Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The West High hurdle crew had an impressive string of individual success at the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Divisional meet on Friday.

Sophia Olivo and Eriniah Carter finished first and second in the 100 hurdles and teammates Erinn Varga and Jaylin Herring placed first and fourth in the 400 hurdles.

As good as the West High hurdlers were on their own on Friday they were even better as a team.

The West High shuttle hurdle relay team of Varga, Herring, Carter and Olivo continued their impressive season winning the Valley Division title on Friday on a stellar day for the West High hurdle crew.

“I really feel like we are motivated and the four of us are really close, we are a really good match,” Carter said. “We don’t have any negativity, we are always positive and I love all of these girls.”

That team element has paid dividends already for the Trojan shuttle hurdle team.

West High was fourth at the 4A state meet in the event last season and was third at the Drake Relays last week in a season-best time of 1:04.87.

On Friday the foursome of Varga, Carter, Herring and Olivo won in a time of 1:06.26, which was more than four seconds faster than runner-up Linn-Mar.

“It’s been a lot of trial and error,” Olivo said. “You improve the most when you get experience from racing and I think that’s what has helped us.”

The strong day from the hurdle group helped West High to a fourth-place team finish with 100.5 points at the Valley Divisional meet which was originally scheduled for Thursday but moved to Friday and to West High’s Trojan Field after thunderstorms on Thursday.

Linn-Mar won the team title with 150 points followed by Dubuque Hempstead with 132 and City High with 111.5.

West High swept the hurdle events as Olivo won the 100 hurdles in 15.07 and Carter was right behind in second in a time of 15.57.

“We are a team,” Carter said. “If one of us hits a hurdle or doesn’t have the best race we still lift each other up.”
Varga won the 400 hurdles in 1:06.65 and Herring was fourth in 1:09.53.

City High got a huge day from sophomore Rachel Haack who swept the throwing events to help the Little Hawks to a third-place team finish.

Haack won the shot put with a mark of 39-5 ¼ and won the discus with a toss of 132-22.

The Little Hawks got a runner-up finish from Abigail Burns in the 3,000 (10:50.89) while Nicole Peterson was third in the 3,000 in 10:55.1.

Ellie Fraga was third in the long jump (15-11 ¼) and City High finished runner-up in both the 4×400 and 4×800 relays.

Valley Division Meet

At Trojan Field

Team scores – 1. Linn-Mar 150; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 132; 3. City High 111.5; 4. West High 100.5; 5. Western Dubuque 90; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 75; 8. Waterloo West 52; 9. Cedar Rapids Washington 27

Individual results (Event winner; area placers)

Shot put – 1. Rachel Haack (ICH) 39-5 ¼; 4. Helen Penning (ICW) 37-5; 6. Molly Carlson (ICH) 33-10

Discus – 1. Rachel Haack (ICH) 132-11; 4. Hannah Braun (ICH) 106-8 ½; 7. Helen Penning (ICW) 94-7

Long jump – 1. Abby Mecklenburg (L-M) 18-0 ¼; 3. Ellie Fraga (ICH) 15-11 ¼; 7. Ava Bruxvoort (ICW) 15-1

High jump – 1. Maia Denge-Hagen (L-M) 5-6; 4. Sophia Austen (ICW) 5-0; 5. Alice Edelen (ICH) 4-10; 5. Evelyn Cornish (ICW) 4-10; 7. Grace Kirschling (ICH) 4-8

100 – 1. Brynn Walters (WD) 12.37; 8. Caroline Dickens (ICW) 13.29

200 – 1. Brynn Walters (WD) 25.34; 7. Sierra Pruessner (ICH) 26.93

400 – 1. Addison Swartzendruber (CRK) 56.58; 4. Ruth Cloyd (ICH) 1:00.57; 5. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:02.9; 7. Jaylin Herring (ICW) 1:03.85

800 – 1. Keelee Leitzen (DH) 2:18.89; 5. Kate Van Waning (ICW) 2:29.17; 7. Lucy Sherburne (ICH) 2:34.75

1,500 – 1. Julia Gehl (DH) 4:53.91; 5. Naomi Downing-Sherer (ICH) 5:07.55; 6. Kate Van Waning (ICW) 5:15.81; 7. Claire Locher (ICH) 5:18.25

3,000 – 1. Nakia Ollivierre (WW) 10:29.8; 2. Abigail Burns (ICH) 10:50.89; 3. Nicole Peterson (ICH) 10:55.1; 4. Kate Van Waning (ICW) 11:15.33

100 hurdles – 1. Sophia Olivo (ICW) 15.07; 2. Eriniah Carter (ICW) 15.57; 3. Sierra Pruessner (ICH) 15.83

400 hurdles – 1. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:06.65; 4. Jaylin Herring (ICW) 1:09.63; 5. Josephine LeClair (ICH) 1:09.8; 8. Willow Schultz (ICH) 1:13.61

4×100 – 1. Western Dubuque 49.33; 5. City High (Ellie Fraga, Jessi Kucera, Sophie Bell, Dede Aboussa-Folly) 51.64; 6. West High (Natalie Steva, Miracle Stewart, Evelyn Cornish, Caroline Dickens) 52.23

4×200 – 1. Western Dubuque 1:45.36; 6. West High (Natalie Steva, Miracle Stewart, Evelyn Cornish, Sophia Austen) 1:50.39

4×400 – 1. Dubuque Hempstead 4:00.51; 2. City High (Ruth Cloyd, Sierra Pruessner, Abigail Burns, Josephine LeClair) 4:06.22; 3. West High (Sophia Austen, Eva Willis, Erinn Varga, Jaylin Herring) 4:09.35

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Hempstead 9:57.43; 2. City High (Naomi Downing-Sherer, Claire Locher, Lucy Sherburne, Abigail Burns) 10:10.91; 4. West High (Hannah Geng, Cindy Wang, Lydia Evans, Gabby Moniza) 10:25.36

Sprint medley – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1:48.67; 5. City High (Ellie Fraga, Shaniya Jackson, Ruth Cloyd, Josephine LeClair) 1:54.42;

Distance medley – 1. Dubuque Hempstead 4:20.72; 6. City High (Ellie Fraga, Esther Oyunge, Noelle Schnoebelen, Nina Peterson) 4:36.52; 7. West High (Lindsey McKane, Adriana Vargas, Erin Chen, Olivia Orszula) 4:53.69

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. West High (Erinn Varga, Jaylin Herring, Eriniah Carter, Sophia Olivo) 1:06.26; 4. City High (Willow Schultz, Mary Hamilton, Kayden Jensen, Gloria Konu) 1:11.83

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