Iowa athletes shine bright at Nike Outdoor Nationals/USATF U20 event

Abby Meckenburg, Ankeny quartet earn All-American status

A relay of girls from Ankeny High School recently finished fourth at the Nike Outdoor Nationals/USATF U20 event. / Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Five Iowa high school track and field standouts picked up All-American honors at the recent Nike Outdoor Nationals/USATF U20 event. The track and field meet was held in Eugene, Oregon from Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.

Linn-Mar High School’s Abby Mecklenburg, who became the first Iowa high school girl to surpass 20 feet in the long jump earlier this year, placed third in the same event. Mecklenburg, who cleared a state-best of 20-8.25 in Dubuque at the Dubuque Hempstead Invitational, went 19-5.5 at the national meet.

Mecklenburg, a 17-year-old, placed behind Ava Kitchings and Kassidi Watkins at the meet. Kitchings went 20-0.25 and Watkins jumped 19-11.5. 

The Ankeny High School quartet of Charlee Cibula, Lillian Buckley, Morgan Fisher and Makenna Madetzke placed fourth in the sprint medley relay (the event is ran as the distance medley relay in Iowa) at the same track and field special.

The group was also named All-American for their performance, which saw them clock a time of 4:04.23 to place behind relays from Indiana, California and Minnesota. The winning time by the group from Indiana came in at 3:58.51.

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