Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The weather for the season-opening Women of Troy Relays was less than ideal.

It was cold and overcast with a brisk, biting wind sweep through Trojan Stadium.

For the members of the West High track squad it was perfect.

“I would say in a normal year in these conditions we would have heard a lot of whining, no one is whining today,” West High coach Mike Parker said. “We are just so thankful. It’s been over a year since we’ve been able to get outdoors and have a real track season. It’s been a long time.”

It had been nearly two calendar years since the last outdoor competition for West High after the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 track season.

West High made the most of its return to the track on Tuesday winning three individual titles and adding runner-up finishes in four other individual events.

Phoebe Burt swept the throwing events and Ella Woods won the 100 hurdles as West High finished behind team champion Linn-Mar and runner-up Cedar Rapids Prairie.

“I was really excited but also really nervous, it was just a mix of both,” Woods said. “The nerves were worse than any other year just because it’s been so long and the wind and the cold didn’t help so I was super nervous but that was also because I was so excited to get back on the track.”

Perhaps no Trojan was more excited to get back into action than Burt.

The senior wasn’t able to compete in the state qualifying meet as a sophomore in 2019 so her last outdoor meet was a junior varsity meet that season.

“My last track meet was May my sophomore year so it’s been about two years,” Burt said. “My first outdoor meet in two years, it was just amazing to be back, it really was.”

In her first meet in nearly 23 months Burt posted the best performance of her career.

Burt won the shot put with a toss of 37-8, seven inches better than teammate Arionnah Sonii who was runner-up with a mark of 37-1.

“Our throwers had a great, great day,” Parker said. “In the shot both of our throwers went 37 feet and those are state championship kind of throws right out of the gate. Phoebe had an outstanding distance as well.”

Burt was even more impressive in the discus where she unloaded a career-best toss of 126-9 ½.

The winning mark for Burt was more than 10 feet better than her previous career-best.

“Getting the season taken away last year before our first outdoor meet gave me that feeling today of ‘this is it, this is what I’ve been waiting for’,” Burt said. “Seeing it leave my hand and watching it land that is what I’ve been waiting for, that mark right there.”

While Burt dominated the throwing events Woods conquered a strong headwind in winning the 100 hurdles in a time of 17.3.

The wind was directly into the face of the hurdlers and caused Woods issues but couldn’t keep her from a win.

“I was hoping that the wind would just stop for my race but it didn’t,” Woods said. “I three step but it’s kind of a struggle sometimes and each hurdle I just kept getting further and further away and the last hurdle I basically bunny hopped over it and lost a second. The wind was pretty tough.”

The performances from Woods and Burt highlighted an overall strong day for a young West High squad.

Kaitlin Lamkins was runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 15-4 and Raina Pfiefer was second in the high jump clearing 4-8.

“Our field events were great and not surprisingly those are veteran girls that have been to the state championships before,” Parker said. “They know what it takes.”

Erinn Varga was runner-up in the 400 hurdles in 1:18.1 and Maddy Negley was third in the 3,000 in 11:46.6.

West High finished third in the shuttle hurdle, 4×400 and 4×800 relays.

“We’ve got some pieces but we know what it takes to make a 19-event team and our young people are going to have to learn quickly and that’s our goal is to get them there by May,” Parker said.

Women of Troy Relays

At Trojan Stadium

Team scores – 1. Linn-Mar 176; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 140; 3. West High 130.33; 4. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 108.83; 5. Cedar Rapids Xavier 66.5; 6. Muscatine 53; 7. Burlington 39.33

Individual results (Event winners; area placers)

Long jump – 1. Kaylee Bunn (L-M) 15-7; 2. Kaitlin Lamkins (ICW) 15-4; 8. Inikka Dalton (ICW) 13-11

High jump – 1. Katy Hand (L-M) 4-8; 2. Raina Pfiefer (ICW) 4-8

Discus – 1. Phoebe Burt (ICW) 126-9 ½; 6. Lexi Nash (ICW) 81-6 ½

Shot put – 1. Phoebe Burt (ICW) 37-8; 2. Arionnah Sonii (ICW) 37-1

100 – 1. Gabby Cortez (CRP) 12.8; 8. Kaitlin Lamkins (ICW) 14.5

200 – 1. Emily Schmidt (L-M) 28.4; 6. Avery Vest (ICW) 30.7

400 – 1. Lily Haars (L-M) 1:02.4; 5. Annie Schwartz (ICW) 1:05.6

800 – 1. Gabby Cortez (CRP) 2:20; 5. Sara Alaya (ICW) 2:39.1

1,500 – 1. Lily Johannes (CRP) 5:08.2; 5. Vicki Carrica (ICW) 5:35.5; 7. Maddy Negley (ICW) 5:39.2

3,000 – 1. Micah Poellet (L-M) 10:25.9; 3. Maddy Negley (ICW) 11:46.6; 5. Gabby Mozina (ICW) 12:09.2

100 hurdles – 1. Ella Woods (ICW) 17.3; 5. Hannah War (ICW) 19.2

400 hurdles – 1. Emma Arnold (CRX) 1:13.2; 2. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:18.1; 7. Raina Pfiefer (ICW) 1:22

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1:14; 3. West High (Raina Pfiefer, Brynne Nock, Hebah War, Ella Woods) 1:16.6

Sprint medley relay – 1. Linn-Mar 1:54.7; 5. West High (Inikka Dalton, Bena Kariuki, Jocelyn Jacobsen, Angelina Forte) 2:17

Distance medley relay – 1. Linn-Mar 4:34.3; 4. West High (Avery Vest, Erinn Varga, Jocelyn Jacobsen, Maddy Negley) 5:02.9

4×100 relay – 1. Linn-Mar 53.1; 6. West High (Tremeice Carter, Avery Vest, Hebah War, Ella Woods) 56.9

4×200 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:54.6

4×400 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 4:13.37; 3. West High (Erinn Varga, Angelina Forte, Erica Buettner, Annie Schwartz) 4:28

4×800 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 10:22.2; 3. West High (Annie Schwartz, Sara Alaya, Erica Buettner, Vicki Carrica) 10:45.9

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