Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Erinn Varga learned a lot at her first three state qualifying meets.

Toughness, managing stress and being a supportive teammate were just a few of the things Varga has picked up over the course of the past three seasons.

In her final state qualifying meet appearance on Thursday the West High senior standout put all those lessons to use in one final stellar performance.

Varga helped West High to top-two finishes in three relays at the Class 4A state qualifying meet at rainy Raffensperger Track at City High.

“I’ve really learned how to manage my stress and I’ve also learned how to help my team out and I think that’s really important,” Varga said. “I am supporting my teammates and making sure they are o.k. during the races.”

Varga played a key role in all three West High relays that automatically qualified for the Class 4A state meet on Thursday.

She was a part of the Trojan’s winning shuttle hurdle relay and ran on the West High distance medley and 4×400 relays that secured state meet spots with runner-up finishes.

Varga also finished fifth in the 400 hurdles in a time of 1:08.92.

“I think for Erinn she has just learned toughness,” West High coach Mike Parker said. “It’s hard because she’s always in four events and it’s the 400 hurdles, the 400, the 4×4 so I think as you go through you just have to be tough and she’s really learned not just how to be a good athlete but to grind and be tough.”

Varga was a part of a strong night for West High that saw the Trojans auto qualify five entries to the state meet.

Sophia Austen finished runner-up in the high jump (5-2) and Eriniah Carter was runner-up in the 100 hurdles (15.35) to join the three West High relays as automatic qualifiers.

“Our hurdle group has been great all year, 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles, shuttle we will go to Des Moines with all those things in a really strong position but today we did some other really good things,” Parker said. “Our 4×400 is coming together, our distance medley I think did really well and Helen (Penning) at the shot put had a huge pr.”

Natalie Steva, Jaylin Herring, Varga and Kate Van Waning finished runner-up in the distance medley in a time of 4:20.42.

West High closed the evening with a bang as Herring edged City High junior Josephine LeClair at the finish line to give the Trojans a runner-up finish in the 4×400.

The West High foursome of Varga, Herring, Austen and Eva Willis was runner-up to Pleasant Valley in 4:08.54.

“We have a lot of new people on the team and we do have some veterans but we kind of knew this was a team that when we got to May that we would see the fruits of our labor,” Parker said. “I think we have.”

The highlight of the night for the Trojans was the shuttle hurdle team of Varga, Herring, Carter and Sophia Olivo winning in a time of 1:05.29.

“For some reason shuttle does not cause me stress and that’s because I have three other girls that run very well that I know I can depend on,” Varga said. “It’s been fun to be a part of that event.”

City High had one automatic qualifier as the Little Hawk 4×800 relay team of Naomi Downing-Sherer, Claire Locher, Lucy Sherburne and Abigail Burns finished runner-up in 9:55.35.

Class 4A State Qualifier

At City High

Team scores – 1. Pleasant Valley 229.5; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 127; 3. West High 105; 4. City High 95; 5. Burlington 80.5; 6. Davenport Central 36; 7. Muscatine 34; 8. Waterloo East 26

Individual results (Event winner; area placers)

Shot put – 1. Kylee Hill (BUR) 46-0; 2. Mackenzie Fah (PV) 41-1 ¼; 4. Helen Penning (ICW) 38-10 ¾; 5. Rachel Haack (ICH) 36-11 ½;

Discus – 1. Reese Goodlet (PV) 137-3; 2. Gabrielle Ragins (PV) 135-9; 4. Rachel Haack (ICH) 120-3; 5. Hannah Braun (ICH) 117-11; 7. Helen Penning (ICW) 103-0

Long jump – 1. Elodie Stroup (PV) 17-5 ½; 2. Miah Norman (WE) 16-7 ½; 3. Ruth Cloyd (ICH) 16-2 ¼; 5. Ava Bruxvoort (ICW) 15-7 ¼; 8. Lindsey McKane (ICW) 14-11 ¾

High jump – 1. Lyla Canny (CRP) 5-2; 2. Sophia Austen (ICW) 5-2; 6. Alice Edelen (ICH) 4-8; 7. Evelyn Cornish (ICW) 4-8

100 – 1. Asia Russell (CRP) 12.31; 2. Mylee Stiefel (BUR) 12.53; 6. Dede Aboussa-Folly (ICH) 13.5; 8. Aarianna Shaw (ICW) 13.68

200 – 1. Ashley Hansen (PV) 25.35; 2. Asia Russell (CRP) 25.66; 8. Janrita Dahn (ICH) 28.72

400 – 1. Kailee Wilson (PV) 1:02.05; 2. Kaylee Mowen (PV) 1:02.66; 4. Jena Frank (ICW) 1:04.43; 6. Lydia Evans (ICW) 1:04.89; 7. Laila Pho (ICH) 1:06.76

800 – 1. Ani Wedemeyer (PV) 2:10.77; 2. Grace Boleyn (PV) 2:12.15; 3. Kate Van Waning (ICW) 2:31.12; 4. Lucy Sherburne (ICH) 2:34.18; 5. Hannah Geng (ICW) 2:38.78; 6. Claire Locher (ICH) 2:39.16

1,500 – 1. Ani Wedemeyer (PV) 4:54.95; 2. Frankie Gotto (PV) 4:56.62; 4. Nicole Peterson (ICH) 5:03.28; 5. Nina Peterson (ICH) 5:10.52

3,000 – 1. Vivian McCombs (PV) 10:34.9; 2. Lexi Minard (PV) 10:35.74; 3. Nicole Peterson (ICH) 10:36.8; 4. Nina Peterson (ICH) 10:53.88; 8. Kalli Titus (ICW) 11:51.04

100 hurdles – 1. Ryann Decker (CRP) 14.93; 2. Eriniah Carter (ICW) 15.35; 3. Sophia Olivo (ICW) 15.4; 4. Sierra Pruessner (ICH) 15.61

400 hurdles – 1. Jessie Clemons (PV) 1:04.61; 2. Ryann Decker (CRP) 1:05.88; 5. Erinn Varga (ICW) 1:08.92; 6. Jaylin Herring (ICW) 1:10; 7. Josephine LeClair (ICH) 1:10.01; 8. Willow Schultz (ICH) 1:11.6

4×100 – 1. Pleasant Valley 49.16; 2. Burlington 49.26; 4. West High (Natalie Steva, Miracle Stewart, Evelyn Cornish, Caroline Dickens) 52.0; 6. City High (Ellie Fraga, Jessi Kucera, Sophie Bell, Dede Aboussa-Folly) 52.45

4×200 – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:44.89; 2. Burlington 1:46.72; 4. West High (Natalie Steva, Miracle Stewart, Evelyn Cornish, Sophia Austen) 1:49.68; 6. City High (Ellie Fraga, Shaniya Jackson, Cooper Hamilton, Janrita Dahn) 1:52.26

4×400 – 1. Pleasant Valley 3:58.63; 2. West High (Eva Willis, Sophia Austen, Erinn Varga, Jaylin Herring) 4:08.54; 3. City High (Ruth Cloyd, Sierra Pruessner, Abigail Burns, Josephine LeClair) 4:08.66

4×800 – 1. Pleasant Valley 9:27.02; 2. City High (Naomi Downing-Sherer, Claire Locher, Lucy Sherburne, Abigail Burns) 9:55.33; 5. West High (Lydia Evans, Cindy Wang, Gabby Moniza, Hannah Geng) 10:19.01

Sprint medley – 1. Pleasant Valley 1:48.86; 2. Burlington 1:50.66; 5. City High (Ellie Fraga, Shaniya Jackson, Ruth Cloyd, Josephine LeClair) 1:53.66; 7. West High (Lily McConnell, Miracle Stewart, Eva Willis, Jena Frank) 1:58

Distance medley – 1. Pleasant Valley 4:13.59; 2. West High (Natalie Steva, Jaylin Herring, Erinn Varga, Kate Van Waning) 4:20.42; 5. City High (Ellie Fraga, Esther Oyunge, Ruth Cloyd, Naomi Downing-Sherer) 4:27.53

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. West High (Erinn Varga, Jaylin Herring, Eriniah Carter, Sophia Olivo) 1:05.29; 2. Pleasant Valley 1:08.04; 6. City High (Willow Schultz, Mary Hamilton, Kayden Jensen, Gloria Konu) 1:10.66

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