Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Eighteen hundredths of a second.

That is all that separated the West High girls track and field team from a conference championship.

But given the immense talent and youth throughout the Trojans’ program, it is obvious that the best is still ahead.

“There were just a lot of people that really stepped up,” West High coach Mike Parker said after the Trojans were edged by Linn-Mar, 147-146, in the team standings at a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet Thursday at Kingston Stadium. “The 3,000 meters, we went 1-2 with two freshmen (Ava Twait and Adrienne Hodge). They weren’t even seeded in the top three. It was those things that really gave us a shot, but Savannah (Mathias) is just the star of the day. Winning the 400, she ran a 56 (seconds) in her 4×4 split. Almost caught it. If she would have caught it, we would have been conference champions as a team.”

West High trailed Linn-Mar by four points with one event to go, the 4×400 relay.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s 4×4 foursome sprinted out to a huge lead in the early legs before Mathias made up some incredible ground in the anchor leg before falling short at the finish line.

Kennedy won in 3:58.24. West’s foursome of sophomore Beatrice Ahern, senior Jena Frank, junior Sophia Austen and the sophomore Mathias were second in 3:58.42, their fastest time of the season.

Eighteen hundredths of a second behind.

“I think it just really shows me how far I can push myself if I really have a goal,” Mathias said. “I have to transfer that over to my open events to really have that momentum to push myself.”

Mathias shined in her open events with a win in the 400-meter run (58.16 seconds) and a runner-up finish in the 200 dash (25.80).

“I just really put in my head that winning this could get my team really far,” Mathias said. “I just have to do it for my team and do it for the outcome in the end.”

Twait earned a win in the 3,000 run in 11:06.10, just ahead of her freshman teammate Hodge (11:11.10).

Just as she was catching her breath after the victory, Twait was immediately summoned to participate in the 3,200 relay.

Despite the grind of back-to-back distance events, Twait anchored a third-place finish alongside sophomore Avery Nepple, freshman Ellie DeWaard and senior Myra Crawford.

“I feel like the 3,000, it helps get into thinking about some of the speed that I have to use in the 800,” Twait said. “The last lap gets me ready to run the 4×8 and I didn’t even know I was going to run it. It was like a surprise.”

West got two more wins when Amara MacLagan won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 8.5 inches, while fellow sophomore Savi Graham dazzled with a victory in the 400 hurdles (1:08.10) in just her second appearance in the event.

Even with an array of terrific performances, falling one point short of a conference title will undoubtedly fuel the Trojans’ preparation for a Class 4A state-qualifying meet next Thursday at Iowa City High.

“It gives our team another big reason to push ourselves in practice,” Mathias said. “Something to go get. Something to fuel the fire in all of ourselves just because we were that one point short.”

MVC Mississippi Divisional Meet

At Kingston Stadium

Team scores – 1. Linn-Mar 147, 2. West High 146, 3. Western Dubuque 113, 4. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 107, 5. Dubuque Senior 89, 6. Liberty High 81, 7. Cedar Rapids Xavier 49.

100 – 1. Morgan Hospodarsky (CRK), 12,56; 2. Brooklyn Guild (LM), 12.81; 3. Amara MacLagan (ICW), 12.84.

200 – 1. Haley Williams (WD), 25.42; Savannah Mathias (ICW), 25.80; 3. Amara MacLagan (ICW), 26.39.

400 – Savannah Mathias (ICW), 58.16; 2. Olive Wilson (CRK), 59.88; 3. Anna Sojka (LM), 1:00.11.00

800 – 1. Emma Chesterman (DS), 2:14.80; 2. Avery Nepple (ICW), 2:26.82; 3. Anna Temple (LM), 2:29.04.

1,500 – 1. Emma Chesterman (DS), 4:49.39; 2. Hailey Kozloski (LM), 4:51.62; 3. Neveah Kessler (DS), 4:58.24.

3,000 – 1. Ava Twait (ICW), 11:06.10; 2. Adrienne Hodge (ICW), 11:11.10; 3. Briel Bechen (DS), 11:12.70.

100 hurdles – 1. Olivia Neal (CRX), 15.24; 2. Macy Kalb (WD), 15.91; 3. Kayla Langerman (CRK), 16.45.

400 hurdles – 1. Savannah Graham (ICW), 1:08.10; 2. Christina Gorsich (LM), 1:08.63; 3. Sara Petsche (WD), 1:10.24.

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Western Dubuque (Vogel, Hogrefe, Heiderscheit, Kalb), 1:07.19; 2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Langerman, Ousley, Gloede, Jakobsen), 1:08.77; 3. Cedar Rapids Xavier (Musick, Huntington, McGee, Neal), 1:09.90.

Sprint medley – 1. Western Dubuque (Steger, Graber, Kalb, Williams), 1:47.46; 2. Linn-Mar (Guild, White, Cubbage, Sojka), 1:51.22; 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Hospodarsky, Gieseman, Blocker, Hospodarsky), 1:53.43.

Distance medley – 1. Linn-Mar (Wesselink, Gorsich, Gander, Kozloski), 4:20.18; 2. Western Dubuque (Berning, Biver, Petsche, Da Silva), 4:26.66; 3. Iowa City West (Dickens, Sanchez, Evans, Van Waning), 4:27.71.

4×100 – 1. Linn-Mar (Guild, Cubbage, White, Yount), 49.33; 2. Western Dubuque (Graber, Kalb, Steger, Williams), 49.48, 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Hospodarsky, Gieseman, Thorstenson, Jakobsen), 49.96.

4×200 – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Blocker, Garsayne, Thorstenson, Hospodarsky), 1:43.42; 2. Linn-Mar (Guild, Cubbage, White, Yount), 1:45.84; 3. Iowa City West (Shaw, Cornish, Austen, Rahmouni), 1:47.24.

4×400 – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Wilson, Garsayne, Blocker, Hospodarsky), 3:58.24; 2. Iowa City West (Ahern, Frank, Austen, Mathias), 3:58.42; 3. Iowa City Liberty (Sojka, Clemente, Gander, Gorsich), 4:12.90.

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Senior (Hoyer, Kessler, Gilligan, Chesterman), 9:55.17; 2. Linn-Mar (Temple, Harper, Meier, Smiley), 10:03.95; 3. Iowa City West (Nepple, DeWaard, Crawford, Twait), 10:10.31.

Discus – 1. Annie Cassidy (LM), 127-4; 2. Ava Pfab (WD), 106-0; 3. Sydney Van Heukelom (ICW), 105-8.

Long jump – 1. Amara MacLagan (ICW), 17-8.50; 2. Adalyn Thorstenson (CRK), 17-6.50; 3. Alexi Thigpen (ICL), 17-1.

High jump – 1. Cambel Drapeau (DS), 5-3; 2. Claire Lorenz (LM), 5-0; 3. Brynna Gander (LM), 4-10.

Shot put – 1. Annie Cassidy (LM), 38-3.75; 2. Eden Lee (DS), 37-4.25; 3. Isabelle Gasper (CRK), 37-2.

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