Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – On the track or in the field events Solon couldn’t have imagined a worse way to start the Class 3A state qualifying meet on Thursday.

Solon put the baton on the track in the meet-opening sprint medley relay and senior stalwart Ava Conrad started the discus with a back-to-back scratches during a difficult early stretch for the Spartans.

What looked like a cause for concern early ended in a celebration for the Spartans.

Conrad and Emma Bock bounced back from early miscues to turn in huge performance as Solon posted 12 automatic state qualifiers and pulled away from two-time defending 3A runner-up Dubuque Wahlert to win the team title at a picturesque evening at Spartan Stadium in Solon.

“We had some tough moments early but fortunately we seemed to redeem ourselves,” Solon coach Brent Sands said. “There were still a few blunders out there that we had that we recovered from but the way things look we came out well.”

Bock won the 800 and ran on a pair of winning relay teams and Conrad swept the throwing events as Solon won the team title with 181.5 points, finishing 16.5 points clear of Dubuque Wahlert.

Solon won six events and had six runner-up finishes, securing 12 automatic qualifying entries in 11 different events.

“It’s fantastic, it’s so exciting,” Conrad said. “Everyone is so happy and that’s just a great way to finish my last high school meet.”

Things were a little dicey early all around for Solon.

Bock dropped the baton on the second exchange during the sprint medley and was in seventh place when she finally got going on her 400-meter anchor leg.

Bock closed the gap significantly enough on the field for Solon to finish fourth in a time of 1:54.46.

“That was the first time I have ever dropped the baton and it definitely made things more stressful,” Bock said. “I just throught ‘I have to make up as much time as possible’ and I was trying to book it and hopefully make it in.”

The Spartans are hopeful that time is good enough to earn a spot at state as an additional qualifier when the complete field is released on Friday.

“We redeemed ourselves there and I think we are going be alright,” Sands said. “As we kind of looked at some other times across the state in that event we think we are going to be o.k. and so hopefully we didn’t have to learn the lesson the hard way.”

The early drop didn’t slow Bock. In fact, it seemed to ignite the standout junior.

In her lone individual event of the evening Bock won the 800 in 2:22.57, less than half a second in front of teammate Kaia Holtkamp who finished in 2:22.96.

Bock anchored the Solon distance medley relay team to a win in 4:11.37 and joined Holtkamp, Makinley Levin and Gracie Federspiel on the 4×400 team that won in 4:00.18.

“After that (sprint medley) I was ready to go,” Bock said. “I don’t really like losing so I wanted to get back on the track and get the winning feeling back.”

Conrad had her own bounce back effort after a rough start.

Following consecutive scratches to open the discus competition Conrad reached the finals with a toss of 109-10 on a standing throw.

Conrad then tossed a 124-10 on her second attempt of finals and finished nearly seven feet in front of runner-up Talbot Kinney of Central DeWitt.

“It wasn’t looking good for a while but she pulled it together and pulled through,” Sands said. “She has been really consistent this year and hopefully that will be the only scare we have and next week she will be back to business.”

Conrad added a win in the shot put with a mark of 37-2 ¾ that put her a foot in front of runner-up Briona Charipar of Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Solon freshman Leah Kollar was third with a mark of 35-10 ½.

“It ended really well,” Conrad said. “I’ve been kind of in a slump with shot, I haven’t been throwing very well and I got it back up at the WAMAC meet and threw 37 today so I’m getting it back up there.”

Solon got a title from the shuttle hurdle relay team of Jada Buffington, Mia Stahle, Calla Foster and Sophia Stahle that won in 1:08.91 and was runner-up to Wahlert in the 4×800, 4×200 and 4×100.

Makinley Levin added a runner-up finish in the long jump with a leap of 17-5 and Kiersten Conway was third in both the 1,500 and 3,000.

“The pressure goes on and sometimes people crumble and for the most part we held it together,” Sands said. “Everything worked out. You hold your breath all night and now we can breath a little bit.”

Class 3A State Qualifier

At Spartan Stadium in Solon

Team scores – 1. Solon 181.5; 2. Dubuque Wahlert 165; 3. Marion 78; 4. Mount Vernon 72; 5. Central DeWitt 71; 6. Cedar Rapids Xavier 65; 7. Monticello 58.5; 8. Maquoketa 49

State qualifiers; Area placers

Long jump – 1. Tessa Berning (DW) 18-1; 2. Makinley Levin (SOL) 17-5

High jump – 1. Soren Maricle (CD) 5-3; 2. Ivy Dearstone (DW) 5-3; 6. Lilly Towne (SOL) 4-6

Discus – 1. Ava Conrad (SOL) 124-10; 2. Talbot Kinney (CD) 117-11; 5. Elly Holubar (SOL) 104-9

Shot put – 1. Ava Conrad (SOL) 37-2 ¾; 2. Briona Charipar (CRX) 36-2 ¾; 3. Leah Kollar (SOL) 35-10 ½

100 – 1. Ariana Yaklich (DW) 12.71; 2. Meghan McDonald (DW) 12.97; 4. Ellie Wolff (SOL) 13.37; 5. Addie McQuinn (SOL) 13.66

200 – 1. Ryle Steffen (DW) 26.53; 2. Abigail Wallace (DW) 26.73; 3. Mia Duckett (SOL) 26.91; 4. Heather Bachus (SOL) 27.94

400 – 1. Rylee Steffen (DW) 59.69; 2. Reese Kuhlman (MAQ) 1:01.58; 4. Ashley Stinocher (SOL) 1:03.29; 7. Kerrigan Lyons (SOL) 1:04.25

800 – 1. Emma Bock (SOL) 2:22.57; 2. Kaia Holtkamp (SOL) 2:22.96

1,500 – 1. Ellie Meyer (DW) 5:03.36; 2. Alixandra Oliver (DW) 5:03.83; 3. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 5:05.3; 5. Anna Quillin (SOL) 5:17.84

3,000 – 1. Gabby Moran (DW) 10:54.3; 2. Emma Althoff (MON) 10:59; 3. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 11:00.61; 6. Ashlyn Williams (SOL) 11:58.77

100 hurdles – 1. Soren Maricle (CD) 16.44; 2. Sophia Stahle (SOL) 17.08; 6. Jada Buffington (SOL) 17.83

400 hurdles – 1. Madison Prier (MAR) 1:07.91; 2. Emma Arnold (CRX) 1:08.58; 5. Mia Stahle (SOL) 1:11.53; 6. Calla Foster (SOL) 1:16.77

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Solon (Jada Buffington, Mia Stahle, Calla Foster, Sophia Stahle) 1:08.91; 2. Mount Vernon 1:10.26

Sprint medley relay – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 1:49.21; 2. Mount Vernon 1:51.73; 4. Solon (Mia Stahle, Addie McQuinn, Callie Levin, Emma Bock) 1:54.46

Distance medley relay – 1. Solon (Makinley Levin, Sophia Stahle, Gracie Federspiel, Emma Bock) 4:11.37; 2. Dubuque Wahlert 4:18.3

4×100 relay – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 49.5; 2. Solon (Sophia Stahle, Callie Levin, Mia Duckett, Addie McQuinn) 50.88

4×200 relay – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 1:45.05; 2. Solon (Mia Duckett, Mia Stahle, Callie Levin, Makinley Levin) 1:46.96

4×400 relay – 1. Solon (Kaia Holtkamp, Makinley Levin, Gracie Federspiel, Emma Bock) 4:00.18; 2. Dubuque Wahlert 4:07.99

4×800 relay – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 9:38.33; 2. Solon (Kaia Holtkamp, Meghan O’Neill, Anna Quillin, Gracie Federspiel) 9:43.58

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