Warhawks send eight events to the Iowa Track & Field Championships

Published by editor on Wed, 05/19/2021 - 9:50am

By:

Tyler Anderson

At this point of the track and field season, there’s only one big event left to go. The one final track meet is the big one, in the 2021 Iowa High School State Co-Ed Track & Field Championships.

The West Fork track & field teams excelled at the Class 1A-District 8 State Qualifying Meet, held on May 13 at Northwood-Kensett High School Track in Northwood, pushing eight events through to Des Moines.

The events were both Girls Distance Medley (third, 4:38.05) and Boys Distance Medley (won the event with a time of 3:48.26), and both the Girls 4x800-meter relay (third, 4:38.05) and Boys 4x800-meter relay (second, 8:35.91).

In individual events, West Fork sent three seniors in Ren Heimer, Jordan Swenson and Dakota Lau and one junior in Kacie Eisentrager. Swenson tied for first in the High Jump with a clearance of five feet, and Heimer was second in the Long Jump with a distance of 20 feet, two and a half inches.

Lau took second in the 800-mter run with a time of 2:06.68, and Eisentrager was second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:24.42.

Collectively, the Warhawk boys finished third at the state qualifying meet with 82 points. West Fork only trailed St. Ansgar (148 points) and Nashua-Plainfield (88 points) in the final team rankings.

The West Fork girls landed in seventh place out of a 14-team field, bringing home 54 points.

The Iowa High School State Track Meet will begin on Thursday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The three-day meet will run through Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

In the boys’ non-qualifying events, senior Jakob Washington was third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.22, while teammate Cail Weaver tabbed fifth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:10.01. Senior Noah Maske recorded a second place finish in the 3,200-meter run, with a time of 10:42.33.

The Warhawk boys’ Sprint Medley team took second with a time of 1:40.05.

Junior Josh Hagin finished fifth in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:10.64, alongside senior Jason Meier, who was fifth in the High Jump with a clearance of five feet, four inches.

Senior Levi Janssen took second in the shot put with a distance of 48 feet, one and a half inches. Sophomore Josiah Chibambo settled for seventh in the shot put with a distance of 40 feet, nine and a half inches.

Senior Kellen Cameron took seventh in the discus throw with a distance of 116 feet, three inches, and West Fork finished the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:51.77.

For the girls, sophomore Maddy Welbes was fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.52. Freshman Breea Weaver took fifth in the Long Jump with a leap of 14 feet, 9.25 inches.

Senior Grace Willms was eighth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.25, as junior Alex Suntken landed eighth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.94. Freshman Brecklyn Dickman settled for eighth in the Shot Put with a toss of 32 feet, 11 and a half inches.

The 4x400-meter relay team battled to a fourth place finish, with a time of 4:27.28, along with the 4x800-meter relay team’s fourth place spot with a time of 10:44.39.

The 4x100-meter relay team and the 4x200-meter relay squad had seventh place finishes, with times of 55.76 seconds and 2:01.31, respectively.

The Warhawk girls’ Shuttle Hurdle Relay team had a sixth place spot with a time of 1:14.01, while the WF Sprint Medley team came out with an eighth place showing with a time of 2:05.16.

Class 1A-District 8 State Qualifying Meet

Boys’ Team Standings

1. St. Ansgar 148

2. Nashua-Plainfield 88

3. West Fork 82

4. North Union 75

5. Lake Mills 66

6. West Hancock 66

7. Northwood-Kensett 59

8. West Bend-Mallard 41

9. Bishop Garrigan 33

10. Rockford 25