What to watch On the Second Day of the State Track and Field Meet on Friday
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The state track and field meet continues on Friday with the second day of competition at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
On the final day of the two-session format Friday features three more finals on the track and the end of field event competition for the week.
In addition to the individual events the team races begin to take shape on Friday across all four classes.
Before the action gets rolling on Friday here is a look at what to watch involving Your Prep Sports area teams and athletes on Friday.
Prince Looking to Complete Another Throwing Sweep
Clear Creek Amana senior Landon Prince will look to complete his second Drake Stadium throwing sweep of the season on Friday.
Last month Prince became the sixth prep in state history to sweep the throwing events at the Drake Relays.
On Thursday, Prince opened the state meet by earning the first state title of his career capturing the 3A boys discus championship with a mark of 181-10.
Prince is a favorite to add a 3A shot put title on Friday.
He enters with the top throw in the state this season at 64-1 ½ which is more than four feet further than the second best throw in 3A by Washington sophomore Greyson Hartman.
Class 4A Team Race Heats up
West High enters day two tied for fifth place in the Class 4A team race following a solid opening session on Thursday.
The Trojans scored 11 points on Thursday and are tied with Johnston and Waukee Northwest and sit 17 points behind current 4A leader Ankeny who had 28 points on day one.
West High has an opportunity to make a move on Friday.
The Trojans have four events seeded in the top-five on Friday with the opportunity for a big scoring day in the field events.
Junior Colin Whitters enters with the top qualifying mark in the shot put at 57-5 ¾ and teammate James Barnett has the second best mark from qualifying meets at 56-10 ½.
Whitters finished runner-up in the discus on Thursday.
Mason woods has the fifth best qualifying mark in the long jump, the West High 4×200 team has the fifth fastest time from qualifying meets and the distance medley relay team is 12th but a threat to score points.
Keep an eye on Ely Smock in the 400 hurdles who enters with the 10th best qualifying time at 54.72,
Clear Creek Amana 4×200 Chasing Gold
Three gold medals are up for grabs on the track in each class on Friday.
Clear Creek Amana will be in the hunt for one of those gold medals.
The Clear Creek Amana 4×200 team enters with the top time in Class 3A this season after clocking a 1:43.4 at the state qualifying meet last week.
Jaylin Herring, Bailey Simpson, Addilyn Scheetz and Elizabeth Timmerman teamed to run the 1:43.4 which headlines a group of four teams that have run under 1:44 this season.
Mount Pleasant has the second fastest time at 1:43.42 followed by Decorah (1:43.55) and Marion (1:43.88).
Timmerman was part of the Clear Creek Amana 4×200 team that finished 18th at the 3A state meet last season.
Watch Grace Go
It will be a busy final few days at the state track and field meet for West Branch sophomore Grace Hamann.
Hamann will kick off her busy end to the week on Friday when she competes in a pair of events.
Hamann will anchor the Bear’s distance medley relay team that enters with the third fastest time in Class 2A this season.
The West Branch foursome of Olivia Becker, Addi Schultes, Lexi Skay and Hamann has run 4:17.37 this season with trails only Tipton (4:12.44) and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (4:15.48) as the fastest this season.
Hamann will also run the 400 hurdles on Friday and enters with the 11th fastest time in 2A this spring at 1:07.48.
Area Trio Chasing Long Jump Medals
A trio of area athletes will be competing in what should be an exciting Class 4A girls long jump field.
Liberty High junior Alexi Thigpen, West High freshman Amara MacLagan and City High senior Piper Sweeting could all be in the hunt for a top-eight finish in a 4A field highlighted by Linn-Mar senior Abby Mecklenburg who has the best jump this season at 20-8 ¼.
Thigpen is a two-time medalist that finished third and fourth the past two seasons and has the fifth best jump this season at 18-5.
MacLagan jumped a career-best 18-1 ¾ at the state qualifying meet, which is the seventh best jump in 4A this season.
Sweeting also had a career-best jump at the state qualifier last week and has the 14th best jump in 4A this spring at 17-5 ½.
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