Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Before Emma Bock headed to Drake Stadium this week the Solon junior standout did her homework.

In the days leading up to the state track and field meet Bock tried her best to break down where the Spartans stood in the Class 3A team race.

“I probably spent a little too much time on Varsity Bound looking at stats,” Bock admitted on Saturday.

Thanks to a big meet from Bock and contributions from up and down the lineup the Spartans exceeded their own elevated pre-meet expectations.

Bock finished third in the 800 on Saturday and four Solon relay teams scored points as the Spartans finished runner-up in the Class 3A team standings with 51 points.

“I think that’s a really good finish for us,” Bock said. “We got a lot of points that we weren’t really expecting and that is really great to do as a team.”

Bock anchored Solon to relay titles on Thursday and Friday and helped the Spartans match their best team finish since 2013 with a strong day on Saturday.

Solon was runner-up in the 4×400 relay with Bock on the anchor and the junior finished third in the 800 in 2:14.91.

Dubuque Wahlert won the 3A team title with 59 points after finishing runner-up in each of the past two state meets.

Carlisle was third with 46 points followed by Western Dubuque with 42 and Davenport Assumption with 41.

“I didn’t spend as much time as I usually do crunching the numbers,” Solon coach Brent Sands said. “Beyond the 4×800, 4×400 and distance medley I didn’t know what was going to happen but I thought we could maybe, maybe we could get up to the mid-40s to 50. So to get to 51 points I thought we ran great.”

Bock did crunch the numbers prior to the meet but every time she looked at the track this weekend she saw a Solon teammate exceeding her pre-meet expectations.

Solon got points from all seven of its relay teams after posting top-10 finishes in four relays on Saturday.

The 4×400 team of Kaia Holtkamp, Makinley Levin, Gracie Federspiel and Bock was runner-up to Davenport Assumption in 3:56.92.

Assumption used a 56.65 anchor leg from Laney Fitzpatrick to win the 4×400 title in 3:56.77.

“Of course we were going for first and we wanted to go a little faster than that and get the school record,” Holtkamp said. “We fell a little short but we are still really proud of that.”

The runner-up finish in the 4×400 was a rare disappointing moment during an exceptional weekend for the Spartans.

Solon was fifth in the sprint medley relay and seventh in both the shuttle hurdle and 4×100 relays.

All three of those relays finished ahead of their pre-meet seed.

“Coming in here and placing in every relay and some that were kind of unexpected and moving up in almost everything that was great,” Sands said. “That’s what we’ve talked about is having a team and you are ready to pick up everyone else and boy our girls stepped up. We came up big at crunch time at the end.”

The sprint medley team of Mia Stahle, Ellie Wolff, Callie Levin and Federspiel entered with the 20^th fastest time from districts but used a strong 400-meter anchor from Federspiel to finish fifth in 1:51.46.

“We always want to be a team and not just individuals,” Federspiel said. “We went through this meet as a team and worked as a team and we were able to do big things as a team.”

Bock and Holtkamp finished third and sixth respectively in the 800.

Bock was third behind Ainsley Erzen of Carlisle and Megan Sterbenz of Dallas Center-Grimes while Holtkamp was sixth in 2:17.23.

“I think all of us are really happy with the successes that we had even if we would have wanted a little more,” Holtkamp said. “I know we did more than I ever thought we could.”

Class 3A Girls State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Team scores – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 59; 2. Solon 51; 3. Carlisle 46; 4. Western Dubuque 42; 5. Davenport Assumption 41; 6. Charles City 34; 6. Keokuk 34; 8. Bondurant-Farrar 32; 9. Ballard 31; 9. Pella 31; 19. Clear Creek Amana 15

Individual results (event winners; area competitors)

100 – 1. Audrey Biermann (Western Dubuque) 12.37

200 – 1. Audrey Biermann (Western Dubuque) 25.48

800 – 1. Ainsley Erzen (Carlisle) 2:09.79; 3. Emma Bock (Solon) 2:14.91; 6. Kaia Holtkamp (Solon) 2:17.23;

1,500 – 1. Ainsley Erzen (Carlisle) 4:42.21; 20. Kiersten Conway (Solon) 5:08.64

100 hurdles – 1. Kendall Anderson (Bondurant-Farrar) 15.1; 5. Silvana Kabolo (Clear Creek Amana) 15.84; 8. Emma Mathis (Clear Creek Amana) 16.36

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Cileigh Smiddy, Kayla Jiras, Silvana Kabolo) 1:05.39; 7. Solon (Jada Buffington, Mia Stahle, Calla Foster, Sophia Stahle) 1:08.18

Sprint medley relay – 1. Western Dubuque 1:47.58; 5. Solon (Mia Stahle, Ellie Wolff, Callie Levin, Gracie Federspiel) 1:51.46

4×100 relay – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 48.79; 7. Solon (Mia Stahle, Callie Levin, Mia Duckett, Addie McQuinn) 50.84.

4×400 relay – 1. Davenport Assumption 3:56.77; 2. Solon (Kaia Holtkamp, Makinley Levin, Gracie Federspiel, Emma Bock) 3:56.92

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