Area athletes get ready for the task of state
With a wet spring to deal with, the track and field season concludes for many area athletes this weekend at the state meet in Des Moines.
Griswold will once again be leading the area to the state meet in Des Moines, which starts Thursday and continues through Saturday at Drake Stadium.
The Griswold boys are qualified for state in six events, five relay races and one field event. Collin Fast is the lone individual qualifier on the boys side for Griswold as he won the shot put title at Corning last Thursday. Fast won with a throw of 43’10.25”.
Griswold will also compete in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x800, distance medley and the shuttle hurdles.
“We have some interchangeable guys that we can use, and we have that mentality, we’re the Griswold Tigers; track is what we do,” Griswold boys track coach Jane Chaillie said. “We do it the best and we have a bunch of guys who love to run relays.”
Because of their efforts, the boys team locked up the district title
For the Griswold girls, Rebekah Topham once again leads the team by qualifying in four events. Topham is entered in the 3,000, 1,500, 800 and 400-meter hurdles, all of which she won at the Corning meet last Thursday.
Teammate and runner-up in several of the races, Jordyn Sindt, will also be competing in the same races along with Topham.
Larissa Backhaus is also an individual qualifier for Griswold. Backhaus will compete in the 200-meter dash, a race in which she placed fourth in at Corning.
In relay races, the Griswold girls will compete in the 4x800, the shuttle hurdle, the distance medley, 4x200 and sprint medley.
The Griswold girls enter this state meet looking to win their third straight state title. Topham is the defending state champion in 1A for the 3,000, 1,500 and 800-meter races.
Red Oak qualifies in several events
Despite not winning a district title at the 2A state qualifier tournament at Nodaway Valley High School in Greenfield last Thursday, both Red Oak Tigers track and field teams will have a couple of entries at the state meet this weekend.
Casey Dykes was the lone qualifier for the boys as he will enter the field in the 400-meter dash. The girls have an individual qualifier, as well as a relay qualifier.
Blake Bergren will be making her first long jump appearance at the state meet since 2011.
Bergren qualified for state by jumping 15’10” at the district meet in Greenfield Thursday.
In 2011, Bergren, who had qualified as a freshman, finished 23rd when she jumped 14’3.50”.
Bergren is also part of the 4x200 team, which features Maysen Havener, Nikki Graber, Maddy Mann, Angela Mahoney and Vanessa Pate.
Mann is also the only other Red Oak athlete with experience at state.
In 2010, Mann competed at state as part of the sprint medley team.
Final Lap for Villisca
With time winding down on Villisca athletics, several athletes will make an appearance in Des Moines this weekend.
Travis Herzberg was the lone boys qualifier for the state meet. The senior is entered in the 400 and 800-meter races. Herzberg won the district title in the 800 at the state qualifying meet last Thursday, running his best time of the year and defeating Blake Harvey of South Page.
Herzberg made it to state last season in the 800. He had to fend off Sidney’s Casey Cruickshank at the last second to secure the state bid for the boys.
“I didn’t want it to be near that close this time,” Herzberg said.
Herzberg had a rough debut at state last season when he took 24th. He said it was a rude awakening.
“You get out there and there’s 12 of you on the waterfall line and when you get going, it’s a pack because they’re all trying to get out front,” Herzberg said.
For the girls, Morganne Haer will compete in two individual events, as well as take part in a relay at state. Haer won the long jump title at districts, defeating Bedford’s Kayla Lindenmeyer with a jump of 16’3”.
“I felt like I had a lot better jump and I knew if I jumped 16, I’d make it to state, even if [Lindenmeyer] beat me,” Haer said.
Last season, Haer took fourth at state in the long jump when she had a jump of 16’11.5”.
Haer was also able to qualify for the 800-meter race.
Viqueens, plus Viking, join the fray
The hurdlers for the Stanton Viqueens once again lead the path to the state tournament. Stanton will field a shuttle hurdle team at state after winning at Corning last Thursday. The shuttle hurdle team competing this time will be Carmen Subbert, Macy Elwood, Lauren Stephens and Logan Wagg.
The group secured the win at the qualifying meet when they defeated both Fremont-Mills and Griswold on the final leg.
“Lauren [Stephens], she stayed right with everybody and that made me feel good,” Subbert said.
For Stephens, it will be her first state appearance as part of the shuttle hurdle team. Her older sister Dana was a member of the shuttle hurdle team last season. Last season, the Viqueens shuttle hurdle team finished 13th in preliminaries, running a time of 1:09.86.
“I think I might be happy with anything, just knowing that we all made it there,” Stephens said.
Elwood said she’s happy for all the girls, especially Stephens for her effort on the penultimate leg.
“She stepped up big. She’s been running very well the past couple of meets and we knew if everyone ran like they could, we’d be fine,” Elwood said.
Subbert will be competing individually in the 100-meter hurdles. She won the district title at Corning with a time of 16.37 seconds.
Avery Taylor will finally get her chance to compete at state individually. Taylor was able to qualify in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, barely getting into the field.
Taylor and Subbert will also be part of the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams competing at state.
One of the big surprises from the Corning qualifier meet was Alex Becthold winning the district title in discus. Becthold won with a throw of 138’5”.
Pittmon leads the Wolverine pack to Des Moines
Nick Pittmon won three district titles and enters the state meet this weekend with one of the fastest times in the 100-meter dash.
Pittmon is seeded second with a time of 11 seconds flat. Only Logan McKenna of Belmont-Klemme (10.99) has a better time.
“I felt like those were good times, considering the weather,” Pittmon said.
Pittmon will also compete at state in the 200 and the long jump.
His teammate Travis Tupper will also compete individually in multiple events. Tupper is qualified for state in the 200 and 400-meter dashes.
Additionally, Tupper and Pittmon are part of the 4x200 team as they qualified for state. The 4x100 and 4x400 teams also made it to state.
The meet begins Thursday morning at 9 a.m. with running events in Class 1A and 4A for both boys and girls.
The final heat and lane assignments for all events were expected to be released Monday. Should any changes occur from the qualifier list, we’ll post it online at redoakexpress.com.