Sunberg, Walker win conference titles at H-10

CRESTON — Not even two lightning delays lasting an hour could stop Red Oak track athlete Kate Walker from winning the 1,500-meter title at the Hawkeye 10 meet.

Walker was one of the two conference champions crowned at the meet in Creston Thursday night. Josh Sunberg was the other conference champion. Both athletes won their respective titles in the distance races.

Walker won the 1,500 with a time of 5:11.62, beating runner-up Maria Mostek of Creston by eight seconds.

“It feels good, that was a hard race,” Walker said.

The junior was able to take the lead early and stayed far ahead of Mostek.

“I knew I had to keep it up, step it up if I wanted to beat [Mostek],” Walker said.

Walker came close to a second conference title in the 400-meter dash, but was edged out at the end by Harlan’s Asia Kloewer. Walker finished with a time of 1:00.29, less than a second behind Kloewer.

Walker also finished seventh in the high jump, leaping 4’6”.

Sunberg gave the Red Oak boys team its only win at the Hawkeye 10 meet in the 3,200-meter run. Sunberg cruised ahead of the competition nearly halfway into the race and kept his pace to run a 10:27.43, 16 seconds ahead of St. Albert’s Freddy Hug. Teammate Logan LeRette was 14th in the race with 11:49.79.

“It’s funny because I ran one of my best times in bad weather and then I ran this in bad weather too,” Sunberg said.

With winds being an issue on the track, Sunberg hoped to draft off another runner on the course, but wasn’t able to take advantage.

“My main plan was I was going to stick behind somebody,” he said. “Nobody wanted to take charge and really lead out the pack. I decided to go ahead and do it and it turned out for the better.”

Additionally, Sunberg gave Red Oak a sixth place finish in the 1,600 as he ran a 4:53.85.

Both Red Oak teams finished 11th in the team scoring at the Hawkeye 10 meet. The boys had 22 points, while the girls had 29.5. Glenwood swept the team titles and Harlan was runner-up in both groups.

Nikki Graber had a close opportunity as she placed outside of the top six to finish eighth in the 200-meter dash, running a time of 29.93.

Walker and Graber helped Red Oak finish fifth in the 4x400 as they ran a 4:28.61, along with teammates Vanessa Pate and Michaela Buntrock. Graber was fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:04.15.

Maysen Havener meanwhile finished in a tie for eighth in the 100-meter dash when she ran a 14.49.

Meanwhile, the boys 4x400 team of Travis Schon, Conner Jansky, Brock Isaacson and Gavin French finished sixth with 3:46.54.

The boys 4x200 team, which featured Isaacson, Jansky, Dylan Graber and Hayden VanMeter missed out on the top six by finishing seventh with a time of 1:37.93.

Both Red Oak teams will try to send athletes back to state in Des Moines. They will be competing in the 2A state qualifying meet, which takes place Thursday at Treynor High School.

Southwest Valley will also be part of the meet as it starts at 4 p.m.