Iowa High School State Track And Field Championships Continue

The opening day of the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships on Thursday featured 13 meet records and two all-time bests being set on the Blue Oval inside Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

On Friday, the action continued, and more records fell as more boys and girls state titles were handed out.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union come together each spring to co-host the meet, with four classes from both genders taking part.

More Iowa All-Time Bests Fall In Early Session

The Ankeny girls sprint medley relay set a new all-time Iowa best, going 3:55.44 to capture gold in Class 4A. That time places them second in the United States currently.

Running the relay were Lean Bruening, Lilly Buckley, Morgan Fisher and Makenna Madetzke.

Moments later in the boys Class 4A sprint medley relay, Bettendorf set a new Iowa top-time for the season and placed themselves third in the U.S, going 3:24.85. Billy Miller, Jr., J.J. McDermott, Kamarii Harris and 3,200-meter record-setter AJ Willey comprised the relay.

Waukee Northwest, behind an incredible closing leg by Keziah Caldwell, won the 4x200-meter relay in Class 4A with a new all-time Iowa best and state meet record in 1:37.77. Quinn Jorgensen, Avery Vogt and Logan Vogt completed the quartet.

Hurdles Records Go Down

Also in the early session, the 400-meter hurdles records fell in both Class 4A and Class 1A, as Jana Maharry from Waukee went 1:00.11 and Ada Hansen of Anita-CAM went 1:01.28 to capture gold.

Title No. 2 For Kaiden Kunze

Norwalk sensation Kaiden Kunze kept his chase for four state championships in Class 4A alive, winning the long jump by a foot.

Kunze, who won the 400-meter dash on Thursday, went 23-8-25 for gold Friday. He is also the No. 1 seed in Saturday’s 200-meter dash finals and the No. 2 seed in the 100-meter dash finals.

Linn-Mar’s Abby Mecklenburg earned her second straight long jump title, going 19-0 to hold off Sophia Hatcher from Ames. The future Iowa State Cyclone put down her best on her first attempt.

Mecklenburg remains the only Iowa female to clear 20 feet in the long jump in high school.

Afternoon, Evening Races See More Records Fall

The records continued to tumble as day turned into night, as Sioux Center broke the state meet record in the Class 3A girls distance medley relay with a time of 4:00.09. Stella Hietbrink, Taylor Holverson, Avery Bitker and Kolby Oldenkamp comprised the relay.

Pella Christian got things back to record-breaking fashion in the Class 2A girls 4x200, going 1:39.70 for gold. Pella Christian added a second state record in the prelims of the 4x100.

Lexi Terpstra, Bailey Vos, Amaia Agre and Meredith Van Wyk ran the 4x200, as the 4x100 consisted of Terpstra, Agre, Olivia De Haan and Rachel Kacmarynski. Kacmarynski, Van Wyk, Maisy Meinders and Vos were close to the 4x400 record, which the same quartet set in 2024.

Colin Johnson of Southeast Valley became his school’s first-ever state track and field champion in boys action, winning the 400-meter hurdles with a thrilling come-from-behind performance.

Team Races Coming Down To Third And Final Day

The battle for team trophies will stretch into Saturday, as the Class 1A boys standings are led by Iowa Valley with 25.5 points. Lisbon has 25, Riverside Oakland and Van Burren County each have 23, and New London has 20.

Grundy Center leads Alburnett by nine in the Class 2A boys race, as Pella is 10 points ahead of Clear Lake in Class 3A. Bettendorf, with 47 points, leads Cedar Falls by 11 in Class 4A.

Edgewood-Colesburg is currently 11 points better than Pekin in the girls Class 1A race, as Spirit Lake leads Grundy Center by five and Mid-Prairie by eight in Class 2A. Pella, with 50 points, is well ahead of the field in Class 3A, as the same is true for Waukee Northwest in Class 4A, as the Wolves have 63.5 points and a 25-point cushion.

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