Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival offers an opportunity for some of the top talent from across the state to show what they can do.

On Monday a couple of City High standouts used the meet as a platform to prove they were poised for breakthrough seasons.

Matt Schaeckenbach won a pair of individual titles and John Aschenbrenner won the 110 hurdles and ran on City High’s winning 4×100 relay team as the Little Hawks won a meet-best five events at the unscored meet hosted by West High.

“It was a good night for us,” City High coach Mike Moore said. “We wanted to come here and do some things and I was really happy with how our kids competed.”
The strong night for City High highlighted by impressive performances from Aschenbrenner and Schaeckenbach.

A sophomore in his first varsity season, Schaeckenbach cleared 6-0 to win the high jump and pulled away from the field to win the 400 hurdles in 57.1.

In between his two individual titles Schaeckenbach ran on the City High 4×200 relay team that placed second in behind West High in a time of 1:32.1.

“I just try to take it one event at a time,” Schaeckenbach said. “I just go do one event, and try to stay warm between the races and move on to the next event.”

Schaeckenbach missed out on a chance to get his feet wet at the varsity level as a freshman when last season was cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic.

In his first varsity season Schaeckenbach was enjoyed a breakthrough while competing in a variety of events from the 400 hurdles and high jump to the high hurdles and 4×400 relay.

“We took him into the sprinters group and said you are going to train with us in the weight room and so we can start working on the development that he has to improve on,” Moore said. “When he improves on that strength training component he is going to really take off.”

Schaeckenbach showed what he could do on Monday pulling away from the field in the 400 hurdles.

His time of 57.1 was more than two seconds faster than runner-up Jason Lu of West High and currently ranks 13^th in the state this season.

“I was pretty happy with my time,” Schaeckenbach said. “I definitely feel like I can improve, it was really windy today so I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Aschenbrenner continued his strong season on Monday winning the 110 hurdles in a time of 15.94.

The senior also ran the lead off leg on the City High 4×100 relay team that won in a season-best time of 43.8.

“That’s the first time that we have popped a good one,” Moore said. “Like Raff would always say, ‘one time o.k., two times alright, but three times now we’ve really got something so we still have a couple more shots of getting that going before I’m all in on that.”

City High also won the 4×800 relay as the foursome of Ford Washburn, Soren Ostby, Sullivan Hall and Ammon Smith broke the tape in 8:28.1.

“The 4×8 I don’t care what anybody says 8:27 in that kind of wind is pretty good,” Moore said. “Because you know what? The wind isn’t going to stop the Drake Relays or the state meet so get used to it and battle through it and learn how to face the adversity and they did awesome with that.”

Area teams combined to win 12 of the 19 events at the meet that featured more than 30 teams from all across the state.

Host West High won the 4×200 relay in 1:31.9 and got an individual title from Daquan Johnson who won the long jump with a leap of 20-8.

“We didn’t have the greatest night but we certainly had some highlights,” West High coach TJ Craig said. “Our long jumper went 20-8 pr and we hadn’t done that in a while. We are just a really young squad but we are out here trying and the effort is good. We are learning that’s for sure.”
Liberty High had its own strong showing on Monday winning a trio of relay events.

Senior Bowen Gryp anchored the Lightning to titles in the 4×400 and distance medley and Liberty High added a win in the shuttle hurdle relay.

“We knew coming into the season our distance team is good but we didn’t know about the sprinters and they are coming up big and surprising the whole team,” Gryp said. “Luke Meyers, Michael Miller those guys have been huge additions. We have a good sprint group to go with our distance group.”

Clear Creek Amana got an individual title from senior Alex Figueroa who won the 100 in a season-best time of 11.3

Solon got a championship in the sprint medley relay as the team of Sean Stahle, Grant Gerdin, Brayden Rickertsen and Austin Knight won in 1:41.56.

On the girls side City High won a pair of relay titles.

The team of Lilly Reynolds, CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Rowan Boulter and Tatum Frazier won the 4×800 in 10:08.95 and the distance medley foursome of Iris Wedemeyer, Mia DePrenger, Aofie Boulter and Lucy Corbin won in 4:43.52.

Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival

At West High

Boys

Individual results (Event winners; area placers)

Long jump – 1. Daquan Johnson (West High) 20-8; 4. Daqwan Sanders (Liberty High) 20-0 ¾; 5. Ronnie Major (City High) 19-11 ¼; 6. Rhyse Wear (Solon) 18-8 ½; 7. Griffin Kraft (Liberty High) 18-3

High jump – 1. Matt Schaeckenbach (City High) 6-0; 3. Beau Miller (Liberty High) 5-10; 5. Jeremy Bachus (Solon) 5-6; 6. Seth Overton (West High) 5-4; 6. Daniel Robinson (West High) 5-4; 6. Jeremiah Madlock (Liberty High) 5-4

Shot put – 1. Jesus Jaime (Ottumwa) 53-3 ½; 5. Mason Applegate (West High) 45-8 ½; 7. Chris Colgan (West High) 44-9 ½

Discus – 1. Nolan Recker (Muscatine) 163-10; 8. Tyler Halverson (West High) 125-6

100 – 1. Alex Figueroa (Clear Creek Amana) 11.3; 7. Colton Hoffman (Solon) 11.82; 8. Mason Applegate (West High) 11.86

200 – 1. Nolan DeLong (Durant) 23.67; 4. Fabian Brown (West High) 24.26; 5. Trey King (West High) 24.88; 7. Cody Nichols (Liberty High) 25.12

400 – 1. Braden Powers (Saint Ansgar) 51.04; 6. Daquan Johnson (West High) 54.4

800 – 1. Dylan Darsidan (Camanche) 2:00.35

1,600 – 1. Riley Witt (St. Ansgar) 4:26.6; 3. Ford Washburn (City High) 4:29.31; 8. Ben DeValk (Solon) 4:45.28

3,200 – 1. Eli Larson (Center Point-Urbana) 9:47.21; 4. Caleb Schillinger (Liberty High) 10:08.77; 6. Christian Montover (Liberty High) 10:20.83; 8. Drew Peterson (West High) 10:54.67

110 hurdles – 1. John Aschenbrenner (City High) 15.94; 2. Daqwan Sanders (Liberty High) 16.37; 3. Jason Lu (West High) 16.38; 4. Brady Mullen (Solon) 17.42; 5. Clay Bopp (West High) 17.49

400 hurdles – 1. Matt Schaeckenbach (City High) 57.1; 2. Jason Lu (West High) 59.23; 3. Clay Bopp (West High) 59.81

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Liberty High (Beau Miller, Daqwan Sanders, Max Thompson, Griffin Kraft) 1:03.84; 2. Clear Creek Amana (Ben Swails, Andrew Schlemme, Zaid Rachman, Harrison Rosenberg) 1:04.09; 4. Solon (Blake Timmons, Brady Mullen, Nash Kotar, Brady Jeworrek) 1:08.02

Sprint medley relay – 1. Solon (Sean Stahle, Grant Gerdin, Brayden Rickertsen, Austin Knight) 1:41.56; 3. Liberty High (Brody Fishman, Wyatt Williams, Ben O’Connor, Cody Nichols) 1:42.13; 6. West High (Eric Torres, Barry Diallo, Todd Rent, Aidan Jacobsen) 1:47.42

Distance medley relay – 1. Liberty High (Michael Miller, Evan Chandler, Luke Meyers, Bowen Gryp) 3:38.18; 2. Clear Creek Amana (Harrison Rosenberg, Gage Freeman, Gavin Zillyette, Tom Johnson) 3:39.32; 6. Solon (Sean Stahle, Jacob Timmons, Ben DeValk, Tyler Bilskie) 3:56.94;

4×100 relay – 1. City High (John Aschenbrenner, Jovan Harris, Ronnie Major, Isaac Rohret) 43.8; 4. Liberty High (Luke Meyers, Ben O’Connor, Brody Fishman, Michael Miller) 44.9; 7. Solon (Trin Eidahl, Danny Knezevich, Brady Jeworrek, Colton Hoffman) 45.11

4×200 relay – 1. West High (Nathan Gudenkauf, Fabian Brown, Trey King, Mason Applegate) 1:31.9; 2. City High (Isaac Rohret, Matt Schaeckenbach, Jovan Harris, Ronnie Major) 1:32.1; 4. Solon (Blake Timmons, Trin Eidahl, Brayden Rickertsen, Colton Hoffman) 1:32.69

4×400 relay – 1. Liberty High (Luke Meyers, Jack Kinzer, Michael Miller, Bowen Gryp) 3:30.09; 4. Solon (Blake Timmons, Brayden Rickertsen, Tyler Bilskie, Rhett Mesch) 3:36.87; 6. West High (Nathan Gudenkauf, Caden Noeller, Christian Janis, Daquan Johnson) 3:44.99

4×800 relay – 1. City High (Ford Washburn, Soren Ostby, Sullivan Hall, Ammon Smith) 8:28.1; 5. West High (Isaac Taylor, Asher Overholt, Mason Van Waning, Mohan Kumar) 9:01.69; 8. Liberty High (Spencer Knight, Boden Bisgard, Holden Carter, Gavin Hayes) 9:31.19

Girls

Individual results (Event winners; area placers)

Long jump – 1. Kelsey Pacha (Fairfield) 16-10 ½; 5. Jordan Sekafetz (City High) 15-5; 8. Prisca Kalala (City High) 14-9 ¾

High jump – 1. Carlee Rochford (New Hampton) 5-0

Shot put – 1. Carly Stevenson (Charles City) 38-8; 3. Arionnah Sonii (West High) 38-5

Discus – 1. Anna Wohlers (Davenport Assumption) 128-7;

100 – 1. Kelly Proesch (North Cedar) 13.52;

200 – 1. Ella Blinkinsop (Camanche) 29.57

400 – 1. Alexis Moses (Cedar Rapids Prairie) 1:01.5; 2. Eva Reynolds (City High) 1:04.5; 3. Iris Wedemeyer (City High) 1:05.03; 6. Ava Bell (City High) 1:05.87

800 – 1. Gabby Cortez (Cedar Rapids Prairie) 2:22.09; 4. Tatum Frazier (City High) 2:33.93;

1,500 – 1. Danielle Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 4:52.77

3,000 – 1. Sydney Yoder (Mid-Prairie) 11:05.5

100 hurdles – 1. Anna Dunlap (Fairfield) 15.96; 3. Jordan Sekafetz (City High) 16.29; 4. Maya Morales (City High) 18.49; 5. Sierra Pruessner (City High) 19.95

400 hurdles – 1. Kelly Proesch (North Cedar) 1:06.63

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Cascade 1:10.52

Sprint medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:51.69

Distance medley relay – 1. City High (Iris Wedemeyer, Mia DePrenger, Aofie Boulter, Lucy Corbin) 4:43.52

4×100 relay – 1. Davenport Assumption 50.79

4×200 relay – 1. Davenport Assumption 1:48.2

4×400 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 4:09.67; 3. City High (CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Mia DePrenger, Eva Reynolds, Lilly Reynolds) 4:12.8

4×800 relay – 1. City High (Lilly Reynolds, CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Rowan Boulter, Tatum Frazier) 10:08.95

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