Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival was formed as an opportunity for some of the best athletes in the state to show off their talent.

On Saturday the West High shuttle hurdle relay team used it as a chance to turn in one of the best performances in state history.

West High ran the fifth fastest shuttle hurdle relay time in state history on Saturday setting a school record with a time of 57.21 on a rainy and overcast afternoon at Trojan Field in Iowa City.

“I don’t think I could have ran that race any better, everyone really ran their best,” West High senior Waleed Ibrahim said. “We had a pretty clean race today, one of our cleanest races ever, we came in here wanting the school record and got what we wanted.”

West High got the school record and a lot more on Saturday.

The time of 57.21 from the foursome of seniors Ibrahim, Ryder Gorsh and Ely Smock and junior Cade Towler was .15 faster than the previous fifth fastest time in state history posted by Ankeny in 2019 and is the fastest in the state this season.

West High’s winning time was more than three seconds after than runner-up Treynor who finished in 1:00.51 on Saturday.

“That was today’s goal and I think knowing that if we all run a clean race we are going to go fast helps,” Towler said. “We weren’t getting in our heads about time we know if we run clean we will go fast.”

The West High hurdle squad has steadily emerged as one of the best in the state.

Last season the foursome finished seventh at the Class 4A state meet.

It was at that point that the Trojan team set its sights much higher for this spring.

“We got seventh at state last year and we said, ‘nobody here except us is returning all four’ so the goal was clear then that we wanted to put up fast times this year,” Smock said. “To put up a time that is fifth all-time in mid-April is great.”

The success wasn’t necessarily something the team members envisioned four years ago as freshman.

All four were middle distance runners in middle school before taking up hurdling at different points over the past four seasons.

Smock, who ran on the Trojan’s Drake Relays qualifying shuttle hurdle team as a freshman in 2023, was the first to take up the event.

“My mom was a 400 hurdler at Wartburg, so I guess you could say its in the genes,” Smock said. “So with that Coach (TJ) Craig knew no matter what I ran in junior high he was going to have me do a little bit of hurdling and I did it as a freshman and had a little knack for it.”

Ibrahim and Towler each made the move to hurdling early in their prep careers while Gorsh was the latest in the group to make the move at the urging of Ibrahim.

“I was very hesitant to come into hurdling and Waleed over the winter really pushed me to pursue hurdling,” Gorsh said. “Last year I opened the year with a 17.2 in the high hurdles and my shuttle split was a 16.5 and this year I opened 14.95 in the 110s and then I split a 14.0 in the shuttle.”

It has been the emergence of Gorsh that has helped push West High into uncharted territory.

“Just seeing Ryder progress, the difference between last year and this year, has been amazing,” Ibrahim said. “After state he practiced in the summer, he did everything in his power to help our shuttle team and for himself.”

The West High hurdling success didn’t stop at the shuttle hurdle title on Saturday at an event that drew teams from all over the state.

Ibrahim won the 110 hurdles in 14.67 while Gorsh was second in 14.75 and Towler was seventh in 15.3.

Smock finished third in the 400 hurdles in 55.58.

“All of us are great hurdlers, I don’t think there is a team in the state with four hurdlers as good as we have in terms of form,” Ibrahim said. “The only thing we can progress on is our speed.”

West High was nearly as impressive in the field events on Saturday.

Neil James (22-11) and Bernoli Luvandu (22-5 ¼) finished first and second in the long jump, James Barnett (55-9) was runner-up in the shot put and Colin Whitters (172-5 ½) was runner-up in the discus.

West High’s Dara Olaleye was third in the 800 in 1:55.91.

Liberty High finished runner-up in the 4×800 relay in 8:05.42 while City High was third in 8:08.18.

Solon freshman Mac Svalstad finished third in the 400 in 49.14 and Regina sophomore Nathan Parizek was third in the discus with a toss of 166-2 ½.

Adams Kane of City High finished third in the high jump clearing 6-2.

Seniors Rachel Haack and Abigail Burns led the City High girls with a pair of runner-up finishes.

Haack was second to Kylee Hill of Burlington in both the shot put and the discus.

Haack had a throw of 43-8 ¼ in the shot put and was runner-up with mark of 148-1 in the discus.

Hannah Braun of City High was third in the discus at 143-3 ½.

Burns was second to Joley Sullivan of Davenport Central in both the 1,500 (4:46.18) and the 3,000 (10:04.41).

West High won the 4×400 in 4:06.85 and was runner-up in the 4×200 in 1:46.02.

Amara MacLagan was third in the long jump with a leap of 17-5 ¼ for the Trojans and Evelyn Cornish cleared 5-0 to finish third in the high jump.

West Branch junior Grace Hamann finished third in the 800 in 2:16.85.

Regina senior Reese Naeve was runner-up in the 100 hurdles in 15.33 and helped the Regals to a third-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:09.78.

Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival

At West High School

Boys Results

Individual results (Event champ; area medalists)

100 – 1. Cauy Konz (Treynor) 10.78; 6. Edwin Gangba (Regina) 11.12

200 – 1. Cauy Konz (Treynor) 21.92; 5. Atari Brown (West High) 22.66

400 – 1. Lincoln Bainbridge (Van Buren) 48.2; 3. Mac Svalstad (Solon) 49.14

800 – 1. Lincoln Bainbridge (Van Buren) 1:54.43; 3. Dara Olaleye (West High) 1:55.91

1,600 – 1. Emerson Vokes (Grundy Center) 4:19.47

3,200 – 1. Dominic Williams (Cedar Falls) 9:12.87;

110 hurdles – 1. Waleed Ibrahim (West High) 14.67; 2. Ryder Gorsh (West High) 14.75; 4. Nolan Staker (West Branch) 15.19; 5. Gabe Schuessler (Regina) 15.27; 6. Gavin Washpun (City High) 15.28; 7. Cade Towler (West High) 15.3

400 hurdles – 1. Wil Pauli (Cedar Falls) 53.45; 3. Ely Smock (West High) 55.58; 6. Marshall Sheldon (City High) 57.23;

Sprint medley – 1. Grundy Center 1:33.92;

Distance medley – 1. Cedar Falls 3:30.36; 5. West High (Brown, Headings, Dunham, Musa) 3:38.44; 8. City High (Washpun, Sheldon, Washpun, Prottsman) 3:41.1

Shuttle hurdle – 1. West High (Smock, Ibrahim, Towler, Gorsh) 57.21; 7. Regina (Hinkel, Keech, Poe, Schuessler) 1:05.28

4×100 – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 42.36; 7. West High (Davis, James, Craig, Hodge Jr.) 44.16

4×200 – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:28.21; 5. Regina (Koch, Hegelheimer, Swen, Gangba) 1:31.37; 7. Liberty High (Dixon, Schweitzer, Burnes, Baldwin); 8. West High (Craig, James, Hodge Jr., Nelson) 1:31.78

4×400 – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 3:23.75; 4. West High (Nelson, Jacobsen, Dunham, Brown) 3:28.7; 6. Liberty High (Burnes, Schweitzer, McDowell, Baldwin) 3:31.74; 7. West Branch (Weckmann, Naber, Staker, Christoffel) 3:32.48

4×800 – 1. Decorah 7:55.59; 2. Liberty High (Hildebrand, Hildebrand, Kinzer, Decker) 8:05.42; 3. City High (Palmberg, Elwell, McRoberts, McDowell) 8:08.18; 4. West High (Hanna, Olaleye, Bruzek, Tong) 8:11.02; 5. Solon (Michels, Recker, Young, Bevans) 8:22.29

Shot put – 1. Max Nevitt (Algona) 58-3 ¾; 2. James Barnett (West High) 55-9; 4. Colin Whitters (West High) 52-1; 6. Tate Wallace (Regina) 50-9 ½; 7. Preston Mensah (City High) 50-5 ¼

Discus – 1. Byron Christianson (Vinton-Shellsburg) 174-1 ½; 2. Colin Whitters (West High) 172-5 ½; 3. Nathan Parizek (Regina) 166-2 ½; 5. James Barnett (West High) 162-8 ½; 8. Preston Mensah (City High) 150-1 ½

Long jump – 1. Neil James (West High) 22-11; 2. Bernoli Luvandu (West High) 22-5 ¼; 4. Damari Lacy (City High) 22-2 ¾; 8. Atari Brown (West High) 20-8 ¾

High jump – 1. Carson Laures (New Hampton) 6-5; 3. Adams Kane (City High) 6-2;

Girls Results

Individual results (Event champ; area medalists)

100 – 1. Jeorgia Evans (Mid-Prairie) 12.42;

200 – 1. Aniston Netten (Van Meter) 26.36;

400 – 1. Morgan Fisher (Ankeny) 55.97; 8. Lexi Skay (West Branch) 1:04.08

800 – 1. Avery Fedler (Mount Pleasant) 2:15.18; 3. Grace Hamann (West Branch) 2:16.85

1,500 – 1. Joley Sullivan (Davenport Central) 4:39.12; 2. Abigail Burns (City High) 4:46.18; 8. Eliza Doster (City High) 5:05.89

3,000 – 1. Joley Sullivan (Davenport Central) 9:58.45; 2. Abigail Burns (City High) 10:04.41

100 hurdles – 1. Renae Wilson (Decorah) 15.31; 2. Reese Naeve (Regina) 15.33

400 hurdles – 1. Addison Winters (Kee) 1:08.04; 6. Eva Willis (West High) 1:12.43

Sprint medley – 1. Cedar Falls 1:47.12; 6. Liberty High (McGonegle, Wilson, Meyers, Maher) 1:55.8

Distance medley – 1. Maquoketa 4:17.31; 4. Liberty High (Kaut, Meyer, VeDepo, Swift) 4:33.87;

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Decorah 1:09.37; 3. Regina (Gavin, Keune, Wiltz, Naeve) 1:09.78; 6. West High (Graham, Sieren, Wing, Willis) 1:13.14; 8. Liberty High (Meyers, Sharp, Daniels, Eckhardt) 1:19.61

4×100 – 1. Decorah 51.29; 2. West High (Rahmouni, Cornish, Graham, MacLagan) 51.38; 6. Regina (White, Naeve, Keune, Recker) 52.99; 7. West Branch (Holmes, Becker, Skay, Hamann) 53.08

4×200 – 1. Mount Vernon 1:45.15; 2. West High (Rahmouni, Cornish, MacLagan, Mathias) 1:46.02;

4×400 – 1. West High (Austen, Van Waning, Ahern, Mathias) 4:06.85; 5. Liberty High (Maher, Daniels, Cannon, Prahm) 4:22.29

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Senior 9:43.89; 6. West High (Hodge, Twait, DeWaard, Van Waning) 10:13.26

Shot put – 1. Kylee Hill (Burlington) 49-2 ½; 2. Rachel Haack (City High) 43-8 ¼;

Discus – 1. Kylee Hill (Burlington) 150-4; 2. Rachel Haack (City High) 148-1; 3. Hannah Braun (City High) 143-3 ½

Long jump – 1. Lena Bruening (Ankeny) 18-0 ½; 3. Amara MacLagan (West High) 17-5 ¼

High jump – 1. Cambel Drapeau (Dubuque Senior) 5-2; 3. Evelyn Cornish (West High) 5-0; 7. Greta Daniels (Liberty High) 4-10

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