It was a phenomenal first day of State Track and Field action in Des Moines. For local area schools, there were two champions decided on Thursday. In the 4x800m, it was dominance from the Riverside Boys who repeated as champions and set their season best time of 8:02.17. The four boys who accomplished this feat were Eli Hudnall, Cruz Jaquez, Owen Fenner and Brody Henderson. For Hudnall, this was his first state championship. He spoke post-race about what this meant for him as a sophomore.
The second champion to come from a local school was Ada Hansen in the Class 1A 400m dash. The very accomplished junior runner added to her trophy case Thursday morning with a personal best time of 56.90. Hansen is certainly not new to this stage, but getting a win today took the pressure off for the rest of the meet:
The Boys Class 2A 3200m saw Tri-Center’s Haven Weers take third place with a time of 9:26.07. The sophomore clocked a personal best, which was thirty seconds faster than his time as a freshman. He spoke after the race about his strategy heading into the final lap:
Another great story from day one of the State Meet was Ruthie Rich in the Long Jump. She had never long jumped before this season and set the CAM Cougars girls record in just her second meet. She then qualified for state and made it to the final on her last attempt. She ended up taking 6th in the final:
For the Atlantic Trojans, Stellah Van Aernam finished just outside the qualifying time for the girls 100m. Lila Wiederstein also competed in the 100m dash. For the boys, they ran in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay while Landon Hagen competed in the 400m dash.
Other high finishers in local area schools include Sophia Fenner of Riverside who finished 2nd in Shot Put, Cauy Konz of Treynor who was first in the prelims for Boys 100m and Collin Harder of AHSTW finished third in the 400m final.
Join us again on Friday, May 22nd on KJAN for more Track and Field updates beginning at 10:45am.
