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Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Considering the cold weather that has led to a rash of cancellations this spring the Solon girls track team was happy just having a meet on Tuesday.

The fact the meet came under sunny skies and on senior night at its home track were just added bonuses for Solon.   

The Spartans took full advantage of that trifecta on Tuesday at Spartan Stadium cruising to the team title at the Denny Gruber Relays.

“We were all so excited just to have a nice day and it definitely helps when you are at home because it motivates you all that much more,” Solon senior Molly Duckett said. “Winning the meet just makes it all that much better because the whole team performed really well.”

Temperatures barely touched 50 but there was plenty of sun and virtually no wind as mother nature provided a rare break from a bitter spring.

Solon was beneficiary of the weather cruising to the team title with 164.5 points, 57 more than runner-up Mount Vernon.

Regina finished eighth with 27 points.

“It’s kind of amazing what we call nice now, mid 40s has turned into a great day,” Solon coach Brent Sands joked. “I thought we ran well, we did the things in the events we really wanted to do stuff in tonight so I feel a lot better.”

Solon was impressive in its fourth outdoor meet of the season.

The Spartans won seven events and added eight runner-up finishes en route to the team title.

Solon got five individual title from five different athletes and added titles in both the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.

“It’s huge for the team,” Solon senior Sophie Nicol said. “All the girls have been working hard and we’ve practiced out here every day working our butts off so getting out here and actually being able to compete as well as we did tonight was a huge accomplishment for our team.”

Erin Kerkhoff won the 400 and helped Solon bookend the meet with relay titles.

The junior ran the anchor legs on the winning sprint medley and 4×400 relay teams, bringing the Spartans back from short deficits in the final meters of each race.

Kerkhoff edged North Cedar senior Grace Proesch at the finish line in the sprint medley and caught Proesch just before the tape again in the 4×400.

“In the back stretch I just keep talking to myself and saying ‘keep your pace, keep your pace you will have it at the end’,” Kerkhoff said. “I just talk myself through it until the 100 stretch and then I just see what I can do.”

Kerkhoff teamed with Nicol, Duckett and Taylor Ryan to win the sprint medley in a meet record time of 1:51.26.

She won the 400 in 1:00.08 and then joined Ryan, Cayley Annis and Abby Smith to win the 4×400 in 4:10.96.

“Erin is solid, that wasn’t her best split on the last 4×400 but it got cold at night at the end of a long meet,” Sands said. “She is a workhorse and I think she is figuring out she can be yet.”

In between the relay wins Solon got titles from Annis in the 200, Gabbi Bullard in the 400 hurdles, Khaylor Fleck in the long jump and Emily Troyer in the shot put.

Solon finished runner-up in the 4×100, 4×200 and shuttle hurdle relays and got second place finishes from five different individuals.

“There is definitely room for improvement but we are further ahead of where we were last year in some events,” Duckett said. “I think definitely this year we are coming to compete and compete well.” 

Denny Gruber Relays

At Solon

Team scores – 1. Solon 164.5; 2. Mount Vernon 107.5; 3. North Cedar 77; 4. Marion 70; 5. Vinton-Shellsburg 49; 6. Davenport Assumption 46; 7. Dyersville Beckman 44; 8. Regina 27.

Individual Results

(Winners; Area Placewinners)

100 – 1. Morgan Funke (DB) 13.27; 2. Khaylor Fleck (SOL) 13.29; 3. Jaedynn Evans (ICR) 13.37;

200 – 1. Cayley Annis (SOL) 27.32; 2. Abby Smith (SOL) 27.33.

400 – 1. Erin Kerkhoff (SOL) 1:00.08; 4. Ashley Stinocher (SOL) 1:07.38.

800 – 1. Laney Fitzpatrick (DA) 2:26.83; 5. Calista Haasl (SOL) 2:45.25; 6. Mary Catherine Graff (ICR) 1:46.95.

1,500 – 1. Hallie Kephart (MAR) 5:13.02; 6. Annabelle Stimmel (ICR) 5:56.63

3,000 – 1. Hallie Kephart (MAR) 11:08.56; 4. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 12:03.03.

100 hurdles – 1. Heather Boeckenstedt (DB) 15.79; 5. Peyton Sands (SOL) 16.86; 6. Rachael Nelson (SOL) 17.0.

400 hurdles – 1. Gabbi Bullard (SOL) 1:07.69; 4. Sophie Nicol (SOL) 1:13.45;

Sprint medley relay – 1. Solon (Sophie Nicol, Molly Duckett, Taylor Ryan, Erin Kerkhoff) 1:51.26.

Distance medley relay – 1. Vinton-Shellsburg 4:34.65; 3. Solon (Sophie Nicol, Molly Duckett, Gabbi Bullard, Kiersten Conway) 4:49.27; 4. Regina (Tiy Fourte, Baylee O’Connor, Kate Milder, Carrigan O’Connor) 5:14.98.

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Mount Vernon 1:06.66; 2. Solon (Molly Duckett, Peyton Sands, Rachael Nelson, Gabbi Bullard) 1:07.81; 4. Regina (Abby Clark, Olivia Clark, Emma Sueppel, Jessica Hunter) 1:26.21.

4×100 – 1. Dyersville Beckman 51.59; 2. Solon (Molly Duckett, Peyton Sands, Khaylor Fleck, Rachael Nelson) 52.4; 3. Regina (Jessica Hunter, Annie Gahan, Madeline Adam, Jaedynn Evans) 52.84.

4×200 – 1. North Cedar 1:49.75; 2. Solon (Taylor Ryan, Cayley Annis, Khaylor Fleck, Abby Smith) 1:49.88.

4×400 – 1. Solon (Taylor Ryan, Cayley Annis, Abby Smith, Erin Kerkhoff) 4:10.96.

4×800 – 1. Davenport Assumption 10:00.34; 4. Solon (Ashley Stinocher, Calista Haasl, Aira Foster, Saige Hauer) 11:01.16; 5. Regina (Annabelle Stimmel, Kate Milder, Annalee Bartels, Mary Catherine Graff) 11:12.48.

Long jump – 1. Khaylor Fleck (SOL) 16-11; 2. Taylor Ryan (SOL) 16-9 ½; 6. Lauren Kimani (ICR) 13-9 ½; 6. Tiy Fourte (ICR) 13-9 ½.

High jump – 1. Darby Hawtrey (NC) 5-0; 2. Abby Smith (SOL) 5-0; 5. Olivia Felton (SOL) 4-6

Shot put – 1. Emily Troyer (SOL) 41-7 ½.

Discus – 1. Lily Meester (MV) 111-5; 2. Elli Becicka (SOL) 107-7; 5. Jenna LaDage (SOL) 100-2.