Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Over the course of any track meet there is always an event or two that stands out.

Yet one event always seems to be the focal point.

The final race of the day. The 4×400 relay. The grand finale.

“I definitely see it as one of the crowing events of track and field,” City High sophomore Lillian Reynolds said of the 4×400.

Reynolds and her City High teammates used the 4×400 as the exclamation point on a strong showing at the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Divisional Meet at City High.

City High held off Cedar Rapids Prairie to win the 4×400 in 4:07.66 to secure a runner-up divisional finish for the second consecutive season.

“There is nothing I like better than winning the 4×400,” City High coach Terry Coleman said. “They were not intimidated by the other teams and they went out and competed and really finished the meet strong.”

City High won three events on Thursday and had top-three finishes in seven others while rolling up 136 points.

Cedar Falls won six events on its way to its third consecutive MVC divisional crown finishing with 193.5 points.

It was the second consecutive season City High finished second to the Tigers.

“Cedar Falls is a really good team,” Coleman said. “We threw everything that we could throw at this meet and I’m proud of the kids for second place two years in a row. That is a team that is probably going to bring home a trophy from the state meet.”

Caroline Schaeckenbach was a part of all three City High titles in a busy day that included a conference crown in the 400 hurdles.

Schaeckenbach added a fourth-place finish in the 400 and ran on the Little Hawks’ winning shuttle hurdle and 4×400 relay teams.

“My coach told me to back off in the 400 hurdles a little bit so I would have a little more energy left for the 4×400,” Schaeckenbach said. “With adding the open 400 I was really tired today but I felt really good.”

Schaeckenbach helped City High get its first time of the day in the shuttle hurdle relay teaming with Jordan Sekafetz, Te’Nia Ansley and Mia DePrenger to win in a time of 1:05.58.

She added a title in 1:06.72 in the 400 hurdles.

“We were really close to the school record and we were just a little off of that,” Schaeckenbach said of the shuttle hurdle relay. “I think we can do it at districts or state.”

The final win of the day for Schaeckenbach and City High came in the final event.

CeCe Kelly-Harvey led off for City High and was nearly even with Cedar Falls standout Auriona Kimbrough after the opening 400 meters.

“This was only my second time leading off and I liked it the first time,” Kelly-Harvey said. “It was exciting. Our order is not exactly set but no matter what order we are in we are still going to be really good.”

Schaeckenbach opened up a sizeable lead with a strong second leg and DePrenger stretched the Little Hawk advantage to nearly five seconds over Cedar Rapids Prairie and Cedar Falls.

“We knew both those teams had really fast anchors so we knew if we wanted to win we had to get out faster than we had been,” DePrenger said. “We were able to build a lead and Lillian did a great job.”

Reynolds held off a late charge from Prairie freshman standout Gabby Cortez as City High won in 4:07.66.

“She is an amazing runner and I just knew she was going to start coming after me,” Reynolds said. “I saw her coach and I was looking to see where his eyes were to see how close she was to me. I wanted to finish strong for the whole team.

In her first time running the 4×400 season Reynolds made a final push in the final 30 meters to hold off Cortez and send City High home with a win.

“It’s one of those events where you have to go out and go completely crazy,” Reynolds said. “To win that meet on your home turf is a great feeling.”

MVC Mississippi Divisional

At City High

Team scores – 1. Cedar Falls 193.5; 2. City High 136; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 124; 4. Dubuque Senior 85.5; 5. Western Dubuque 71.5; 6. Waterloo East 54; 7. Cedar Rapids Xavier 40; 8. Cedar Rapids Washington 24.5

Individual Results (Event winners; Area placewinners)

100 – 1. Kerris Roberts (WE) 11.9; 5. Emma Cooper (ICH) 12.92; 7. Emma Clark (ICH) 13.3

200 – 1. Kerris Roberts (WE) 25.19; 3. Ayana Lindsey (ICH) 26.6; 8. Te’Nia Ansley (ICH) 27.42

400 – 1. Mackenzie Michael (CF) 57.54; 4. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH) 1:01.32; 5. Ayana Lindsey (ICH) 1:01.8

800 – 1. Mackenzie Michael (CF) 2:21.07; 2. CeCe Kelley-Harvey (ICH) 2:23.21; 7. Rowan Boulter (ICH) 2:32.79

1,500 – 1. Claire Edmondson (DS) 4:56.35; 5. Janie Perrill (ICH) 5:18.21; 7. Lucy Corbin (ICH) 5:21.25

3,000 – 1. Claire Edmondson (DS) 10:33; 4. Rowan Boulter (ICH) 10:47.34

100 hurdles – 1. Aubrey Jones (CRX) 15.56; 3. Jordan Sekafetz (ICH) 16.56; 4. Te’Nia Ansley (ICH) 16.76

400 hurdles – 1. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH) 1:06.72; 3. Lillian Reynolds (ICH) 1:09.78

Long jump – 1. Emerson Green (CF) 17-4 ¾; 3. Te’Nia Ansley (ICH) (ICH) 16-1 ¾; 5. Ella Cook (ICH) 15-5 ¾

High jump – 1. Taylor Peterson (CRP) 5-1 ¼; 5. Alia Vanderhoef (ICH) 4-10; 8. Kate Swenning (ICH) 4-8

Discus – 1. Myah Brinker (CF) 114-6

Shot put – 1. Allison Flanscha (CF) 36-0; 5. Anna Spellman (ICH) 33-6 ½

4×100 – 1. Waterloo East 49.7; 3. City High (Emma Clark, Azzura Sartini-Rideout, Ayana Lindsey, Emma Cooper) 50.45

4×200 – 1. Cedar Falls 1:46.73; 3. City High (Mia DePrenger, Emma Clark, Azzura Sartini-Rideout, Emma Cooper) 1:49.42

4×400 – 1. City High (CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Caroline Schaeckenbach, Mia DePrenger, Lillian Reynolds) 4:07.66

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Senior 9:48.01; 4. City High (Tatum Frazier, Lillian Reynolds, Janie Perril, Lucy Corbin) 10:01.76

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. City High (Jordan Sekafetz, Te’Nia Ansley, Mia DePrenger, Caroline Schaeckenbach) 1:05.58

Sprint medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:51.4; 3. City High (Emma Clark, Emma Cooper, Ayana Lindsey, CeCe Kelly-Harvey) 1:52.44

Distance medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 4:29.39; 4. City High (Pamela Wawaka, Ella Cook, Peyton Naeve, Aly Hecker) 4:35.3

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