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Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Peyton Steva wanted a strong finish to her prep career.

“It’s my senior season so I want to show up and show out for that,” Steva said. “I needed to be better and I wanted to be better.”

The West High senior is well on her way to the type of finish she is after.

Already the top high hurdler in the state this season Steva turned in another dominating all-around effort on Thursday winning three individual titles at the Forwald/Coleman Relays at cool and overcast Raffensperger Track.

“I’ve been happy for a lot of our stars but I have to say at this point in the season I don’t if I’ve ever been as happy for somebody,” Long-time West High coach Mike Parker said of Steva. “She has just earned it, it’s not been easy, I’m just so happy for here.”

Steva won a title in the 100 hurdles and swept the short sprints with titles in the 100 and 200 as West High team depleted by injuries placed fourth with 107 points.

Defending 4A champion Waukee won the team title with 173 points followed by Pleasant Valley with 135 and host City High with 123.

“I just have to put up the most points I can,” Steva said. “I have to make sure that I’m pushing the other girls to be their best and then I have to do my best no matter the circumstances.”

Steva entered with the fastest time in the state in the 100 hurdles at 14.63 and nearly matched that time clocking a 14.67 despite cool conditions that featured temperatures in the 40s.

“Coming here running the hurdles in the cold is not an easy thing to do,” Parker said. “If you are thinking about nicking your ankle on the hurdle ten times, this is one of the events in the cold that is hard to do and she runs 14.6.  She is the only girl to run under 14.8 and she has done it three times now.”

Steva added to her big day with a strong spring showing.

She won the 100 in 12.63 and added a title in her first ever crack at the 200.

Steva held off a late charge from Pleasant Valley senior Adrea Arthofer to win the 200 in a time of 25.9.

“I started to feel her right on my shoulder and I had to make sure she didn’t catch me,” Steva said. “I kind of turned it into sixth gear instead of fifth gear and made sure she didn’t pass me.”

Steva also ran on the West High 4×100 team that placed fifth.

West High got an individual title from junior Salima Omari in the shot put with a toss of 40-6 and a runner-up finishes from Alexie Little in the discus and Amy Liao in 400 hurdles.

“Salima is somebody that came in throwing barely 30 feet for us as a sophomore and now here she is,” Parker said. “By the end of last year she was throwing really well and she had a lifetime best today. Those throwers and Peyton that is something that we are really proud of today.”

West High was without a pair of senior standouts in Deniz Ince and Katie Severt on Thursday as the duo each missed the meet duo to injury.

Ince, who earned four-medals at the state meet last season is expected to miss the rest of the season.

“Today was a heavy day for us, we found out Deniz is done for the year,” Parker said. “Deniz is the number one returner in the 800, the 1,500 and the 3,000. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’ve never lost my number one person like that to an injury and I feel for Deniz because she’s one of those A plus kids that does everything you tell them to.”

Forwald/Coleman Relays

Team scores – 1. Waukee 173; 2. Pleasant Valley 135; 3. City High 123; 4. West High 107; 5. West Des Moines Valley 70; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 63; 7. Linn-Mar 47; 8. Muscatine 20

Individual results (Event winners; area placewinners)

100 – 1. Peyton Steva (ICW) 12.63; 4. Emma Cooper (ICH) 12.88

200 – 1. Peyton Steva (ICW) 25.99; 4. Emma Clark (ICH) 27.35; 5. Emma Cooper (ICH) 27.52

400 – 1. Jessica Caraway (WAU) 1:00.34; 5. Peyton Naeve (ICH) 1:04.04; 7. Jordan DuBrava (ICH) 1:08.41

800 – 1. Lauren Schulze (WDV) 2:22.99; 2. CeCe Kelly-Harvey (ICH) 2:26.06; 7. Kiara Malloy-Salgado (ICW) 2:28.71

1,500 – 1. Micah Poellet (L-M) 4:48.61; 6. Kiara Malloy-Salgado (ICW) 5:05.35; 7. Erica Buettner (ICW) 5:09.54

3,000 – 1. Sydney Schaffer (WAU) 10:30.04; 5. Rowan Boulter (ICH) 10:43.09

100 hurdles – 1. Peyton Steva (ICW) 14.67; 5. Te’Nia Ansley (ICH) 16.08; 6. Jordan Sekafetz (ICH) 16.28

400 hurdles – 1. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH) 1:04.91; 2. Amy Liao (ICW) 1:08.97; 3. Lilly Reynolds (ICH) 1:10.33

4×100 – 1. Pleasant Valley 49.6; 3. City High (Te’Nia Ansley, Azzura Sartini-Rideout, Emma Clark, Emma Cooper) 51.32; 5. West High (Celestina Nuro-Gyina, Matayia Tellis, Amy Liao, Peyton Steva) 52.22

4×200 – 1. Waukee 1:45.77; 2. City High (Emma Cooper, Azzura Sartini-Rideout, Ayana Lindsey, Mia DePrenger) 1:46.47; 7. West High (Celestina Nuro-Gyina, Favour Alarape, Tremeice Carter, Doroteya Kiza) 1:55.98

4×400 – 1. City High (Ayana Lindsey, Mia DePrenger, Caroline Schaeckenbach, CeCe Kelly-Harvey) 4:05.99; 6. West High (Kaisa Whittaker, Emma Kearney, Soomin Koh, Tionna Slater) 4:33.82

4×800 – 1. West Des Valley 9:51.44; 2. West High (Erica Buettner, Sara Alaya, Emma Kearney, Kiara Malloy-Salgado) 10:06.21; 3. City High (Lillian Reynolds, Tatum Frazier, Lucy Corbin, Janie Perril) 10:07.91

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. City High (Te’Nia Ansley, Jordan Sekafetz, Kate Swenning, Caroline Schaeckenbach) 1:05.73; 6. West High (Amy Liao, Matayia Tellis, Florence Assumani, Celestina Nuro-Gyina) 1:13.78

Sprint medley relay – 1. Waukee 1:51.21; 2. City High (Te’Nia Ansley, Emma Clark, Ayana Lindsey, CeCe Kelly-Harvey) 1:53.48; 3. West High (Tremeice Carter, Celestina Nuro-Gyina, Matayia Tellis, Amy Liao) 1:58.5

Distance medley relay – 1. Waukee 4:26.97; 3. West High (Doroteya Kiza, Favour Alarape, Kaisa Whittaker, Emma Kearney) 4:38.2; 5. City High (Pamela Wawaka, Ella Cook, Isabel Jones, Jae Dancer) 4:39.69

Discus – 1. Madison Green (WDV) 130-9 ½; 2. Alexie Little (ICW) 123-2; 3. Phoebe Burt (ICW) 115-4

Shot put – 1. Salima Omari (ICW) 40-6; 3. Arionnah Sonii (ICW) 37-5

Long jump – 1. Carli Spelhaug (PV) 17-5 ½; 3. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH) 16-11 ¾; 6. Ella Cook (ICH) 15-5 ½

High jump – 1. Sara Hoskins (PV) 5-2; 5. Alia Vanderhoef (ICH) 5-0; 6. Kate Swenning (ICH) 4-10

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