Sibley-Ocheyedan junior Leah Seivert raced out to a big early lead over defending champion Rebekah Topham of Griswold to win the girls class 1A 3,000 meter run in a record time of 9:56.54. “It feels really great because I’ve practiced really hard for this race specifically, I didn’t really train for the 800’s,” Seivert says.
AGWSR senior Isacc Montes outkicked Austin Springsteen of Lisbon to win the class 1A 3,200 meter run by one one hundreth of a second. Springsteen says he has been working on building a reserve and is happy he was able to win in his senior year.
Linn-Mar runners swept the long distance events in Class 4A at the state high school track meet. Freshman Stephanie Jenks took command on the final lap to win the girls 3,000 meter run. Jenks says she was shocked when she won at Drake and knew who her toughest competitors would be here and kept them in her sights.
Junior Josh Evans outdueled Caleb Drake from Pleasant Valley to win the boy’s 4A 3,200 meter run. “It was kind of my goal to come out here and push it like I did at Drake and pull away. It was so cool to actually get it my first time,” Evans says.
Evans made his move with three laps to go on the back of the curve and says that’s what he had planned.
Burlington senior Justin Randall cleared 6-8 to win his second straight class 4A high jump title. Randall says he had to overcome a sluggish start where he felt “like an unfolding lawn chair” in trying to get over the bar.
He says he relaxed and took a deep breath and prayed a little bit to get some confidence.