By Becky Walz,
The South Winn girls’ and boys’ track teams both scored points on the Blue Oval during the State Track Meet, held Thursday through Saturday, May 20-22, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
The girls had three events place while the boys had one. Overall, Madrid won both the girls’ and boys’ team titles. The Lady Warriors took 13th place with 13 points, while the boys had five points for 33rd place.
“Overall, we performed about as well as we could in Des Moines. The weather and conditions were challenging, as well as the outstanding competition. However, our girls rose to the occasion and everyone either exceeded their best performance, exceeded their seed position or was right at those marks. That is about as good as you can hope for,” said SW girls’ coach Kevin Kearney.
Three events
Thursday afternoon it was Billie Wagner starting off the with a fifth-place finish in the 3000-meter run, to place individually and earn four points for her team. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 10:49.37. Wagner also competed individually in the 1500-meter run, narrowly missing a medal in ninth place in 5:09.88.
Senior Emmaleigh Ohrt capped off her high school career Friday as the Class 1A discus runner-up, sending the weight 126 feet 1 inch, good for eight points for South Winn.
Saturday afternoon Eryn Sabelka collected one point for the Warriors with her lifetime best performance in the 800-meter run. Posting a time of 2:23.02, the junior crossed the finish line in eighth.
The 4×800 relay finished just out of medal contention in 10:14.42 in ninth Thursday. Members of the quartet were Josie Tieskoetter, Megan Hageman, Sabelka and Wagner.
Other individual competitors included senior long jumper Emma Houdek, who leapt 14 feet 9 inches to take home 14th place. Hageman also competed in Saturday’s 1500-meter run, finishing the race in a downpour in 5:27.95 in 19th place.
“Billie (Wagner), Emmaleigh (Ohrt) and Eryn (Sabelka) all had outstanding performances to place in the top eight. Each of them posted significant lifetime best performances and put themselves among the best in the state,” said Coach Kearney. “Emmaleigh and Emma (Houdek) were able to close out their careers at the state meet. Both have been tremendous leaders and competitors for us. Emmaleigh posted her best throw of her life to finish as state runner up and Emma battled really tough, rainy conditions in the long jump and moved up almost 10 places versus her incoming seed position. We will really miss these two as well as our other seniors next year.
“For our other girls who return, this was great experience for them – learning what it takes to compete at the state meet and putting up fantastic efforts. After missing last season all-together, it was a lot of fun to see everyone back in action at the state meet this year.”
Relay
In the boys’ action, it was the 4×100 relay making some noise for South Winn. The quartet of Cael Kuboushek, Evan Bushman, Sam Conway and Jacob Herold punched their ticket to Saturday’s finals after posting a prelim time of 44.48 seconds. Saturday, the foursome stepped onto the track following a deluge of rain moved over the track to stop the clock at 45.01, good for fourth place in Class 1A. The foursome combined in the 4×200 relay as well, posting a 10th-place time of 1:33.00.
Dominic Sisneros raced the oval in the 400-meter hurdles in a career-best time of 58.17, winning his heat and placing 10th overall. Herold, a senior, finished his career with one individual event on the Blue Oval — the 200-meter dash prelims where he posted a time of 23.78 seconds in 20th place. Conway sprinted his way down the front stretch in the 100-meter dash prelims in 11:58 seconds, to earn 14th place. In the 3200-meter run it was junior Isaiah Kruckman finishing 15th in 10:32.03.
It was Zach Taylor, Ethan Luzum, Logan Hageman and Toby Conway combining for a time of 3:55.53 in the distance medley relay, coming home in 23rd place.
State results
Girls long jump – 14. Emma Houdek, 14’9”
Girls discus – 2. Emmaleigh Ohrt, 126’1”
Boys 100m – 14. Sam Conway, 11.58
Boys 200m – 20. Jacob Herold, 23.78
Girls 800m – 8. Eryn Sabelka, 2:23.02
Girls 1500m – 9. Billie Wagner, 5:09.88; 19. Megan Hageman, 5:27.95
Girls 3000m – 5. Billie Wagner, 10:49.37
Boys 3200m – 15. Isaiah Kruckman, 10:32.03
Boys 400m hurdles – 10. Dominic Sisneros, 58.17
Boys 4×100 – 5. Cael Kuboushek, Evan Bushman, Sam Conway, Jacob Herold 44.48 (prelims); 4. 45.01 (finals)
Boys 4×200 – 10. Evan Bushman, Cael Kuboushek, Sam Conway, Jacob Herold, 1:33.00
Girls 4×800 – 9. Josie Tieskoetter, Megan Hageman, Eryn Sabelka, Billie Wagner, 10:14.42
Boys distance medley – 23. Zach Taylor, Ethan Luzum, Logan Hageman, Toby Conway, 3:55.53
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