Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – For the first two seasons of her prep career Rachel Haack thought of herself more as a discus thrower than a shot putter.

Now an upperclassmen and three-time state qualifier the mindset for Haack has shifted.

“I used to always love discus but recently I’ve been doing really well in shot put and that’s gained a lot of confidence for me so I am looking forward to shot put and discus equally every meet,” Haack said. “They are pretty equal honestly.”

The more balanced approach has helped Haack emerge as one of the best and most well rounded throwers in the state.

Haack continued a strong junior season by sweeping the throwing events at the Class 4A state qualifying meet at Trojan Field in Iowa City on Thursday.

The City High standout won the shot put with a mark of 42-1 ¼ and completed the throwing sweep with a win the discus with a mark of 139-1 as the Little Hawks auto qualified five events for the Class 4A state track and field meet next week with top-two finishes on Thursday.

“I feel like I performed very well,” Haack said. “Sometimes you can plateau at the end of the year but this is championship season and you want to be at your best and honestly I didn’t think I would do this good so I am really happy.”

A state qualifier in the discus as a freshman, Haack was a qualifier in both throwing events last season.

She earned her first state medal with a fifth-place finish in the discus at the 4A state meet last season.

Haack will return to Drake Stadium in Des Moines next week for the 4A state meet scheduled for May 22-24 and this time she will be going as a state qualifying meet champion in both events.

“I am really happy,” Haack said. “I had never gotten first or second at districts. I had always qualified in that next top 12 so it’s really exciting to have both my tickets punched for state.”

Haack dominated on her way to wins in both throwing events.

She won the shot put title by more than two feet over runner-up Kennedy Borund of Southeast Polk who had a top throw of 39-5 ¾.

“In shot put especially I feel like I have gained so much consistency and consistency is a really big thing,” Haack said. “My shot put series has gotten a lot better. I’ve found a lot more fun in shot put this year.”

In the discus the mark of 139-1 for Haack was more than six feet further than teammate Hannah Braun who was runner-up with a mark of 132-7.

“The mindset I go into every meet with is I want to throw good today, I’m not trying to get a pr,” Haack said. “Getting a pr is amazing but you aren’t going to do that every meet, you can be throwing amazing and not have a pr, so the main thing is to keep yourself level headed and not thing too far ahead.”

The big day for Haack was part of a strong meet for City High which had five top-two finishes.

Braun secured a spot at the state meet with a runner-up finish in the discus and City High was second in both the 4×800 and sprint medley relays.

Liberty High senior Alexi Thigpen secured a spot at the state meet with a runner-up finish in the long jump with a leap of 17-11 ¾.

Class 4A State Qualifying Meet

At West High School

Team scores – 1. Southeast Polk 159; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 145.5; 3. City High 123; 4. Dubuque Senior 86; 5. West High 85; 6. Dubuque Hempstead 64; 7. Liberty High 49.5

Individual results (state qualifiers; area placewinners)

High jump – 1. Sophia Austen (ICW) 5-3; 2. Cambel Drapeau (DS) 5-2; 4. Alice Edelen (ICH) 5-2; 5. Asta Hildebrand (ICL) 5-0; 7. Greta Daniels (ICL) 4-10

Long jump – 1. Amara MacLagan (ICW) 18-1 ¾; 2. Alexi Thigpen (ICL) 17-11 ¾; 3. Piper Sweeting (ICH) 17-5 ½; 7. Adriana Vargas (ICW) 15-9

Shot put – 1. Rachel Haack (ICH) 42-1 ¼; 2. Kennedy Borud (SEP) 39-5 ¾; 6. Hannah Braun (ICH) 36-3 ½; 7. Sydney Van Heukelom (ICL) 35-2 ½

Discus – 1. Rachel Haack (ICH) 139-1; 2. Hannah Braun (ICH) 132-7; 6. Sydney Van Heukelom (ICL) 101-2

100 – 1. Alayna Goldsberry (SEP) 12.84; 2. Asia Russell (CRP) 12.87; 5. Mircale Stewart (ICW) 13.9; 6. Betsy Wolfe (ICH) 13.98; 7. Ava Sieren (ICW) 14.1

200 – 1. Teresa Tarplah (SEP) 26.34; 2. Ashlynn Hunter (CRP) 26.55; 3. Ellie Fraga (ICH) 26.79; 7. Savannah Graham (ICW) 27.89; 8. Adriana Vargas (ICW) 28.36

400 – 1. Reese Wiley (CRP) 58.61; 2. Brooklyn Ruddy (SEP) 59.18; 4. Chelsea VeDepo (ICL) 1:00.78; 6. Jena Frank (ICW) 1:02.63; 8. Amita Nelson (ICW) 1:05.53

800 – 1. Emma Chesterman (DS) 2:18.89; 2. Reese Wiley (CRP) 2:18.98; 3. Abigail Burns (ICH) 2:20.26; 8. Hannan Geng (ICW) 2:31.24

1,500 – 1. Emily Gorton (DS) 4:48.28; 2. Emma Chesterman (DS) 4:48.84; 4. Nina Peterson (ICH) 4:57.49; 6. Eliza Doster (ICH) 5:04.08

3,000 – 1. Emily Gorton (DS) 10:36.71; 2. Claire Hoyer (DS) 10:37.56; 3. Nina Peterson (ICH) 10:39.14; 4. Nicole Peterson (ICH) 10:43.11

100 hurdles – 1. Sophia Olivo (ICW) 15.04; 2. Brilynn Kiester (SEP) 15.8; 4. Ivy Nuro Gyina (ICL) 16.23; 7. Mary Hamilton (ICH) 16.82

400 hurdles – 1. Paisley Joens (CRP) 1:06.16; 2. Eva Willis (ICW) 1:07.75; 4. Josephine LeClair (ICH) 1:09.32; 6. Angelica Hamilton (ICH) 1:12.64

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Southeast Polk 1:06.51; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:06.98; 3. West High (Graham, MacLagan, McConnell, Olivo) 1:07.58; 4. City High (Kenlin, Hamilton, Hamilton, Schultz) 1:11.48; 7. Liberty High (Nuro-Gyina, Eckhardt, Maassen, Daniels) 1:14.41

Sprint medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:48.47; 2. City High (Aboussa-Folly, Newell, Fraga, Bowen-Burt) 1:50.29; 6. Liberty High (Nuro-Gyina, Thigpen, VeDepo, Bilskemper) 1:54.06; 7. West High (Stewart, Steva, Shaw, Nepple) 1:56.7

Distance medley relay – 1. West High (Mathias, Steva, Willis, Van Waning) 4:22.53; 2. Southeast Polk 4:22.82; 4. City High (Aboussa-Folly, LeClair, Schnoebelen, Fruin) 4:29.03; 6. Liberty High (Thigpen, McManus, Ramsey, Bilskemper) 4:33.25

4×100 – 1. Southeast Polk 48.21; 2. Cedar Rapids Washington 49.09; 5. Liberty High (Nuro-Gyina, Thigpen, Becker, McManus) 50.23; 6. West High (Stewart, MacLagan, Cornish, Steva) 50.65; 7. City High (Aboussa-Folly, Fraga, Newell, Bowen-Burt) 50.67

4×200 – 1. Southeast Polk 1:42.82; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 1:44.65; 4. City High (Fraga, Newell, Pho, Bowen-Burt) 1:46.38; 6. West High (MacLagan, Graham, Shaw, Mathias) 1:48.83; 7. Liberty High (McManus, Meyer, Becker, Kirchner) 1:49.96

4×400 – 1. Southeast Polk 4:04.78; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 4:05.06; 4. West High (Nepple, Mathias, Van Waning, Willis) 4:08.57; 5. City High (Burns, Pho, Schnoebelen, Bowen-Burt) 4:10.15; 6. Liberty High (VeDepo, Maassen, Bilskemper, Ramsey) 4:12.31

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Senior 9:46.09; 2. City High (Fruin, Doster, Downing-Sherer, Sherburne) 9:49.71; 6. Liberty High (Bisgard, Brown, Reyes, Cannon) 10:49.9; 7. West High (Ahn, Titus, Tranel, Geng) 11:12.67

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