Bulldog freshman adapting to 400 hurdles

HAMPTON – Bulldog freshman Teaghan Bird has never run 400-meter hurdles before this season, so her early success so far has been eye-catching.

She finished third at the Lady Bulldog Classic in a highly-competitive field which included Osage, which won the meet with 123.5 points; Humboldt, second at 118; Nashua-Plainfield, third at 104; Charles City and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, to name a handful.

Hers was the top finish for the Bulldogs, which scored 9.5 points for 12th out of 13 teams.

“I really enjoy it (the 400 hurdles) because I like a challenge,” Bird said. “And, not many girls do it. It’s fun and I’m getting better, so I might as well keep doing it.

“In middle school we didn’t have it and I was the only hurdler in middle school. I’ve always wanted to try it and 400s are my race. It’s a perfect combination.”

The combined race with the hurdles is right up Bird’s alley, she says.

“400s are an all-around sprint, it’s really hard and adding the jumps into it: the last two are really hard, you have to have the endurance to get over it,” Bird said. “(Finishing third) I was very happy about that. I saw the times (going in) and it said I was probably supposed to get fourth, so I got third and I was really happy about that. I was going against some really tough teams. Third is fine.”

West Fork finished eighth with 44.5 points, with a runner-up finish from Jordan Swenson in the high jump, who also ran a leg on the fourth-place finishing shuttle hurdle relay, the team that also included Makenzie Fessler, Maddy Welbes and Alex Suntken. The Warhawks ran in the first of two heats and won that heat in 1 minute, 16.93 seconds and Swenson also anchored a fifth-place team finish in the 4x400.

Fessler also came out of the first heat to finish sixth in the 400 hurdles and RaeLynn Nash posted a long jump effort of 13 feet, 11 inches for fourth.

What could have been a stacked area distance field in both the 3,000 and 1,500 turned out to not be the case as both talented distance runners for the Bulldogs and West Fork, Lydia Maas and Kacie Eisentrager, are currently out with various physical ailments.

The Bulldogs and Warhawks were back in action at Clarion on Tuesday, April 13 and West Fork also heads to Northwood-Kensett on Friday, April 16.

2021 Lady Bulldog Classic

Team Scoring

1. Osage 123.5; 2. Humboldt 118; 3. Nashua-Plainfield 104; 4. Charles City 79; 5. Central Springs 60; 6. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 51; 7. North Butler 45; 8. West Fork 44.5; 9. Lake Mills 37; 10. Belmond-Klemme 30.5; 11. Northwood-Kensett 30; 12. Hampton-Dumont 9.5; 13. Rockford 2.

Individual Results

(Champions, area finishes)

100– 1. Meredith Street (O) 12.96; 9. Lauren Meader (H-D) 12. RaeLynn Nash (WF) 14.57; 13. Grace Willms (WF) 14.70; 17. Addy Showalter (H-D) 15.20; 18. Anna Holm (NB) 15.22.

200– 1. Meredith Street (O) 26.32; 7. RaeLynn Nash (WF) 30.07; 8. Maddie Clipperton (NB) 30.22; 13. Keelee Sheriff (WF) 31.53; 17. Aja Sheppard (H-D) 32.80; 18. Anna Holm (NB) 32.81.

400– 1. Kiya Johnson (NB) 1:03.35; 4. Keelee Sheriff (WF) 1:12.04; 10. Mycah Weaver (WF) 1:16.83.

800– 1. Kiki Connell (CC) 2:25.50; 6. Olivia Jones 2:51.18; 7. Ava Henricks (WF) 2:51.27; 13. Kenzie Bohach (NB) 3:06.19; 14. Kennedy Pralle (H-D) 3:06.76.

110 hurdles– 1. Paige Kisley (O) 15.95; 6. Haley Freesemann (NB) 18.26; 9. Alex Suntken (WF) 18.51; 10. Makenzie Fessler (WF) 18.65; 11. Teaghan Bird (H-D) 18.65; 19. Maddy Shultz (NB) 21.04.

1,500– 1. Chloe Matthews (N-P) 5:29.17; 8. Sydney Buseman (H-D) 6:14.43; 10. Mycah Weaver (WF) 6:26.26.

3,000– 1. Katelyn Johnston (O) 11:37.79; 5. Kenzie Bohach (NB) 14:05.34; 7. Delaney Christianson (WF) 14:29.44.

400 hurdles– 1. Paige Kisley (O) 1:11.16; 2. Kiya Johnson (NB) 1:13.06; 3. Teaghan Bird (H-D) 1:17.25; 6. Makenzie Fessler (Wf) 1:20.73; 10. Alex Suntken (WF) 1:24.34.

Discus– 1. Kendal Clark (Hum) 130-6; 11. Brooklyn Wix (NB) 80-1; 17. Kaycee Wiebke (NB) 73-7; 21. Breckyn Dickman (WF) 71-2; 22. Emma Martinek (WF) 71-0; 23. Kasey Springer (H-D) 66-10.

High jump– 1. Keely Collins (CC) 4-10; 2. Jordan Swenson (WF) 4-8; 8. Lauren Meader (H-D) 4-6.

Long jump– 1. Kiki Connell (CC) 14-7; 4. RaeLynn Nash (WF) 13-11; 5. Breea Weaver (WF) 13-8; 12. Sydney Eiklenborg (NB) 12-5; 13. Addy Showalter (H-D) 11-11; 16. Alana Johnson (H-D) 11-9; 18. Brooke Niemann (NB) 11-6.

Shot put– 1. Kendal Clark (Hum) 39-11; 14. Emma Martinek (WF) 28-5; 17. (tie) Kasey Springer (H-D) 26-7; 17. (tie) Breckyn Dickman (WF) 26-7; 19. Brooklyn Wix (NB) 26-5; 21. Kaycee Wiebke (NB) 25-10; 24. Alana Johnson (H-D) 23-5.

4x100– 1. Osage 52.69; 6. North Butler (Brooke Trees, Haley Freesemann, Kenzie Groen, Kiya Johnson) 57.27; 7. H-D (Lauren Meader, Aja Sheppard, Addy Showalter, Teaghan Bird) 57.37; 10. West Fork (Maddie Hubka, Madisyn Bonner, Breea Weaver, Grace Willms) 58.02.

4x200– 1. Lake Mills 1:56.14; 6. North Butler (Brooke Trees, Kenzie Groen, Sydney Eiklenborg, Maddie Clipperton) 2:01.44; 8. West Fork (Maddie Hubka, Grace Willms, Mallery Meier, Madisyn Bonner) 2:03.68.

4x400– 1. Osage 4:40.81; 5. West Fork (RaeLynn Nash, Maddy Welbes, Ava Henricks, Jordan Swenson) 4:52.24; 9. North Butler (Brooklyn Wix, Kaycee Wiebke, Kenzie Groen, Aeryn Anderson) 4:58.90.

4x800– 1. Humboldt 11:16.44.

Shuttle hurdle relay– 1. Osage 1:11.18; 4. West Fork (Makenzie Fessler, Jordan Swenson, Maddy Welbes, Alex Suntken) 1:16.93; 8. Haley Freesemann, Maddy Shultz, Brooke Niemann, Ann Shafer) 1:24.89.

Sprint medley relay– 1. Nashua-Plainfield 1:59.77; 2. North Butler (Brooke Trees, Haley Freesemann, Maddie Clipperton, Kiya Johnson) 1:59.89; 11. West Fork (Breea Weaver, Mallery Meier, Keelee Sheriff, Ellie Weaver) 2:08.69; 12. H-D (Lauren Meader, Addy Showalter, Aja Sheppard, Teaghan Bird) 2:09.62.

Distance medley relay– 1. Nashua-Plainfield 4:45.62; 5. North Butler (Brooke Trees, Kenzie Groen, Maddie Clipperton, Aeryn Anderson) 5:03.88; 8. West Fork (Madisyn Bonner, Maddy Welbes, Rylie Akins, Ava Henricks) 5:12.77; 10. H-D (Katie Sosa, Emma Showalter, Kennedy Pralle, Sydney Buseman) 5:26.57.