State Track and Field Notebook: Liberty High Sophomore Decker Earns First State Medal
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
DES MOINES – Liberty High sophomore Keegan Decker entered the 2025 one of the top young distance runners in the state.
Decker left Des Moines with some hardware.
Decker earned the first state meet medal of his career on Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the Class 4A 1,600 in a career-best time of 4:13.64.
Decker finished 10th in the 3,200 last season as a freshman and was 12th in the 3,200 on Thursday in a time of 9:17.04.
Each of the top four finishers in front of Decker in the 1,600 on Saturday were seniors.
West Des Moines Dowling senior Owen Wolfe won in a time of 4:09.21 followed by Ethan Zuber of Ankeny in 4:12.59, Owen Marett of Des Moines Roosevelt in 4:12.92 and Jack Flori of West Des Moines Dowling in 4:13.59.
Olivio Earns High Hurdle Medal
West High senior Sophia Olivo capped a stellar career with an eighth-place finish in the Class 4A 100 hurdles in a time of 15.14.
The individual medal for Olivo comes after she helped West High to top-five finishes in the Class 4A shuttle hurdle relay each of the past two seasons.
West Des Moines Dowling senior Emma Havighurst won her second consecutive 400 100 hurdle title in a time of 13.62.
Western Dubuque’s Nauman Makes History
Western Dubuque junior Quentin Nauman capped his impressive four-gold medal meet by making history on Saturday.
Nauman became the first high school athlete ever to run sub 1:50 in the 800 and sub 4:00 in the 1,600 in the same track and field meet.
The Oregon recruit won the Class 3A 800 in 1:49.41 and added a title in the 1,600 in 3:59.6.
He is the sixth athlete nationwide to achieve the feat in the same year but none have done it in the same meet.
His time of 3:59.6 in the 1,600 ranks number two on the United States prep list this season.
Attendance Record Set
This year’s state meet was filled with state records was witnessed by a record number of fans.
Saturday’s total attendance of 10,667 set a new single-day attendance record for the state track and field meet breaking the previous one-day mark of 10,241 in 2023.
The three-day total attendance of 40,820 also set an all-time attendance mark breaking the previous record of 40,567 also set in 2023
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