Three-Peat

DES MOINES — Early Saturday, the Griswold girls track team needed to fight to stay in contention for their third straight 1A state title. By the end of the day, they were able to celebrate.

Griswold overcame a 16 point deficit to complete the three-peat at the state track meet in Des Moines Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers scored points in three of their four races Saturday to complete the comeback, winning with a team score of 45 points.

Griswold entered the day in sixth with a score of 17 points.

West Hancock meanwhile entered with a score of 33 points, leading by six over Hinton. Sibley-Ocheyedan was third with 23 points, while Jesup and North Linn were tied for fourth with 18.

“The field like in the 3,000, 1,500, 800 and 400 hurdles, was much more competitive this year and overall the teams are much more competitive,” Griswold Girls Track Coach Andy Everett said. “This one was a lot harder to win, so that makes it more special.”

Leading the charge on the final day of the state track meet was Rebekah Topham, who walked away from Des Moines with state titles in the 1,500 and 800 races.

Teammate Jordyn Sindt helped Griswold by finishing third in the 800. Because of the points scored by Topham and Sindt in the 800, Griswold tied for first in points early with West Hancock.

In the 800, Topham won with a time of 2:15.28, holding off Nicole Miller of North Linn by nearly two seconds. Sindt finished with a time of 2:21.44.

“The 800 was really good because we scored 16 points and we really needed those points,” Topham said.

In the 1,500, Topham was able to pass both Leah Seivert of Sibley-Oceyedan and Cassie Stufflick of Danville and win with a time of 4:42.35.

Topham passed Seivert during the final laps and ran away with the win.

Topham started the race towards the back and ran her way through the competition.

Seivert scored a win over Topham Thursday in the 3,000. Topham was second in the race with a time of 10:34.67.

Both Topham and Seivert have competed against each other in cross country.

“She’s a really good runner. She pushed me in cross country last year. In the 3,000, she was way ahead of me,” Topham said.

Sindt finished 16th in the 1,500.

“The whole plan was I wanted to take the pressure off Rebekah,” Sindt said. I didn’t do it, I felt bad, so I hoped to rack up a couple of points more and the 800 got me some of those, but I didn’t do too hot in the 1,500.

Topham’s win clinched the meet for Griswold. West Hancock scored six points Saturday as they finished third in the 4x400 relay. West Hancock was second with 39 points, while Sibley-Ocheyedan and Belle Plaine were tied for third with 37.

In Topham’s other race at state, she finished second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.41. West Hancock’s Kamille Kroenemann won with a time of 1:05.18. Sindt was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.62.

The Tigers scored their other points Saturday in the shuttle hurdle relays when Kinzey Nicklaus, Justine Freund, Jeana Freund and Trisha Huerta placed seventh with a time of 1:10.90. The shuttle hurdle team qualified for the finals when they ran a time of 1:10.94.

The finish in the shuttle hurdles gave Griswold the two-point lead.

Everett said the shuttle hurdle team qualifying for the finals and scoring points took pressure off both Topham and Sindt.

“They’ve run pretty well. We got disqualified a couple of times during the middle of the season. They kept running faster and faster and we really weren’t supposed to make the finals on paper,” Everett said.

Griswold won their first title in 2011 when they scored 57 points. In 2012, they won with a team score of 51 points, defeating West Hancock by 10 points.

“Every year it’s kind of like a new adventure because we have new girls. So it’s like we’re setting up to claim a new title with a new team. So it’s always exciting every time,” Larissa Backhaus said.

Backhaus competed Saturday in the sprint medley as the team finished 14th. Backhaus, Sindt, as well as Danielle Rossell and Allison Young lead the group of seniors who have been part of all three state titles.

“Look at the senior class, they got fourth place at state as freshmen. Then state champi ons, state champions, state champions. I don’t know too many people that can say that,” Everett said.

Topham, now a sophomore, has five state track titles. She is the two-time defending champion in the 1,500 and 800. Topham’s other title was in the 3,000 last season. Her 2012-13 season also includes a state cross country title, which she won in October.

Topham said she has been sick for part of the track season and hasn’t been able to train as much as she’d like.

“This year has been harder because I’ve had that and my hamstring has been hurting me like the last few days before state,” Topham said.

Red Oak’s return

Both Red Oak track teams had qualifiers competing this weekend in Des Moines

On the boys side, Casey Dykes was the lone Red Oak qualifier as he competed in the 400-meter dash. Dykes finished 19th with a time of 52.88 seconds.

For the girls, the 4x200 team, as well as Blake Bergren individually competed in the long jump. Bergren finished 24th with a jump of 14’11.5”.

The 4x200 team featured Maysen Havener, Nikki Graber, Madelynn Mann and Bergren as they finished 21st with a time of 1:53.51.

It was the first time at state track for both Graber and Havener. Bergren competed at state in the long jump in 2011, while Mann was part of a relay team at state in 2010.

Big weekend for Stanton

The Stanton track teams were able to leave Des Moines this weekend with several top eight finishes.

The Viqueens had fourth place finishes in the shuttle hurdle relays and the 100-meter hurdles.

Logan Wagg, Lauren Stephens, Macy Elwood and Carmen Subbert took fourth in the shuttle hurdles with a time of 1:09.95.

“I was so excited and really nervous,” Wood said after the race.

In the preliminaries, Stanton qualified with a time of 1:10.26.

“I feel pretty good, just knowing we came in here a lot better than we thought we would,” Stephens said.

Subbert finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.90 seconds.

She was edged out of the top three by East Buchanan’s Amanda Riniker by .02 seconds.

“I had so many people pushing me to go faster and that helped me get my best time,” Subbert said.

In his first time at state, Alex Becthold left Des Moines with a sixth place finish in the discus throw. Becthold had a throw of 147’.

Once more for Villisca

It was the last state track meet for the Villisca Bluejays track and field team.

Morganne Haer and Travis Herzberg were the top qualifiers for Villisca. Haer finished 12th in the long jump when she had a jump of 15’8.75”. She also finished 15th in the 800 when Haer ran a time of 2:29.44.

Herzberg qualified for state in the 400-meter dash and the 800-meter race.

“It’s always awesome, even if you don’t place or run very well, you get to say you ran here and that’s awesome so everybody enjoys it here,” Herzberg said.

The 800-meter race was Herzberg’s best finish when he took 12th with a time of 2:06.16. It was a better finish than last season for Herzberg when he took 24th with a time of 2:14.33.

“I gave it everything I could have, it didn’t turn out the best, but overall I did a lot better than I did last year,” Herzberg said.

Herzberg finished 24th in the 400-meter dash.