Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The expectations seemingly have no limit for distance runner Ashlyn Keeney.

Previous championships in state track and the Drake Relays have produced an atmosphere in which the Liberty High junior is always expected to better the competition.

She continues to deliver.

“I just focus on one event at a time,” Keeney said after earning four gold medals and helping the Lightning to a tie for first place in the team standings at a Class 4A state-qualifying meet Thursday night at Trojan Field. “I do get pretty nervous, but I just try to think about my past events and how in the past I have done a lot of events, so I can do it tonight. It is also helpful to know that even if you don’t get top two here, your time can qualify you so I was just going to run the best I could. It is so fun to be here with all the other girls, so that just relieves any pressure you have talking with them.”

Keeney fended off some stout competition from both Cedar Rapids Prairie and Dubuque Hempstead in garnering three individual wins in the 3,000, the 800 and the 1,500.

But the eventual first-place stalemate with Cedar Rapids Prairie in the team standings – each team scored 141 points – could only have been possible with contributions from a confident bunch of Lightning teammates that all take their cues from their standout.

“When you have one of the best girls in the state, or the best girl in the state, and she is such a great leader, then it does trickle down,” fourth-year Liberty High coach Keaton Rickels said. “Everyone can look up and be like, ‘If the fastest girl on our team acts like this, it means I should act like this.’ When the fastest girl on the team is just showing that leadership style, it definitely trickles down and shows the youngsters what it takes to be great.”

Liberty High received important contributions from multiple performers.

In addition to Keeney’s individual excellence, she also anchored a distance medley relay win with seniors Chaise Lange and Christella Luyeye, plus junior Isabelle Woody, of four Lightning relay units to earn state berths.

“Everybody knowing that they are not only running for themselves, they are running as a group,” Keeney said. “Something about not just running for a certain time or to better get your own PR (personal record), but running to get it to the girl ahead of you faster so she can finish faster. That is just a real big motivator and that is why we do we so well in our relays.”

The Liberty High foursome of Woody, juniors Brie Klein and Elizabeth Jaeger and sophomore Brityn Gryp claimed gold in the shuttle hurdle relay, while four more Lightning runners – freshman Cori Mac, sophomores Hailey Noel and Malia Taylor and senior McKenzie Logan – finished second in the 4×800 relay.

Gryp, Klein, Lange and freshman Amira Coleman will also represent Liberty at the state meet, which begins Wednesday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, after a runner-up finish in the 4×100 relay.

“We knew all those pieces were there,” Rickels said. “For all of them to do it on the same day, that is pretty exciting.”

In addition to the automatic state qualifiers (top-two placewinners in each event), 12 at-large bids will be awarded from the remaining performances in the other state-qualifying meets across the state.

City High finished fourth in the team standings with 96 points, highlighted by victories from senior Lillian Reynolds (400 hurdles) and its 4×200 relay team of senior CeCe Kelly-Harvey, freshman Sierra Pruessner, sophomore Eva Reynolds and junior Mia Deprenger.

The Little Hawks also earned state bids with runner-up performances from senior Jordan Sekafetz, both as an individual (100 hurdles) and as part of a sprint medley relay team alongside Pruessner, DePrenger and Lillian Reynolds.

West High placed sixth overall with 82 points.

The Trojans guaranteed themselves individual state bids with wins from junior Arionnah Sonii (shot put), Ella Woods (100 hurdles) and Phoebe Burt (discus), plus second-place finishers from Burt (shot put) and freshman Erinn Varga (400 dash, 400 hurdles).

Class 4A State Qualifying Meet

At Trojan Field

Teams scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 141; 1. Iowa City Liberty 141; 3. Dubuque Hempstead 102; 4. City High 96; 5. Dubuque Senior 83; 6. West High 82; 7. Ottumwa 69; 8. Muscatine 25.

State Qualifiers; Area placers

Long jump – 1. Lina Newland (OTT) 17-3 3/4; 2. Taylor Lee (CRP) 16-10 1/2; 5. Isabelle Woody (ICL) 16-5; 7. Kaitlin Lamkins (ICW) 15-9 3/4; 8. Emily Arling (ICH) 15-9

High jump – 1. Anne Guest (OTT) 5-4; 2. Lucie Lambe (DS) 5-0; 3. Alia Vanderhoef (ICH) 4-10; 4. Elizabeth Jaeger (ICL) 4-10; 8. Martha Hamilton (ICH) 4-6

Shot put – 1. Arionnah Sonii (ICW) 36-0 1/4; 2. Phoebe Burt (ICW) 35-10 1/2; 5. Jolie Nordell (ICL) 32-10; 7. Darya Acas (ICL) 31-7 ¾

Discus – 1. Phoebe Burt (Iowa City West), 135-11; 2. Emma Joens (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 115-02; 3. Darya Acas (Iowa City Liberty), 109-00; 6. Sophia Deyak (Iowa City West), 98-07

100 – 1. Kaliyah Johnson (DS) 13.30; 2. Ava Andrews (CRP) 13.39; 4. Jasmine Phonphiboun (ICH) 13.61; 5. Laura Pitkin (ICL) 13.63; 7. Prisca Kalala (ICH) 13.78; 8. Aleah Rees (ICL) 13.86

200 – 1. Sarah Jordan (CRP) 26.63; 2. Lina Newland (OTT) 26.70; 3. Brynlee Slockett (ICL) 27.56; 8. Prisca Kalala (ICH) 28.63

400 – 1. Gabby Cortez (CRP) 56.94; 2. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:01.21; 4. Iris Wedemeyer (ICH) 1:02.66; 5. Hailey Noel (ICL) 1:02.87; 7. Aoife Boulter (ICH) 1:04.64

800 – 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL) 2:18.13; 2. Lily Johannes (CRP) 2:19.92; 7. Cori Mac (ICL) 2:23.61

1,500 – 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL) 4:52.27; 2. Keelee Leitzen (DH) 4:53.91; 6. Cami Mac (ICL) 4:58.44

3,000 – 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL) 10:20.94; 2. Julia Gehl (DH) 10:21.21; 5. Cami Mac (ICL) 10:48.05; 7. Rowan Boulter (ICH) 10:59.45; 8. Maddy Negley (ICW) 11:00.56

100 hurdles – 1. Ella Woods (ICW) 15.84; 2. Jordan Sekafetz (ICH) 15.87; 3. Brie Klein (ICL) 16.40; 4. Sierra Pruessner (ICH) 16.45; 5. Hebah War (ICW) 17.33; 11. Chaise Lange (ICL) 18.53.

400 hurdles – 1. Lillian Reynolds (ICH) 1:06.59; 2. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:06.75; 3. Isabelle Woody (ICL) 1:07.99; 6. Martha Hamilton (ICH) 1:10.19

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Liberty High (Brie Klein, Elizabeth Jaeger, Brityn Gryp, Isabelle Woody) 1:08.17; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 1:08.35; 3. City High (Mia DePrenger, Maya Morales, Sierra Pruessner, Jordan Sekafetz) 1:09.31; 4. West High (Ella Woods, Hebah War, Brynne Nock, Raina Pfeifer) 1:11.38

Sprint medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 1:49.02; 2. City High (Sierra Pruessner, Jordan Sekafetz, Mia DePrenger, Lillian Reynolds) 1:51.20; 5. Liberty High (Haley Schroeder, Jenna Uden, Brynlee Slockett, Hannah Ramsey) 1:56.74; 7. West High (Kaitlin Lamkins, Tremeice Carter, Angelina Forte, Kaisa Whitaker) 2:04.38

Distance medley relay – 1. Liberty High (Chaise Lange, Christella Luyeye, Isabelle Woody, Ashlyn Keeney) 4:11.38; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 4:11.78; 3. City High (Jordan Sekafetz, Ava Bell, CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Lillian Reynolds) 4:18.20

4×100 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 50.40; 2. Liberty High (Chaise Lange, Amira Coleman, Brie Klein, Britlyn Gryp), 51.02; 7. City High (Natalie Green, Mackenzie Dvorsky, Jasmine Phonphiboun, Prisca Kalala) 54.05; 8. West High (Brynne Nock, Tremeice Carter, Inikka Dalton, Kaitlin Lamkins) 54.19.

4×200 relay – 1. City High (CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Sierra Pruessner, Eva Reynolds, Mia DePrenger) 1:47.57; 2. Liberty High (Brityn Gryp, Amira Coleman, Hannah Ramsey, Brynlee Slockett), 1:47.72; 7. Iowa City West (Brynne Nock, Tremeice Carter, Angelina Forte, Kaitlin Lamkins), 1:56.47

4×400 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 4:04.84; 2. City High (CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Mia DePrenger, Iris Wedemeyer, Lillian Reynolds) 4:07.97; 3. Liberty High (Hannah Ramsey, Hailey Noel, Malia Taylor, Christella Luyeye), 4:11.93; 4. West High (Avery Vest, Annie Schwartz, Sara Alaya, Erinn Varga) 4:14.0

4×800 relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 9:46.27; 2. Liberty High (Cori Mac, Hailey Noel, Malia Taylor, McKenzie Logan) 9:50.86; 4. City High (Tatum Frazier, CeCe Kelly-Harvey, Lucy Corbin, Eva Reynolds), 9:53.22; 6. West High (Annie Schwartz, Sara Alaya, Ella Brewer, Grace Miller) 9:59.0

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