Breaking Down the Your Prep Sports Area Teams at the Class 3A State Track and Field Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The 2023 state track and field meet is here.
Action gets underway at the three-day state meet on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. at Drake Stadium in Des Moines with Classes 1A and 4A going in the morning session.
Classes 2A and 3A get going in the afternoon on Thursday in what will be the first of three days of action.
Before the state meet gets underway we take a look at the Class 3A teams from the Your Prep Sports area competing this week.
BOYS
Solon
Individual events qualified: Ten (200; 400; 800; 1,600; 3,200; 400 hurdles; high jump; long jump; discus; shot put)
Relays qualified: Seven (4×100; 4×200; 4×400; 4×800; sprint medley; distance medley; shuttle hurdle)
Athlete to watch: Solon senior Jeremy Bachus jumped onto radars last season with a fourth-place state-meet finish in the 400.
This week Bachus is after a big-time state meet breakthrough.
Bachus has the seventh fastest 400 time in 3A this season and fourth fastest from state qualifying meets at 49.81.
The senior will also be heavily involved in the Spartan relays this week in Des Moines after helping Solon qualify in the 4×400 and sprint medley at the state qualifier.
Relay team to watch: Solon qualified all seven relays for the state meet and has three with top-15 qualifying times.
Keep an eye on the Spartan 4×400 squad.
Solon has run 3:25.38 this season, good for sixth best in 3A and less than .2 seconds off a top-four time.
The foursome of Rhett Mesch, Michael Yeomans, Grant Knipper and Bachus ran 3:27.06 at the state qualifier for the 10th fastest qualifying time.
Call it a hunch but this group seems poised for a strong weekend and spot in the Saturday finals.
Outlook: Solon scored just five points at the state meet last season but a huge day at the state qualifier has the Spartans poised to blow past that number this week.
Led by Bachus in the 400 and Adam Smith and Ben Kampman in the throws and Caleb Bock and Oaken Foster in the long jump Solon has seven individual events with top 10 seeds.
Smith has the fifth best qualifying mark in the discus and Kampman is sixth and Smith is sixth in the shot put.
Bock is sixth and Foster is ninth in the long jump while Keenan Kruse is 10th in the 400 hurdles.
The Solon shuttle hurdle relay team has the 12th fastest qualifying time, the Spartans have the 14th fastest time in the 4×200 and the 18th fastest in the 4×100 and 4×800.
Clear Creek Amana
Individual events qualified: One (110 hurdles)
Relays qualified: Five (4×100; 4×200; 4×800; distance medley; shuttle hurdle)
Athlete to watch: Senior Andrew Schlemme qualified in the 110 hurdles but will do a brunt of his work this week in Des Moines in the relays.
Schlemme is part of the Clear Creek Amana 4×200 and shuttle hurdle relay teams that enter with the 21st and 20th best qualifying times respectively.
Relay team to watch: The Clear Creek Amana 4×800 squad is putting things together at the right time.
The Clipper foursome of Brock Hilsman, Cash Jensen, Jamie Hayes and Isaac Sorensen posted the eighth fastest time in 3A this season at the state qualifying meet last week with an 8:13.08.
Look for the Clippers to drop even more time off at Drake Stadium while contending for state medals.
Outlook: The Schlemmes, Aren and Andrew, are the individual qualifiers for the Clippers in the 110 hurdles and one or both are a part of four of the five relay entries for the Clippers.
The 4×800 team enters seeded sixth and seems to be surging late in the season while Clear Creek Amana has the 16th best time in the Hilsman-anchored distance medley team.
Clear Creek Amana has the 24th best time in the 4×100 relay.
GIRLS
Solon
Individual events qualified: 12 (100; 200; 400; 800; 1,500; 3,000; 100 hurdles; 400 hurdles; long jump; high jump; shot put; discus)
Relays qualified: Seven (4×100; 4×200; 4×400; 4×800; sprint medley; distance medley; shuttle hurdle)
Athlete to watch: A major contributor on the Spartans state title team a year ago junior Gracie Federspiel has emerged as one of the top track and field athletes in Class 3A in a breakthrough junior season.
Federspiel owns the top time in Class 3A in both the 400 (56.57) and 800 (2:15.95) and will be a big part of the relay success for the Spartans this week.
At the district meet Federspiel ran on the 4×400 and 4×800 teams but could fill a role on several different relay squads at state.
Relay team to watch: Solon won the 4×800 title last season and the Spartans enter among the favorites as they attempt to defend that title from last season.
Juniors Anna Quillin and Federspiel were on the winning 4×800 team a year ago and joined Grace Hoeper and Ashlyn Williams to run the fastest qualifying time last week at 9:47.67.
That same foursome ran the second fastest time in 3A this season at 9:41.9 last month trailing only Gilbert which has run 9:37.22 this season.
Outlook: A year ago Solon pulled away from ADM late to win the 3A state title by 18 points.
Look for the Spartans to continue to use its trademark depth to steadily distance itself from ADM and the rest of the 3A field again this season.
Solon has scored at state in all seven relays each of the past two seasons and enters with top-eight qualifying times in six relays this season.
Led by Federspiel in the 400 and 800 and senior Sophia Stahle in the 100 and 400 hurdles the Spartans have top-10 qualifying marks in nine individual events.
Solon is the top seed in the 4×400 and 4×800 relays and has the second fastest qualifying time in the shuttle hurdle relay.
Clear Creek Amana
Individual events qualified: Six (200; 1,500; 100 hurdles; 400 hurdles; long jump; high jump)
Relays qualified: Six (4×100; 4×200; 4×400; 4×800; distance medley; shuttle hurdle)
Athlete to watch: Senior Silvana Kabolo will look to put the finishing touches on what has been a brilliant prep career with a strong state meet showing.
A Northern Iowa recruit, Kabolo was sixth in the 100 hurdles last season but has her sights set on a state title in the event this year.
Kabolo enters with the third fastest time in 3A this season at 14.86 which was the fastest time from qualifying meets.
Kabolo is also a member of the Clear Creek Amana shuttle hurdle relay team and the Clippers’ 4×100 team.
Relay team to watch: Clear Creek Amana is seeking a third consecutive state title in the shuttle hurdle relay after edging Newton for the 3A crown last season.
Kabolo is the only returning member from last year’s state title team but the Clippers are still very much in the title conversation despite three new members.
Jaylin Herring, Averie Lower and Sydney Pfeiffer joined Kabolo to run a 1:06.94 as the state qualifying meet, the third fastest time in 3A this season.
Newton has the fastest time in 3A at 1:04.76 followed by Solon with a 1:05.56.
Outlook: A strong day at the state qualifier for the Clippers has Clear Creek Amana on the hunt for hardware this week in Des Moines.
Led by Kabolo and the shuttle hurdle team Clear Creek Amana has four events with top-10 qualifying marks.
The Clippers 4×400 team of Kiera Rogers, Sam Schrage, Lower and Bliss Beck enters with the ninth fastest time from state qualifiers at 4:08.72.
Clear Creek Amana has the fifth fastest qualifying time in the 4×800 after Rogers, Haidyn Barker, Sara Kinzenbaw and Schrage ran 9:55.37 last Thursday.
Barker has the seventh fastest time in the 1,500 at 4:59.22 and Emma Descourouez has the 11th best mark in the long jump.
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