Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Another season, another top-four long jump finish for Alexi Thigpen.

Thigpen posted a third consecutive top-four finish in the Class 4A long jump on Friday finishing fourth with a jump of 17-3 ¼ at the state track and field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

The fourth-place finish was the second straight for Thigpen who finished third at the Class 4A state meet as a freshman.

Linn-Mar junior Abby Mecklenburg won the long jump with a leap of 19-3 ¾ while Johnston senior Jaida Bell was runner-up also jumping 19-3 ¾.

Sophia Hatcher of Ames was third with 17-8 ½.

Whitters and Woods Get First Titles

Colin Whitters and Mason Woods will be West High track teammates for the final time on Saturday.

The duo will be Iowa football teammates in the future.

The two future Hawkeyes each won their first state titles on Friday with Whitters winning the 4A shot put title and Woods winning the 4A long jump crown.

Whitters joins a long list of state shot put champions that have gone on to play offensive line at Iowa.

That list includes the likes of Council Bluffs Lewis Central prep Logan Jones and Mount Vernon graduate Tristan Wirfs.

“I’m not quite there yet when you have guys like (former Solon prep Tyler) Linderbaum and Wirfs, they throw far,” Whitters said. “That’s my goal to get there.”

Big Crowds Again

The combined attendance for both sessions on Friday was 16,041, the second most ever for a Friday at the state meet.

The two-day combined attendance for Thursday and Friday was 30,147 which is the second highest two-day total in the history of the state meet.

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