Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Over the course of her track career City High senior Mia DePrenger has learned from experience the keys to relay success.

A strong team, smooth handoffs, steady performance to name a few.

Last year at the state meet DePrenger saw first-hand what often leads to success in the distance medley relay.

The anchor.

That knowledge and the addition of freshman anchor Ani Wedemeyer let DePrenger know City High had a shot at success on Friday.

“We came into it knowing that we would be one of the top teams because of how strong our freshman anchor is,” DePrenger said. “When you have an anchor like Ani you are going to have a chance.”

Wedemeyer proved her senior teammate right on Friday morning anchoring City High to a runner-up finish in the Class 4A distance medley at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

City High finished in 4:07.1 just behind champion Ankeny which won the title in 4:05.44.

“We wanted to win,” Wedemeyer said. “The field was really fast. There is a point in races where you want to go faster but you just physically cannot and that’s what happened in the last 100 for me and (Ankeny anchor) Alli (Macke) pulled ahead of me. We will be back with this event.”

Ruby McDonough and Eva Reynolds handled the 200-meter legs for the Little Hawks on Friday before DePrenger took the 400-meter leg.

DePrenger was the lone returning member of last year’s City High distance medley relay team that placed ninth, running a 200-leg a year ago she saw how important the anchor could be in the event.

“We wanted to stay with the pack for the first 800 but it’s hard to do that when these teams are so fast on the front side of their relay,” DePrenger said. “But they don’t have a 2:12 girl that can go out and pass everyone even if she is in last place.”

That’s pretty much what Wedemeyer did on Friday.

The freshman was in seventh when she took the handoff from DePrenger.

Less than 300 meters into the opening lap of her 800-meter anchor leg Wedemeyer had put the Little Hawks in contention.

“I am 90 percent sure I handed off in last and all of a sudden I heard him say there is a huge group in the front and I saw Ani in the middle of that group,” DePrenger said. “I said ‘how did she get there’ because it was on the backstretch of the first lap.”

Wedemeyer clocked a 2:10.4 split on the final 800 to take City High from seventh to second.

“It felt fast,” Wedemeyer said. “It felt faster than the open 800 at Drake and I also had to catch a lot of people so that was motivation.”

Wedemeyer couldn’t quite catch Macke as Ankeny, which entered with the top time this season in the event held on to win the title.

City High entered with the ninth-fastest time in the event this season but Wedemeyer held off third-place Cedar Rapids Prairie and its standout anchor Gabby Cortez.

“I saw her coming around and she was still in that first spot and I knew with her pace in the sprint events she could out-kick all of them. She had a lot more ground to cover than the Ankeny girl did which made it a lot tougher. That’s pretty crazy.”

The runner-up finish in the distance medley was part of a strong day for City High that vaulted the Little Hawks to eighth in the 4A team standings with 21 points.

Junior Emily Arling finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 16-9 points for City High and Eva Reynolds finished seventh in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.49.

West High sophomore Erinn Varga finished fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:05.89.

Class 4A State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 34; 2. Ames 32; 2. West Des Moines Valley 32; 4. Ankeny 28.5; 5. Norwalk 25; 6. Waukee 22; 6. Waukee Northwest 22; 8. City High 21; 9. Dubuque Hempstead 19; 9. Pleasant Valley 19; 18. Liberty High 8.5; 24. West High 4

State champions; area participants

400 hurdles – 1. Mackenzie Carney (Waukee Northwest) 1:03.14; 5. Erinn Varga (West High) 1:05.89; 7. Eva Reynolds (City High) 1:06.49; 11. Martha Hamilton (City High) 1:07.22; 21. Lily McConnell (West High) 1:10.07; 23. Asta Hildebrand (Liberty High) 1:13.11

Distance medley relay – 1. Ankeny 4:05.44; 2. City High (Ruby McDonough, Eva Reynolds, Mia DePrenger, Ani Wedemeyer) 4:07.1

4×200 – 1. Ames 1:43.13; 15. Liberty High (Brityn Gryp, Amira Coleman, Brynlee Slockett, Jasmine Barney) 1:47.93; 23. West High (Ivy Nuro-Gyina, Avery Vest, Hebah War, Stephanie Nuro-Gyina) 1:51.17

Long jump – 1. Holly Duax (Sioux City West) 18-6 ½; 4. Emily Arling (City High) 16-9; 13. Jasmine Barney (Liberty High) 16-2 ½; 14. Lindsey McKane (West High) 16-0 ¾;

Shot put – 1. Caitlyn Cox (West Des Moines Valley) 40-7 ½;

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