The Waverly-Shell Rock boys and girls track and field teams each won their bustling home meet on a chilly Thursday, April 3.
W-SR boys Head Coach Cal Twait termed it “a fantastic night across the board†at Go-Hawk Stadium.
The Go-Hawk boys amassed 207 points and finished top-two in many of the night’s events to score team points.
“Our coaching staff has been so pleased with the energy and drive of our athletes,†Twait said. “It was fun to see how locked in we were.â€
The Clear Lake boys placed second with 117.5. Dike-New Hartford was third with 97.
For the Go-Hawk boys, it was the second outdoor meet of the season, after a March 31 triangular at the new Cedar Falls High School. Though listed as regular season, no team scores were posted.
The W-SR girls placed first with 135 points. The Clear Lake girls placed second with 117 points, half a point less than their boys.
Go-Hawk girls Head Coach Lance Williamson termed the April 3 meet in Waverly “a good start to the outdoor season,†adding, “I am really proud of the girls for going out and competing as a team.â€
It was a turnabout for the Go-Hawk girls, who were coming off a fourth-place finish at the North Iowa Indoor Championships in Clear Lake on March 27. At the final indoor meet, W-SR (59 points) was 17.5 points behind the first-place Lions (96.5), who hosted.
The Dubuque Senior girls finished third on April 3 with 112; only their girls attended.
Eight teams attended on the boys and girls sides. Also bringing both their boys and girls teams were Dike-New Hartford, Hudson, Charles City and New Hampton. The Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Linn-Mar boys attended as did the Waterloo West girls.
W-SR BOYS RESULTS
Coach Twait noted that scoring 207 points “means we were scoring in a variety of ways. It was a total team effort!â€
Sprints/Long-Distance
Mekyver Hagarty won the 800-meter race in 2:09.55 for W-SR in a pack with Carter Pirkl, who clocked 2:09.62 for second, both scoring.
Close behind, Jax Stafford had 2:12.32 for fourth, crossing a second after John Amos of Clear Lake (2:11.55).
Austin Soldwisch won the 1,600 and the 3,200. In the 1,600 – which is 9 meters short of a mile – Soldwisch clocked a 4:53.80. Hunter Telleen finished fifth in 5:11.76. Colin Knudsen finished in eighth with 5:23.45.
Soldwisch won the 3,200 – two-mile – in 9:55.12, and Matthew Hommowun took fourth a minute-and-a-half later in 11:26.35.
In the 400, the Go-Hawks placed second and third. Jayden Stephens crossed second in 52.07 just behind a Clear Lake runner (51.72). Sam Wilson was third in 53.02.
In the 200-meter dash, Stephens placed second (22.85) and Nolan Foster placed fifth (23.62).
Brady Bodensteiner placed sixth in the 100-meter dash (11.80), half a second behind first-place Clear Lake (11.46). The top-eight sprinters finished within 12 seconds.
Hurdles
Nolan Johnson won the 110-m hurdles for W-SR in 15.22 to score, and Marquis Olson was fourth in 16.09.
Johnson also won the 400-m hurdles in 56.02. Zander Christensen placed second in 1:00.01.
Relays
The Go-Hawks’ 800-m sprint medley A-team finished first in 1:37.78. Bodensteiner anchored it with Peters, Wilson and Foster.
“The sprint medley relay was really good to see. The four guys executed well,†Coach Twait said.
The Go-Hawks’ team A – consisting of Sam Wilson, Foster, Stephens and Rylan Peters – won the 4x100-m relay in 44.26 to score.
W-SR also won the 4x800 relay in 8:54.94 with team A of Carter Pirkl, Caleb Schipper, Gavin Betts and Hunter Telleen.
The distance medley A-team was second in 3:55.31 to score. Colin Bridges anchored it with Che Newsom, Caleb Schipper and Soldwisch bringing it home.
The Go-Hawks placed second in the 4x400 relay with 3:37.53. Wilson anchored it with Gael Portillo, Johnson and Foster.
W-SR took third in the 4x200-m relay in 1:35.51 with team A, of Colin Bridges, Peters, Bodensteiner and Eagan Hunt.
The Go-Hawks won the 4x110-m shuttle hurdle with team A clocking 1:01.64. Johnson anchored it with Olson, Stephens, then Christensen on the final leg.
Field
In the long jump, W-SR’s Peters soared over the sand pit to 20 feet, 9.75 inches – besting second-place Linn-Mar by 4 inches. W-SR’s Quinn Lockard charted 19-03.75 for sixth.
Jumping the high bar, the Go-Hawks’ Portillo cleared 5-10 even, equaling the jump of Max Larson of Clear Lake on the score sheet. Larson was listed in first. Portillo took second.
Outside the fence, W-SR’s Jackson Rodgers hurled the discus the farthest, to 145 feet, 3 inches – 8 inches ahead of second.
Ian Sedgwick put the shot 42-08.5 for fourth.
“Ian threw his personal record in shotput which was great,†Twait said.
GO-HAWK GIRLS RESULTS
Coach Williamson noted, “In all, I thought we ran, jumped, and threw well considering it was our first meet outdoors.â€
Sprints/Long Distance
W-SR’s Madison Englin clocked 13.23 in the 100-m dash, in a heat with classmate Cat Wedeking, who finished in 13.27.
Emilyn Luhring placed sixth in the 400 meter dash, finishing in 1:12.33.
Taking eighth in their respective races were senior Emma Ihnen in the 200-m dash (31.01) and junior Jocelyn Endelman in the 800-m run (2:48.12).
Hurdles
In the girls 100-m hurdles, the pack of Rhett Dahlquist, in 17.15, and Delilah Kroymann, in 17.24, placed second and third, respectively. Charles City won by half a second (16.67).
In the 400 hurdles, Kroymann edged Dahlquist by about a second, scoring with silver in 1:14.39. Dahlquist (1:15.36) took third. New Hampton won the event by over five seconds (1:08.76).
Relays
In the 4x100-m relay, W-SR took second with team A in 53.75 to score team points. Englin began the race with Kroymann, Harper Graff, then Wedeking bringing it home. They edged third-place Dike-New Hartford by 0.11 (53.86). Clear Lake won the event (51.06).
W-SR placed second in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:58.21 with the team of Englin, Graff, Rachel Foster and Wedeking. D-NH won by over four seconds.
The Go-Hawks distance medley A-team ran to second in 4:52.51 to score team points, five seconds behind winning Clear Lake (4:47.42). Gracie Hagarty started, then Coryn Eckerman, Cameo Burgess and Regan Pries brought it in.
W-SR won the 4x100-m shuttle hurdles, where they clocked 1:14.55 to score team points. Dahlquist began the race, followed by Eckerman, Rachel Foster, then Kroymann to finish.
The Go-Hawks placed fourth in the 4x400 with the team of Rachel Foster, Gracie Hagarty, Cameo Burgess and Dahlquist. The team finished in 4:33.92.
The 4x800 A-team was fifth, racing the two miles in 11:37.97 led by Aliya Gritters, then Taylor Sikora, Allison Kay and Julia Sundblad.
The 800-m sprint medley team placed fifth with a time of 2:04.51. The team was led by Englin, Hagarty, Adalyn Tucke and Rachel Foster.
Field
W-SR’s Endelman cleared the high bar at 5-02 to win the high jump.
“Jocelyn came out [on top] in the high jump,†Coach Williamson credited.
“This is our first time jumping outside,†he said, noting the variable outdoor conditions make it tougher. “Going from inside to outdoors is a big jump.â€
Teammate Emilie Harn cleared 4-02 for sixth. The Clear Lake and D-NH girls who placed seventh and eighth cleared the same height, as listed.
“We got (second) and fifth in the long jump with Harper and Emma which is nice,†Williamson said.
Harper Graff flew into the sand pit for 14-02, good for second in the long jump, with Dubuque Senior and Waterloo West girls an inch and two inches behind her. Emma Ihnen of W-SR was fifth with 3-11. Charles City’s Sophia Calpito won by a meter (39 inches) with 17-05.
W-SR’s Jacie Koch slung the discus 97 feet for third, out-competing senior teammate AJ Norton, who threw an 85-09 for sixth.
Koch also put the shot 30-09 for sixth.
W-SR girls Throwing Coach Melissa Norton said the cold made it tough to practice. “To have a day like today and get what she got out of it, it was a good day.â€
Koch, a junior, began on the field side as a freshman and improved quite a bit throughout her sophomore year. Norton has high hopes for Koch this season.
“She has potential to go to state,†Norton said.
“The biggest thing is the camaraderie with the girls,†Norton said. “I’ve got a heck of a good group of ladies who have the potential to throw really hard. AJ’s a senior this year. The two of them have been throwing together, and they push each other back and forth which has been fun.†The upperclassmen set a good example for the younger throwers on the team this year, Norton added.
“To win our first outdoor meet of the year is a great tone setter for the rest of the season,†Williamson said.
Both W-SR boys and girls track and field teams were competing on Monday, April 7 at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids with high school teams from that area, along with Dunkerton and East Buchanan.
