Iowa High School State Track And Field Championships Get Underway

The opening day of the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships took place at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday.

All four classes were in action on The Blue Oval, with several state titles being handed out in both running and field events.

To the surprise of no one, Western Dubuque sensation Quentin Nauman made headlines in his first race, as the University of Oregon recruit captured his third Class 3A 3,200-meter title in a time of 8:54.00.

Nauman will run his final race on Saturday, and he is already looking forward to the energy provided by what should be a packed stadium.

“As I keep going, the emotions will keep getting more and more intense,” Nauman said. “I’m just happy to score 10 points for my team. All I am aiming for is to win and get as many points for my team as I can.

“I could hear the crowd volume go up and that means a lot. I love Iowa, I love my fans, and I am not who I am without my fans. That support, I really love.”

Nauman’s run was just one of several incredible feats on the day, including in the distance portion of the meet.

A few hours earlier, Bettendorf’s AJ Willey went 8:49.65 to capture the Class 4A 3,200-meter title over Slader Buckheister from Cedar Rapids Kennedy, who went 8:49.97. Willey now sits atop the all-time and state-meet lists, as Buckheister and the next four finishers also broke the previous state record.

Reigning Drake Relays champion Charlee Gall of Cedar Falls claimed the Class 4A 3,000 in 9:37.85. Chloe Glosser from Pekin was the Class 1A champion in 9:38.39, which set a new state-meet record.

Waukee Northwest Starts Fast On The Track

In what has the makings of a record-breaking meet for the Waukee Northwest girls, the Wolves kicked things off with an all-time and state record mark in the Class 4A 4x800-meter relay.

Piper Vander Ley, Laney Sundet, Ella Jones and Emee Dani went 8:58.01, bettering the previous all-time record by .02.

Kaiden Kunze of Norwalk, who is chasing four state championships in Class 4A on the boys side, claimed No. 1 with a 47.80 to capture the 400 over Gage Tucker of Bettendorf, who went 47.90.

Drake Relays high jump champion Ajak Malual of Waukee earned the Class 4A title in the event when he cleared 6-7. Burlington’s Kylee Hill recorded a throw of 151-3 to win the Class 3A discus, as Greyson Hartman from Washington had a throw of 189-5 for the boys title in the same class.

Evelyn Moeller Bests Pella’s Distance Duo

Mount Vernon junior Evelyn Moeller laid down a state-meet record time in winning the Class 3A 3,000-meter run in 9:27.31. That mark set the best state time by over 11 seconds.

Moeller won gold over Pella’s distance duo of Elsie Brenneman and Marissa Ferebee, who each went under 9:50.

The Grundy Center girls broke the meet record in the Class 2A 4x800, finishing in 9:17.35, including a final 400 in 1:10 by Grace Storjohann. In the next race, Sioux Center broke the record in winning Class 3A, going 9:14.43.

Treynor’s Cauy Konz set a state meet record in the Class 2A 200-meter dash prelims, going 21.31. More records fell in the boys Class 2A 4x800, as both winners Alburnett (7:48.83) and runner-up Denver (7:49.59) hit new marks.

Pella at 7:45.53 and Gilbert at 7:47.21 did the same in Class 3A moments later. Canaan Dunham anchored Pella to the win in 1:01.82 after his first 400 of 51.87.

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