Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – The Solon girls track team doesn’t discuss winning meets very often.

Instead, the talk inside the Solon program is focused on individual improvement, doing your daily job and letting the results take care of themselves.

“Going into every meet we want to win and we try to win and we run certain races to win but we don’t talk about winning meets,” Levin said. “That’s just what happens when everything comes together and you win that many events.”

The longer the Solon winning streak gets, the harder it is getting for those outside the program to stop talking about the wins.

Solon posted its fourth win in as many tries on Friday cruising to the Class A team title at the Creek Classic Relays in Tiffin.

The Spartans won six events on Friday, rolling up 182 points to outdistance runner-up Mid-Prairie and host Clear Creek Amana which finished third.

“We never really talk about winning meets,” Solon sophomore Sophia Stahle said. “It’s just something that is happening but now that we are on a winning streak we just want to keep winning.”

Just as it has done in each of its previous three wins this season Solon used its trademark depth to separate itself from the field on Friday night.

Solon had 10 runner-up finishes, posted top-two performances in 16-of-18 events and had a top five finish in every event while finishing 38 points in front of Mid-Prairie in the eight-team Class A division.

The team title was the third in a seven-day span for Solon which won the J-Hawk Relays last Saturday and the Williamsburg Invite on Tuesday.

“It’s nice to be able to win meets,” Solon coach Brett Sands said. “We talk about going to compete and tell them we aren’t worried about points if it happens it happens.”

So far this season that formula has been foolproof, a trend that continued on Friday.

Solon got individual titles from Makinley Levin in the long jump, Ava Conrad in the discus, Mia Duckett in the 100 and Kaia Holtkamp in the 800.

Holtkamp (high jump), Conrad (shot put), Levin (200), Emma Bock (400), Kiersten Conway (1,500), Sophia Stahle (100 hurdles) and Mia Stahle (400 hurdles) all added individual runner-up performances.

“Our throws have been solid and Kaia Holtkamp I really thought cleared 5-2 today but the bar just came off,” Sands said. “And then Makinley was almost 17 feet in the long jump so we are putting things together.”

Levin, Holtkamp, Conrad and Conway are all known performers for Sands, upperclassmen with loads of varsity experience even after last season was wiped away by the pandemic.

It has been the emergence of freshmen like Duckett and Mia Stahle and untested sophomores like Sophia Stahle that have Solon looking like a threat to win big-time meets in May.

“Mia Duckett has really been starting to put up some numbers and is running well in the relays and Mia Stahle has run really well and keeps dropping times in the hurdles,” Sands said. “Those are the little bits and pieces that you are looking for to fill in the holes.”

The upperclassmen on the Solon roster did much of the heavy lifting on Friday.
Levin won the long jump with a season-best leap of 16-11 ½, which tied her for the 10^th best mark in the state this season as of Friday night.

“Coming into this meet I was 25^th (in the state) in the long jump and I knew I needed to get to 24^th,” Levin said. “I just went out and jumped and when I got it I was so excited.”

Along with her runner-up finish in the 200 Levin ran on the Spartans’ winning sprint medley and 4×400 relay teams.

“No matter who we put in the relays we know that we are going to run well,” Levin said. “That’s an area we all enjoy and we expect to have success in.”

The signs of the Spartans depth can be seen in the relay success.

Solon was first or second in five relays on Friday, adding runner-up finishes in the shuttle hurdle, 4×100 and 4×800.

Levin teamed with Sophia Stahle, Duckett and Bock to win the sprint medley in 1:52.8 and the foursome of Levin, Bock, Holtkamp and Ashley Stinocher won the 4×400 in 4:06.08.

“Our girls know that we aren’t going to stick with the same things and they have a chance to jump into a relay they have a chance to earn a spot,” Sands said. “I think they battle a little harder because of that.”

Clear Creek Amana won three events while finishing third in the team standings.

Silvana Kabolo won the 100 hurdles in 16.63 and anchored the shuttle hurdle relay team of Emma Mathis, Cileigh Smiddy and Kayla Jiras to a title in 1:09.24.

The Clear Creek Amana 4×800 team of Kiera Rogers, Haidyn Barker, Sam Schrage and Avery Allan won in 10:23.14.

West Branch finished fifth in the Class B division with 74.5 points.

Sasha Koenig was runner-up in the long jump with a mark of 15-3 ½ and joined Nicki Henson, Ava Finley and Iva Senio to win the 4×100 in 54.8.

Clear Creek Amana Invitational

At Tiffin

Class A

Team scores – 1. Solon 182; 2. Mid-Prairie 138; 3. Clear Creek Amana 115; 4. Williamsburg 105; 5. Mount Vernon 57; 6. Independence 56; 7. Benton Community 43; 8. Belle Plaine 38

Individual results (Event winners; area placers)

Long jump – 1. Makinley Levin (SOL) 16-11 ½; 5. Emma Descourouez (CCA) 14-8 ½; 8. Aisley Foster (SOL) 13-9 ½

High jump – 1. Ella Groenwold (M-P) 5-0; 2. Kaia Holtkamp (SOL) 5-0; 3. Bliss Beck (CCA) 4-10; 4. Sam Schrage (CCA) 4-8; 6. Tatum Holtkamp (SOL) 4-8

Shot put – 1. Lauren Pope (WIL) 38-1; 2. Ava Conrad (SOL) 36-8; 5. Elly Holubar (SOL) 32-7 ½; 8. Ava Locklear (CCA) 29-3

Discus – 1. Ava Conrad (SOL) 118-11; 4. Dakaria Matthews (CCA) 92-10 ½; 6. Elly Holubar (SOL) 88-2; 8. Ava Locklear (CCA) 79-11 ½

100 – 1. Mia Duckett (SOL) 13.31; 5. Mari Cetta (CCA) 14.28; 7. Ava Stebral (SOL) 14.67

200 – 1. Alyssa Larson (IND) 27.64; 2. Makinley Levin (SOL) 27.87; 3. Bailey Olerich (CCA) 28.55; 6. Sam Schrage (CCA) 29.4; 7. Heather Bachus (SOL) 29.44

400 – 1. Mitzi Evans (M-P) 58.89; 2. Emma Bock (SOL) 59.31; 4. Kiera Rogers (CCA) 1:05.03

800 – 1. Kaia Holtkamp (SOL) 2:27.24; 3. Haidyn Barker (CCA) 2:36.86; 6. Avery Allan (CCA) 2:40.68; 7. Ashlyn Williams (SOL) 2:41.81

1,500 – 1. Danielle Hostetler (M-P) 5:03.09; 2. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 5:20.46; 3. Anna Quillin (SOL) 5:31.47

3,000 – 1. Danielle Hostetler (M-P) 10:29.33; 3. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 11:28.02; 5. Annika Kruse (SOL) 12:30.44; 7. Allie Kounkel (CCA) 13:31.52

100 hurdles – 1. Silvana Kabolo (CCA) 16.63; 2. Sophia Stahle (SOL) 16.8; 3. Emma Mathis (CCA) 17.0;

400 hurdles – 1. Laura Swart (MV) 1:09.7; 2. Mia Stahle (SOL) 1:12.26; 6. Mari Cetta (CCA) 1:22.96

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Cileigh Smiddy, Kayla Jiras, Silvana Kabolo) 1:09.24; 2. Solon (Mia Stahle, Jada Buffington, Calla Foster, Sophia Stahle) 1:11.78

Sprint medley relay – 1. Solon (Sophia Stahle, Mia Duckett, Makinley Levin, Emma Bock) 1:52.8; 4. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Bailey Olerich, Silvana Kabolo, Kayla Jiras) 1:59.95

Distance medley relay – 1. Mount Vernon 4:40.17; 4. Solon (Monet Barnhouse, Heather Bachus, Hailey Miller, Ashley Stinocher) 4:48.05; 6. Clear Creek Amana (Kyren Pettit, Emma Descourouez, Amanda Weih, Emily Coleman) 5:00.65

4×100 relay – 1. Mid-Prairie 51.2; 2. Solon (Sophia Stahle, Mia Duckett, Addie McQuinn, Adelyn Leichtman) 53.23; 3. Clear Creek Amana (Bailey Olerich, Silvana Kabolo, Cileigh Smiddy, Emma Mathis) 53.27

4×200 relay – 1. Williamsburg 1:47.7; 4. Clear Creek Amana (Bailey Olerich, Cileigh Smiddy, Kayla Jiras, Bliss Beck) 1:53.43; 5. Solon (Mia Duckett, Mia Stahle, Addie McQuinn, Ava Stebral) 1:54.52

4×400 relay – 1. Solon (Ashley Stinocher, Kaia Holtkamp, Makinley Levin, Emma Bock) 4:06.08; 4. Clear Creek Amana (Kiera Rogers, Bliss Beck, Kayla Jiras, Sam Schrage) 4:16.72

4×800 relay – 1. Clear Creek Amana (Kiera Rogers, Haidyn Barker, Sam Schrage, Avery Allan) 10:23.14; 2. Solon (Meghan O’Neill, Anna Quillin, Ashlyn Williams, Kerrigan Lyons) 10:31.06

Class B

Team scores – 1. Pekin 210.5; 2. North Linn 103; 3. English Valleys 90; 4. Durant 86.5; 5. West Branch 74.5; 6. BGM 63; 7. West Liberty 44; 8. Iowa Valley 35.5

Individual results (Event winners; area placers)

Long jump – 1. Skylar Benesh (NL) 15-8; 2. Sasha Koenig (WB) 15-3 ½

High jump – 1. Rilee Han (WL) 4-6; 7. Nina Torkelson (WB) 4-2

Shot put – 1. Kerrigan Pope (PEK) 36-9 ½; 3. Allie Laschanzky (WB) 33-7 ½; 4. Sadie Smith (WB) 30-4

Discus – 1. Kerrigan Pope (PEK) 116-8; 3. Allie Laschanzky (WB) 97-1; 4. Delaynie Luneckas (WB) 84-10 ½

100 – 1. Maddie Mikesell (EV) 14.0

200 – 1. Carly Stanerson (EV) 28.74

400 – 1. Sarah Eubanks (PEK) 1:02.38; 8. Maryam Martin (WB) 1:16.54

800 – 1. Lily Fariss (PEK) 2:44.8; 4. Alyse Klinkkammer (WB) 3:01.5

1,500 – 1. Lauren Derscheid (PEK) 5:33.99

3,000 – 1.  Lauren Derscheid (PEK) 12:02.76

100 hurdles – 1. Caitlin Benesh (NL) 18.32; 3. Sasha Koenig (WB) 18.75

400 hurdles – 1. Sabrina Reneker (PEK) 1:13.4

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. North Linn 1:15.73

Sprint medley relay – 1. Pekin 1:56.53; 4. West Branch (Nicki Henson, Ava Finley, Sasha Koenig, Iva Senio) 2:05.07

Distance medley relay – 1. Pekin 4:48.06; 6. West Branch (Ashlynne Nash, Redi Boelk, Cadence Hansen, Hannah Schiele) 5:35.87

4×100 relay – 1. West Branch (Nicki Henson, Ava Finley, Sasha Koenig, Iva Senio) 54.8

4×200 relay – 1. Pekin 1:55.62; 5. West Branch (Nicki Henson, Laikyn Worrell, Ava Finley, Iva Senio) 2:04.35

4×400 relay – 1. Pekin 4:23.31; 5. West Branch (Cadence Hansen, Lauren Braddock, Bailey Walker, Ali Butler) 5:05.78

4×800 relay – 1. Pekin 10:58.69; 4. West Branch (Alyse Klinkkammer, JaLynn Falco, Emmersen Thomas, Madelyn Stout) 12:20.01

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