 p.m.

In Atlantic, the Ram girls racked up what is believed to be a school record for points in a district meet by placing in the top three in all seven relays and having double place winners in 10 of the 12 individual events. The 173 points are believed to be a school-record for a district meet.

Glenwood girls coach Cory Faust said it feels like his team is getting hot at the right time.

“I think for the most part our girls have been able to peak for these meets at the end of the season, which shows they are mentally tough,” Faust said.  “We talk about preparing and giving your best shot all year so nothing has to change as we go from meet to meet, and especially in the post season.  I think the girls have bought into that for the most part.”  

The Glenwood girls won four events at Atlantic and punched their ticket to state in a total of nine events with top two finishes.

The top two finishers in each event earn automatic bids to state. The next eight at-large qualifiers come from the best times or distances around the state.

The Rams cleaned up in the relays, with Lauren Becker, Kate Kaufman, Danielle Hardcastle and Abby McIntyre combining to win the 4x800-meters.

Sadey Allgood, Elle Scarborough, Devon Bomer and Bailey Ostrander then combined to win the 4x200. The quartet of Ostrander, Bomer, Jaeda Wilson and Abi Schultz added a gold in the 4x100-meters.

In the sprint medley relay the Rams’ Wilson, Ostrander, Allgood and Elle Scarborough picked up a second place finish.

Emma Hughes won the 1,500-meters and placed second in the 3,000-meter to punch her tickets to state.

In the field events, the Rams’ Scarborough (discus) and Lauren Becker (high jump) both earned automatic bids with second place finishes.

Audrey Arnold added a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.

Glenwood would add to its state qualifier total when Hardcastle (high jump), Sydney Biermann (shot put), Allgood (200-meters), Becker (400-meter hurdles) and the shuttle hurdle relay team of Arnold, Marissa Ausdemore, Sami Parr and Taryn Bertini all earned at-large bids.

Entering the meet, Faust thought his team had a legitimate shot at that many state qualifiers – and maybe even a couple more with some good breaks.

“There were a few other events I thought we had a chance in that didn’t end of making it, like the distance medley and the 4x400-meter relay I thought had a really good chance, but it didn’t quite work out like I thought it would. “

Glenwood clinched eight of their 10 state bids with first or second place finishes. The top two district finishers and the eight best qualifying times from throughout the state all earn state bids.

Nate Kennedy had three of the Rams’ automatic bids all on his own, winning the 100-meters, 200-meters and 400-meters. The senior also anchored a fourth, along with Christian Stanislav, Parson Covington and Kohen Watson, in the 4x400-meter relay.

“Nate is running well and healthy and looking forward to challenging for that top spot in all of his events,” Starner said.
After a season that saw his team suffer more than their share of injuries, it Glenwood boys coach Mark Starner said it was nice to run at full strength.  

The Rams showed that strength in their relays.

“We changed up some relays,” Starner said of his adjusted lineups for the 4x100 and 4x200. “Both ran well but the 4x100 relay sealed the team title to put us up by seven points over Atlantic and came up with the upset finish to qualify for state. Atlantic was seeded ahead of and we finished three places ahead of them.”

The Rams top finish in the 4x400 would be the “exclamation point” on the evening, Starner said. The 3:24.49 was the Rams’ season-best and the fastest qualifying time in Class 3A.  

“And of all things, to beat the favored relay for Atlantic and to do it at their place with the title on the line was just special,” Starner said.  “All four ran well. Stanislav gave us a great opening leg and Parson kept us in striking range handing the baton to Watson.  Kohen closed his night surging passed Harlan and Atlantic down the home stretch to give Kennedy a five or 10 meter lead and the rest was history.”

The sprint medley relay team of Joey Saddler, Jon Lee, Vondra and Watson also picked up a first place finish added gold with a time of 1:34.02.

The 4x100-meter relay quartet of Saddler, Lee, Vondra and Jack Hughes was second with a time of 45.17.

Watson and Vondra added to the Rams’ haul by placing second in the 400-meters and the long jump, respectively. Vondra finished second in the long jump with a top leap of 19 feet, 10 inches, while Watson finished second behind Kennedy in the 400.

Kennedy (100, 200, 400 and 4x400) and Vondra (long jump, sprint medley relay, 4x200 and 4x100) this year.

Glenwood added to it’s state bid tally on Friday when Brady Weddum’s time of 22.87 in the 200-meters and the 4x200-meter relay time of 1:34.11 ended up among the  eight best times not earning automatic bids Thursday.

Girls first, boys third at H-10 meet

The Glenwood girls won its fourth title in five years and the boys took home third place honors and a new conference record at the Hawkeye 10 Conference track meet at Harlan’s Merrill Field last Monday.

The girls won four events and were runner’s up in seven more to tally 161 team points. Denison was second with 123 points and Creston third with 79.

The Glenwood boys finished in third place with 130.5 points. Atlantic was the conference champion with 152 points.

Nate Kennedy punctuated the Rams day with a new conference record and a pair of gold medals. Kennedy, who had missed the previous three weeks while nursing a hamstring injury, followed up his second place showing in the 100-meters with gold in the 200 and 400. His 400-meter time of 48.87 broke a record set by Red Oak’s Tom Dovel way back in 1973.

Like has been the case all year, said Glenwood coach Cory Faust, the deciding factor in his team’s success in winning the team title was their overall depth.

“We were able to get first, second or third in every relay, and to place two individuals in seven of the 12 open events,” Faust said.   

The Rams picked up a top individual performance from Emma Hughes in the 1,500-meters and got tops runs from Bailey Ostrander, Devon Bomer, Jaeda Wilson and Elle Scarborough in the 4x100-meter relay, Abi Schultz, Bomer, Scarborough and Ostrander in the 4x200-meter relay and Ostrander, Bomer, Allgood and Scarborough in the sprint medley relay.

“Throughout the night, we had each girls consistently step up and beyond or near their season’s best,” Faust said.  “I was really proud of the attitude and competitive nature the girls had coming off prom two night earlier, and also having several girls battling some nagging injuries as of late.  

“Maybe an average athlete let’s those things change expectations or effort, but our girls stayed focused on controlling the things they could control and giving it their best shot.”

Going into the meet, Glenwood boys coach Mark Starner thought his team could score anywhere from 110 to 117 points so the coach was pleasantly surprised by his team’s 130.5 points.

“We were very pleased with some of our performances, but know it will take a some better efforts, times and distances, to get things qualified for the state meet,” Starner said.

Starner said it was nice to see Kennedy back and get in his three races, although he did hold him out of the 4x400-meter relay for precautionary reasons.

“He felt really good, just a little sore, but that’s to be expected when he hadn’t ran competitively since the Saturday of Kansas Relays (April 20),” Starner said.

The Glenwood boys other top performance came from the sprint medley relay team of Joey Saddler, Jon Lee, Zach Vondra and Kohen Watson. They edged Council Bluffs Lewis Central 1:36.33 to 1:36.73. for gold.

Zach Vondra’s third place jump of 20 feet, four inches was a season-best.

Hawkeye 10 Conference Meet
Girls Team Results

1. Glenwood, 161. 2. Denison, 123. 3. Creston, 79. 4. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 75.5. 5. Atlantic, 72. 6. Shenandoah, 65. 7. Harlan, 45. 8. Red Oak, 38. 9. Kuemper Catholic, 37. 10. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 32.5. 11. Clarinda, 12.

Glenwood Girls Medal Winners
    100m dash – fourth place, Jaeda Wilson, 13.20.
    200m dash – second place, Sadey Allgood, 26.83.
    400m dash – second place, Wilson, 1:01.72.
    800m run – second place, Abby McIntyre, 2:29.27.
    1500m run – first place, Emma Hughes, 5:02.51.
    3000m run – second place, Hughes, 12:15.72.
    100m hurdles – third place, Audrey Arnold, 16.63.
    400m hurdles – third place, Lauren Becker, 1:10.14.
    4x100m relay – first place, Glenwood (Bailey Ostrander, Devon Bomer, Wilson and Elle Scarborough), 51.82.
    4x200m relay – first place, Glenwood (Abi Schultz, Bomer, Scarborough and Ostrander), 1:49.48.
    4x400m relay – third place, Glenwood (Becker, Allgood, Schultz and Wilson), 4:12.93.
    4x800m relay – second place, Glenwood (Lacey Jackson, Kate Kaufman, Becker and Danielle Hardcastle), 10:06.51.
    Sprint medley relay – first place, Glenwood (Ostrander, Bomer, Allgood and Scarborough), 1:54.73.
Distance medley relay – second place, Glenwood (Schultz, Allgood, Grace Presley and McIntyre), 4:32.80.
    Shuttle hurdle relay – third place, Glenwood (Sami Parr, Taryn Bertini, Marissa Ausdemore and Arnold), 1:10.38.
    High jump – second place, Becker, 5’ 1”.
    Long jump – eighth place, Emily Todd, 14’ 8”.
    Shot put – sixth place, Sydney Biermann, 35’ 6.25”.
    Discus – fifth place, Biermann, 110’ 7”.

Boys Team Results

1. Atlantic, 152. 2. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 142.5. 3. Glenwood, 130.5. 4. Harlan, 102. 5. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 74. 6. Kuemper Catholic, 40. 7. Denison, 36. 8. Shenandoah, 30. 9. Clarinda, 19. 10. Red Oak, 12. 11. Creston, 3.

Glenwood Boys Medal Winners
    100m dash – second place, Nate Kennedy, 10.86.
    200m dash – first place, Kennedy, 22.38.
    400m dash – first place, Kennedy, 48.87.
    800m run – fourth place, Parson Covington, 2:07.79.
    1600m run – third place, Mason Parks, 4:48.74.
    3200m run – fourth place, Sam McIntyre, 11:03.84.
    110m hurdles – seventh place, Cody Buresh, 17.07.
    400m hurdles – fifth place, Dillon McIntyre, 58.68.
    4x100m relay – sixth place, Glenwood (Joey Saddler, Jon Lee, Cooper Silvius and Jack Hughes), 46.55.
    4x200m relay – fifth place, Glenwood (Saddler, Hughes, Brady Weddum and Zach Vondra), 1:34.52.
    4x400m relay – third place, Glenwood (Christian Stanislav, Weddum, Kohen Watson and Covington), 3:30.68.
    4x800m relay – third place, Glenwood (Mason Parks, Brett Mower, William Ingels and Covington), 8:50.79.
    Sprint medley relay – first place, Glenwood (Saddler, Lee, Vondra and Watson), 1:36.33.
    Distance medley relay – fourth place, Glenwood (Saddler, Vondra, Hughes and Stanislav), 3:52.54.
    Shuttle hurdle relay – fourth place, Glenwood (Buresh, Silvius, Brian Krewson and Weddum), 1:04.36.
    High jump – fifth place, Stanislav, 5’ 10”.
    Long jump – third place, Vondra, 20’ 4”.
    Shot put – sixth place, Dillon Wiser, 44’ 9”.
    Discus – fourth place, Sanders, 143’ .5”.