Photo by Jeff Yoder / Solon district gallery |  CCA district gallery

Your Prep Sports

VAN HORNE – An abundance of depth gave Brent Sands the luxury of a balanced lineup throughout the regular season but left the long-time Solon coach with a post-season conundrum.

Who goes where to provide the best lineup for postseason success?

Sands and the Spartans seem to have found the answer to that riddle on Friday night.

Solon won nine events, placed second in four others and rolled to the team title at the Class 3A state qualifying meet at Benton Community High School in Van Horne.

“I told them when we got done, we probably executed that lineup better than I’ve ever seen or maybe would have hoped,” Sands said. “You’re always nervous whether you’re seeded top or not, but it was great execution of what we wanted to do. It was a real good night.”

The Spartans automatically qualified 13 events for next week’s Class 3A state meet while rolling up 189.5 points to outdistance runner-up Center Point-Urbana by 75.5.

Vinton-Shellsburg was third with 87.5 followed by host Benton Community with 87. Clear Creek Amana was eighth with 51.

“It was awesome,” Solon senior Taylor Ryan said. “Right after the meet coach Sands told us that we couldn’t have executed this lineup better than we did and scoring 189 and a half points was incredible for us. We went out and did exactly what we set out to do.”
Solon got individual titles from Erin Kerkhoff in the 400, Ellie Wolff in the 100, Emma Bock in the 800 and Makinley Levin in the long jump.

However, just as they have all season the Spartans did most of their damage in the relays.

Solon won five relay titles and was runner-up in another automatically qualifying all but one relay for the state meet.

The Spartans won titles in the 4×100, 4×200, 4×400, sprint medley and distance medley and were runner-up in the 4×800.

“This year has been all about a team effort, all the team together,” Ryan said. “This year it’s a lot more special because it’s a whole team effort. It’s been really rewarding.”

The foursome of Wolff, Khaylor Fleck, Cayley Annis and Kerkhoff won the 4×100 in 50.13 while Ryan, Abby Smith, Levin and Fleck won the 4×200 in 1:46.43.

Fleck, Levin, Ryan and Kerkhoff won the sprint medley in 1:49.9 and Smith Rachael Nelson, Gabbi Bullard and Bock won the distance medley in 4:25.69.

Ryan, Levin, Smith and Kerkhoff capped the meet with a win in the 4×400 in 4:14.63.

“We were all a little tired because we really pushed throughout the meet, we didn’t have the freshest legs,” Ryan said of the 4×400 win. “We just knew that we just had to get first or second to get to state. We weren’t fresh, but we came out and did what we did and we got it.”

Wolff won the 100 in 13.27 and Kerkhoff won the 400 in 59.89 for Solon while Bock won the 800 in 2:24.06.

Solon finished first and second in the long jump with Levin winning with a mark of 16-3 and Fleck finishing second with a jump of 15-5.

Gabbi Bullard qualified for state with a runner-up finish in the 400 hurdles, Ryan was second in the 200 and Kiersten Conway was second in the 3,000.
The Solon 4×800 squad also secured a spot at state with a runner-up finish.

Solon will await the fate of several other potential state qualifiers like senior Elli Becicka who was third in the discus with a toss of 117-4 and its shuttle hurdle relay team that finished third in a season-best time of 1:07.98.

“Both of our discus girls gave themselves a shot, I wouldn’t say that they’ve been down, but not where they wanted to be and they threw great tonight,” Sands said. “The shuttle ran their best time of the year. The 4×1 was very good, a better time than we’ve had a year so I was very encouraged by that. It was definitely a team effort.”

Class 3A, District 1 Meet

At Benton Community High School in Van Horne

Team scores – 1. Solon 189.5; 2. Center Point-Urbana 114; 3. Vinton-Shellsburg 87.5; 4. Benton Community 87; 5. Grinnell 84; 6. Cedar Rapids Xavier 69; 7. South Tama 57; 8. Clear Creek Amana 51

Individual Results (Automatic qualifiers; Area placewinners)

100 – 1. Ellie Wolff (SOL) 13.27; 2. Kaylie Skoumal (CRX) 13.29; 4. Cayley Annis (SOL) 13.34

200 – 1. Grace Martensen (BC) 26.24; 2. Taylor Ryan (SOL) 26.51; 4. Ellie Wolff (SOL) 27.68 7. Kayla Jiras (CCA) 28.56; 8. Cierra Lacina (CCA) 28.65

400 – 1. Erin Kerkhoff (SOL) 59.89; 2. Grace Horst (V-S) 1:01.55; 3. Kaia Holtkamp (SOL) 1:05.85

800 – 1. Emma Bock (SOL) 2:24.06; 2. Grace Horst (V-S) 2:25.05; 7. Emily Coleman (CCA) 2:39.12

1,500 – 1. Adrianna Katcher (CP-U) 5:01.62; 2. Grace Horst (V-S) 5:02.48; 4. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 5;12.55; 7. Kaylie Barker (CCA) 5:30.05

3,000 – 1. Adrianna Katcher (CP-U) 10:50.11; 2. Kiersen Conway (SOL) 10:54.20; 4. Kaylie Barker (CCA) 11:25.48; 7. Annika Kruse (SOL) 12:13.09

100 hurdles – 1. Grace Martensen (BC) 15.03; 2. Aubrey Jones (CRX) 15.38; 6. Peyton Sands (SOL) 16.42 8. Kayla Jiras (CCA) 17.34

400 hurdles – 1. JoJo Tyynismaa (ST) 1;07.13; 2. Gabbi Bullard (SOL) 1:08.43; 7. Bella Feaker (SOL) 1:21.33; 8. Liz Schultz (CCA) 1:22.90

Shot put – 1. Jaydyn Palmer (CP-U) 37-11.75; 2. Morgan Willson (CP-U) 37-9; 6. Raysa Garbes (SOL) 34-4.5; 7. Jenna LaDage (SOL) 33-6.75; 8. Ainsley Schrock (CCA) 33-5

Discus – 1. Lauren Upmeyer (V-S) 127-7.25; 2. Jaydyn Palmer (CP-U) 120-0.5; 3. Elli Becicka (SOL) 117-4; 4. Ainsley Schrock (CCA) 116-1.5; 5. Conrad Ava (SOL) 114-05

Long jump – 1. Makinley Levin (SOL) 16-3; 2. Khaylor Fleck (SOL) 15-5; 4. Karsyn Stratton (CCA) 15-1

High jump – 1. Kylee Neighbors (GRI) 5-4; 2. Stacey Slaven (ST) 5-3; 3. Abby Smith (SOL) 5-1; 4. Kaia Holtkamp (SOL) 4-10

4×100 – 1. Solon (Ellie Wolff, Khaylor Fleck, Cayley Annis, Erin Kerkhoff) 50.13; 2. Benton Community 51.04; 6. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Abby Stevens, Karsyn Stratton, Cierra Lacina) 53.50

4×200 – 1. Solon (Taylor Ryan, Abby Smith, Makinley Levin, Khaylor Fleck) 1:46.43; 2. Center Point-Urbana 1:49.11; 4. Clear Creek Amana (Abby Stevens, Karsyn Stratton, Cierra Lacina, Cileigh Smiddy) 1:51.48

4×400 – 1. Solon (Taylor Ryan, Makinley Levin, Abby Smith, Erin Kerkhoff) 4:14.63; 2. Grinnell 4:15.40; 5. Clear Creek Amana (Kayla Jiras, Sarina Dietrich, Grace Bedford, Amanda Weih) 4:33.37

4×800 – 1. Benton Community 9:56.27; 2. Solon (Aira Foster, Kaia Holtkamp, Calista Haasl, Emma Bock) 9:59.94; 6. Clear Creek Amana (Emily Coleman, Lauren Lasswell, Liz Schultz, Kaitlyn Trimpe) 11:27.36

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Benton Community 1:06.94; 2. South Tama 1:07.16; 3. Solon (Peyton Sands, Rachael Nelson, Jada Buffington, Gabbi Bullard) 1:07.98; 5. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Kayla Jiras, Meghan Cullen, Cileigh Smiddy) 1:10.24

Sprint medley relay – 1. Solon (Khaylor Fleck, Makinley Levin, Taylor Ryan, Erin Kerkhoff) 1:49.90; 2. Cedar Rapids Xavier 1:52.57; 5. Clear Creek Amana (Emma Mathis, Abby Stevens, Karsyn Strtton, Cierra Lacina) 1:56.02

Distance medley relay – 1. Solon (Abby Smith, Rachael Nelson, Gabbi Bullard, Emma Bock) 4:25.69; 2. Center Point-Urbana 4:28.29; 7. Clear Creek Amana (Rylee Rummelhart, Grace Bedford, Sarina Dietrich, Kaylie Barker) 4:52.12

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