Photo by Jeff Yoder | West Branch state track photo gallery

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – The shuttle hurdle relay tradition is alive and well at West Branch.

The Bears made sure of that on Saturday with a third-place finish at the Class 2A state track and field meet at Drake Stadium at Des Moines.

West Branch clocked a season-best time of 1:08.06 in the finals to earn a top-five shuttle hurdle relay finish for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

“This event means a lot to us,” West Branch junior Kaiya Luneckas said. “It’s a tradition we have built throughout the years and every year we keep improving and placing better at state.”

West Branch entered the finals with the fifth fastest time from Thursday’s prelims but dropped more than half a second off its previous season-best time clocked in the prelims while moving up two spots to third.

The third-place finish for West Branch was its best shuttle hurdle finish since winning the state title in 2015.

“Our goal for today was to get top-three and we wanted to pr,” junior Jaylen Votroubek said. “We were going to be o.k. with whatever happened but to do that is amazing.”

Juniors Votroubek and Luneckas and sophomore Sasha Koenig all returned from last year’s West Branch shuttle hurdle squad that placed fifth in 2A in 1:09.5.

West Branch had to find a replacement for last year’s team leader in departed senior Tatum Koenig.

That is where the tradition part comes into the equation.

“When new girls come in they want to be a part of the shuttle hurdle relay team because they know it’s a cool tradition,” Koenig said. “It’s a team people want to be a part of.”

West Branch added freshman Chloe Sarver and got to work, never skipping a beat from last season.

What makes that even more impressive is Sarver had never hurdled before high school.

“I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do hurdles when I got asked to try it,” Sarver said. “When I tried it I kind of fell in love with it.”

The fact Sarver is brand new to the event is nothing new.

One of the biggest parts of building sustainable hurdle relay success at a school the size of West Branch is turning non-hurdlers into hurdlers.

The Bears have done that as well as anyone in recent years.

“We find someone who has potential and they work at it,” Luneckas said. “Chloe she had never hurdled and look at her she is a stud now. It just takes practice and we work at it throughout the season and it gets us to where we are.”

Dyersville Beckman won the 2A title in a time of 1:05.88 while PCM was second in 1:07.92.

West Branch finished .14 in front of River Valley Conference foe Cascade who was fourth in 1:08.2.

“I’m ecstatic,” Luneckas said. “I love being a part of this team and to have our best time today in the last meet of the season is exactly what we wanted.”

Class 2A

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Mid-Prairie 49; 2. Aplington-Parkersburg 39; 3. Panorama 38; 4. Western Christian 34; 5. Treynor 29; 5. Cascade 29; 7. Crestwood 27; 8 OABCIG 26; 9. Dyersville Beckman 25; 9. Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central 25; 19. Regina 14; 36. West Branch 7

Individual results (Event winners; area participants)

100 – 1. Katie Saner (Crestwood) 12.71

200 – 1. Katie Saner (Crestwood) 26.44

800 – 1. Sophia Jungling (Aplington-Parkersburg) 2:16.38

1,500 – 1. Marie Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 4:40.63

100 hurdles – 1. Heather Boeckenstedt (Dyersville Beckman) 15.06

4×100 – 1. OABCIG 50.09

4×400 – 1. Waukee 1:03.11; 3. West High (Ella Woods, Amy Liao, Matayia Tellis, Peyton Steva) 1:03.79; 5. City High (Jordan Sekafetz, Te’Nia Ansley, Mia DePrenger, Carolina Schaeckenbach) 1:05.6; 6. Liberty High (Taylor Cannon, Elizabeth Davis, Jada Murphy, Gabbie Schroeder) 1:06.01

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Dyersville Beckman 1:05.6; 3. West Branch (Kaiya Luneckas, Chloe Sarver, Sasha Koenig, Jaylen Votroubek) 1:08.06

Sprint medley relay – 1. Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central 1:50.0; 7. Regina (Madeline Adam, Hope Simpson, Jaedynn Evans, Annie Gahan) 1:53.47

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