Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Gracie Federspiel came up short in her attempt to chase down Gilbert anchor Sarah Feddersen on Thursday on the final leg of the 4×800 relay.

When Federspiel took the baton for her anchor leg on the distance medley relay on Friday in a similar position.

“I was honestly getting a little bit of deja vue,” Federspiel said.

After settling for silver in the 4×800 a day earlier no deficit was going to keep Federspiel from gold Friday.

Federspiel erased an early deficit and held off the field anchoring Solon to a third consecutive title in the Class 3A distance medley relay on Friday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

“I knew that I needed to run a little bit smarter this time. I wanted to be smart about it and when I caught up with her I had to hold on for a little bit before I left and finally at one point I said ‘let’s go for it’ and it turned out alright.”

The distance medley title was part of another solid day for Solon which got an individual title from Sophia Stahle in the 400 hurdles and third place finish in the 4×200.

Stahle became the third individual running event champ in Solon history and the first Spartan to win the 400 hurdles.

“This is what I’ve been working for all season,” Stahle said. “I went out for cross country and the whole time during cross country that is what I was working for was 400 hurdles and it’s nice knowing I finally got it.”

The win from Stahle in the 400 hurdles pushed Solon to the top of the 3A team standings with 43 points after 10 events.

ADM is second with 34 while Clear Lake and Hampton-Dumont-CAL each have 20.

Stahle won in a time of 1:4.27 pulling away from Jerra Merchant of Spencer in the final 100 meters.

“They were both closing in lanes three and five and I knew that if I was going to do it that was the time,” Stahle said. “It’s only a minute of my life and I’ve been working in practice and the offseason so I tried booking it in the last 100 to get a big gap.”

Federspiel joined Mia Stahle, Piper Stahle and Anna Quillin to deliver the 10^th relay title in program history in the distance medley.

In the first time the foursome had run together this season the Spartans won in 4:08.79 to edge Carroll who was runner-up in 4:09.42.

“Gracie is such a valuable part of her team and Mia and Piper are so fast so I knew we could get the job done,” Quillin said. “We also knew there were other great teams here so believing in each other and knowing that we had a special team here so anything could happen.”

Solon entered with the eighth fastest time from state qualifiers and landed in lane eight.

The Spartans moved Quillin from the 800-meter anchor leg to the 400-meter third leg and inserted Federspiel in the closers spot.

“I haven’t run this at all this year but just knowing that they put me with these guys. We were lane eight but we knew that we could come in and win this, it was anybody’s race,” Federspiel said. “Having that belief in ourselves we knew we could do it.”

Federspiel split a 2:17.2 anchor in Thursday’s 4×800 but couldn’t catch Feddersen.

The junior learned a valuable lesson on Thursday.

“Yesterday I might have been running on a little too much adrenaline and I kind of died a little bit on the last 200,” Federspiel said. “I knew today I did not want to do that again so I focused a little more on the race plan.”

Taking the baton behind ADM anchor Geneva Timmerman on Friday Federspiel quickly closed the gap but finished stronger holding off a chase pack.

“Yesterday she said she put the gas pedal down a little too much too early,” Mia Stahle said. “This time she had a plan, she planned it out to a T exactly what she was going to do.”

Mia Stahle and Piper Stahle got Solon out strong in the distance medley.

A staple in the Spartans’ 4×800 team the past two seasons and a qualifier in the open 800 this season, Quillin had a strong 400 carry to keep the Spartans within striking distance.

“Last year I never really ran any 400s it was basically all 800s,” Quillin said. “I still mostly did 800s this year but knowing that we had some people leave I knew I was going to have to step up and help us get the job done by running some 400s.”

Federspiel did the rest.

“I’ve looked up to her for the past few years watching her run,” Stahle said. “Just the things that she is able to do are crazy. I can not even wrap my mind around what she can do. She’s a beast.”

Solon stretched its state meet relay scoring streak to 18 with a third-place finish in the 4×200.

The 4×200 team of Mia Duckett, Mia Stahle, Aly Stahle and Piper Stahle finished third in a time of 1:43.8.

Solon had the 17^th fastest time out of state qualifying meets so landed in the first heat but finished behind only champion ADM (1:42.9) and Dubuque Wahlert (1:43.3).

GIRLS

Class 3A

State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Team scores (top 10; area teams) – 1. Solon 43; 2. ADM 34; 3. Clear Lake 20; 3. Hampton-Dumont-CAL 20; 5. Carroll 18; 5. Mount Vernon 18; 5. Knoxville 18; 5. Carlisle 18; 5. Pella 18; 10. Ballard 16

Individual events (winner; area participants)

Long jump – 1. Shay Sinnard (Carroll) 18-7 ¾; 13. Emma Descourouez (Clear Creek Amana) 16-0; 16. Hailey Miller (Solon) 15-11 ¼; 17. Elizabeth Timmerman (Clear Creek Amana) 15-11 ¼;

Shot put – 1. Charlee Morton (Hampton-Dumont-Cal) 42-5 ¼; 20. Leah Kollar (Solon) 34-4

400 hurdles – 1. Sophia Stahle (Solon) 1:04.27; 6. Jaylin Herring (Clear Creek Amana) 1:08.57; 13. Mia Stahle (Solon) 1:09.53

4×200 – 1. ADM 1:42.9; 3. Solon (Mia Duckett, Mia Stahle, Aly Stahle, Piper Stahle) 1:43.85; 13. Clear Creek Amana (Prisca Kalal, Kendra Eckrich, Elizabeth Timmerman, Jaylin Herring) 1:47.22

Distance medley – 1. Solon (Mia Stahle, Piper Stahle, Anna Quillin, Gracie Federspiel) 4:08.79; 15. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Descourouez, Bliss Beck, Kiera Rogers, Haidyn Barker) 4:22.7

Class 2A

Team scores (top 10; area teams) – 1. Van Meter 28; 1. Mid-Prairie 28; 3. Unity Christian 21; 4. West Lyon 18; 4. Sheldon 18; 6. Hinton 14; 7. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 13; 7. KPWC 13; 9. Estherville-Lincoln Central 11

Individual events (winner; area participants)

High jump – 1. Maddie Olson (Sheldon) 5-9

Discus – 1. Allie Schweitzberger (KPWC) 133-8

400 hurdles – 1. Clara Teigland (Treynor) 1:01.72

4×200 – 1. Mid-Prairie 1:44.49; 14. West Branch (Avery Schultes, JaLynn Falco, Addi Schultes, Iva Senio) 1:48.66

Distance medley – 1. Van Meter 4:06.4

BOYS

Class 4A

State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Team scores (top 10; area teams) – 1. Johnston 47; 2. Linn-Mar 45; 3. City High 41; 4. Ankeny 30; 5. West High 28; 6. West Des Moines Dowling 25; 7. Waukee Northwest 16; 8. Norwalk 15; 9. Cedar Falls 14; 10. Mason City 12

Individual events (winner; area participants)

Long jump – 1. Abu Sama (Southeast Polk) 22-11; 4. Ronnie Major (City High) 21-0 ¾; 19. Kylin Crittenden (West High) 19-7 ¾; 24. Shamar Benton (City High) 16-0 ¼

Shot put – 1. Cohen Pfohl (Dubuque Senior) 57-5

400 hurdles – 1. Nicholas Gorsich (Linn-Mar) 51.8; 2. Aidan Jacobsen (West High) 52.63; 7. Matt Schaeckenbach (City High) 54.79; 12. Maxwell Thompson (Liberty High) 56.03

4×200 – 1. West High (Todd Rent, Christian Janis, Aidan Jacobsen, Izaiah Loveless) 1:26.69; 15. City High (Jeremiah Madlock, Deon Brown, Ronnie Major, Truman Thompson) 1:30.69

Distance medley – 1. West High (Todd Rent, Christian Janis, Izaiah Loveless, Moustafa Tiea) 3:27.73; 4. City High (Sam Rew, Ronnie Major, Jeremiah Madlock, Ayman Noreldaim) 3:30.34; 7. Liberty High (Jalen Wieck, Da’Shon Fisher, Carter Meyers, Aidan Decker) 3:34.11

Class 1A

Team scores (top 10; area teams) – 1. Mount Ayr 30; 2. Akron-Westfield 20; 2. Lisbon 20; 4. Columbus 19; 5. Lawton-Bronson 18; 6. Council Bluffs St. Albert 15; 6. Lynnville-Sully 15; 8. Woodbine 12; 8. New London 12; 10. Madrid 11; 10. Winfield-Mount Union 11

Individual events (winner; area participants)

High jump – 1. Kade Benjamin (New London) 6-7

Discus – 1. Ian Blowe (Akron-Westfield) 161-8; 11. Drew Streb (Regina) 136-10

400 hurdles – 1. Ryce Reynolds (Mount Ayr) 52.7

4×200 – 1. Lawton-Bronson 1:28.7

Distance medley – 1. Mount Ayr 3:34.14

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