Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – One day down, two to go.

Friday is day two of the three-day marathon that is the state track and field meet with five more event finals schedule.

For the second straight day there will be three titles on the track and two field event titles up for grabs in all four classes across two sections.

Classes 1A and 4A kick things off in the morning with the distance medley relay up first on the schedule at 9 a.m.

Here are five things to keep an eye on Friday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines as the state meet hit the halfway point.

Field Day for West High

West High used a strong day on the track on Thursday to take an early 10-point lead on two-time defending champion Waukee in the Class 4A team standings.

In order for the Women of Troy to remain in the title hunt they will need a big day from their field events on Friday.

West High has double entries in both the shot put and long jump and has the ability to pull points from all four of those athletes.

Senior Chandler Haight was second in the shot put a year ago and enters with the second-best throw in Class 4A this season at 44-0 ½ trailing on Waukee junior Kat Moody (47-3).

Sophomore Salima Omari had her best throw of the season at the district meet last week good for 12th best in 4A this season.

Kitra Bell and Katie Severt enter with the fifth and seventh best marks in the long jump this season and showed they are capable of scoring big points when they finished second and third at the Drake Relays.

A strong day in the field events will be a big boost for West High’s title hopes.

Keeping Up With the Schaeckenbachs

Friday will be a long day for a lot track and field fans.

It will be an extra long day for the Schaeckenbach family.

City High sophomore Caroline Schaeckenbach begins the hectic day with a busy morning that includes two hurdle races and a possible leg on the City High 4×400 relay team.

In her first season of track Schaeckenbach enters with the 21st best time in the 110 hurdles and has the fourth best time in Class 4A in the 400 hurdles at 1:05.59.

Older brother Luke Schaekenbach, a senior at Solon, wraps up the long day for the family by competing in the Class 3A shot put in the afternoon.

Luke Schaekenbach has the 13th best mark in 3A this season at 51-3.

West Takes Final Shot at Hurdle History

Austin West made a splash in his opening race on Thursday winning the 400 title in a school-record time of 47.94.

On Friday West takes aim one final time at the all-time record in the 400 hurdles.

The record appeared to be in reach for West a month ago when he won his first Drake Relays titles in the event in a career-best time of 51.96.

That time is exactly one second off the all-time state best set by Dustin Avey of Ames in 1996.

West gets one final shot at that record on Friday and enters with the top time by better than a second.

Linderbaum Looking For Gold

What a prep career it’s been for Solon senior Tyler Linderbaum.

The Iowa football recruit has been a four-sport varsity athlete for the past three seasons earning a pair of medals at the state wrestling meet and adding a third state track medal on Thursday in the discus.

What has been missing for Linderbaum is an individual title.

He gets his final crack at earning state meet gold on Friday when he competes in the Class 3A shot put.

Linderbaum is certainly capable of finishing his career on top.

He was third last season and enters with the second-best mark in Class 3A this spring at 57-1 ½.

Algona senior Dominic Etherington enters with the top 3A mark this season at 61-5.

West High Looks to Keep it Rolling

A strong first day put West High firmly in the Class 4A title race.

The Trojans lead Waukee 23-21 after five events on Thursday and have top three seeds in three of the five events on Friday.

Austin West has the top qualifying time in the 400 hurdles, is the second seed in the long jump and is capable of tacking on 20 points to the West High team score by himself with a solid day on Friday.

Landon Green has a top-five qualifying mark in the shot put and the Trojans have double entries in both the 400 hurdles and shot put.

A second consecutive strong day from West High would make the 4A team race awfully interesting heading into Saturday.