Comets qualify 16 individuals and relays to state T&F meet

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Hopefully, it will never come to this. But if legalized betting ever opens a pay window at high school track meets, you’d be best advised not to take any tips from the peanut gallery.

“Dude is starting out WAY too fast,” someone on the infield remarked when Charles City freshman Ian Collins bolted out on the final leg of the 4-by-800 relay during Friday’s rescheduled Class 3A Track and Field State Qualifier at Comet Field.

After senior teammates Mason Deeter, Nick Litterer and Colton Slinger helped give the Comets the lead going into the final leg, Collins managed to gain some extra distance on Waverly-Shell Rock’s Luke Stromberg, the nearest competitor. But …

“I told you so,” the wannabe handicapper said when Stromberg began closing the gap during the second lap. “He’s going to catch him at the 200-meter mark.”

Not so fast. Collins managed to hold off the challenge along the homestretch to seal the Comet boys’ first state-qualifying berth of the evening.

“It feels great,” said Litterer, who — like his teammates — will make his first state track and field appearance this weekend at Drake Stadium.

“But it was also very painful.”

Collins sure was feeling it after he crossed the finish line. As his teammates were helping him to his feet, you were a little worried if Collins had anything left to get his feet off the ground. After recently setting a school record with a clear of 6 feet, 6 inches, Collins was the favorite to win the subsequent high jump.

Somehow, he recovered enough to do just that with a clear of 6 feet, 4 inches — due to compete in the 4-by-400 relay to close the meet, Collins didn’t attempt to go any higher.

Charles City junior Bradley Andrews also qualified in the event with a second-place clear of 6 feet, 2 inches.

The same aforementioned foursome won the 4-by-400 with a season-best time of 3 minutes, 30.36 seconds. This time it was Litterer who ran the final leg as he was able to catch and pass leader Justin Wright of Clear Lake about 35 meters from the finish to win the race by 3/10ths of a second.

“Their time should put them in the Top 10 among Class 3A,” Charles City boys head coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “You never know what could happen downstate.”

Last season, Charles City’s boys only had one representative at the state meet — 2018 graduate Gavin Connell in the 3,200-meter run. This season, the Comet boys are going to be better represented.

Senior Ryan Zuspan won the long jump with a leap of 20 feet even. Zuspan has jumped farther this season as his personal-best is 20 feet, 11 ½ inches. The top seed in the Class 3A long jump is Clark Kevontre of Bishop Heelan, who won his qualifier with a leap of 22 feet, 9 inches.

After Charles City’s 4-by-110 shuttle hurdle relay just missed qualifying last season, returners John Sibuma, Jeremiah Chapman and Dylan Koresh with the addition of Cole Reams and alternatives Zach Graeser and Tino Tamayo won the event with a season-best time of 1 minute, 1.30 seconds.

With Litterer’s third-place time in 800 good enough for an at-large bid, the Comet boys will have seven individuals and relays in Des Moines.

The Comet girls will have nine.

“They just were phenomenal,” Charles City girls head coach Amanda Rahmiller said. “They came ready to compete, and exceeded expectations. Especially our shuttle hurdle relay.”

The Comet SHR team of — including alternates — Lynn Hoeft, Alex Litterer, Liz Fiser, Hannah Lahner, Kaylee Hennick and Madi Lincoln — recorded a season-best time of 1:09.35, nipping Decorah by less than a half second for the automatic second-place berth.

Comet sophomore Carly Stevenson, who had shoulder surgery last summer, managed to save her best discus throw for her last attempt as she won the event with a throw of 118 feet, 4 inches.

“It wasn’t so much the physical pain of coming back … it was more mental,” Stevenson said. “I was afraid I might hurt myself again. But I had great teammates who supported me during the recovery, and I couldn’t have done this without them.”

Stevenson has a personal-best throw of 123 feet this season during a meet at Dike-New Hartford

“If I could do that at state, I might have a chance of placing,” Stevenson said.
Going into this week’s state meet, Lily Meester of Mt. Vernon is ranked atop the list of Class 3A qualifiers with a throw of 134 feet, 7 inches.

Listed among the top three of Class 3A girls long jumpers is Comet junior Liz Fiser, who won the qualifier with a leap of 17 feet, 1 inch — a personal-best.
T
he other first-place win for the Comet girls came in the 1,600 distance medley relay (Kiki Connell, Rachel Chambers, Marley Hagarty, Whitney Martin, Lydia Staudt, Sami Heyer — 4:24.44)

Getting automatic second-place berths for the Comets were the 4-by-100 (Alex Litterer, Rachel Chambers, Sami Heyer, Liz Fiser, Lynn Hoeft, Lydia Staudt); 4-by-400 (Marley Hagarty, Lydia Staudt, Whitney Martin, Kiki Connell, Ashlyn Hoeft, Sami Heyer); and the 4-by-800 (Whitney Martin, Lydia Staudt, Marley Hagarty, Mackenzy Bilharz, Ashlyn Hoeft, Mindi Neve).

“It’s nice to have one of our seniors (Whitney Martin) finish her career by competing in three events at state,” Rahmiller said.

After finishing in fourth place in a stacked 3,000-meter run, Kiki Connell was awarded an at-large berth — she was also a 3K state qualifier last year as a freshman.
Class 3A T&F State Qualifier
May 10
AT CHARLES CITY
Top 8 Event Placers
(Top 2 Automatic Qualifiers)
Boys Results
100 — 1. Samonte Bawden (A) 11.05, 2. Lincoln LaSourd (WC) 11.31, 3. Wyat Wegener (A) 11.32, 4. Garrett Whitmore (WC) 11.51, 5. Jaden O’Brien-Green (CL) 11.71, 6. Tomas Cavazos (HD) 11.83, 7. Haywood Stowe (D) 11.83, 8. Ryan Folkerts (WSR) 11.95.
200 — 1. Samonte Bawden (A) 22.50,2. Wyatt Wegener (A) 22.88, 3. Lincoln LaSourd (WC) 23.03, 4. Trey Mathis (WC) 23.43, 5. Jaden O’Brien-Green (CL) 23.87, 6. Austin Warnke (CL) 23.88, 7. Mikel Fullhart (D) 24.44, 8. Solomon Thompson (D) 24.71.
400 — 1. Jagger Schmitt (CL) 51.51, 2. Jaden O’Brien-Green (CL) 51.89, 3. Cameron DeLong (D) 53.64, 4. Nicholos Tiili (A) 55.26, 5. Andrew Hamilton (A) 55.49, 6. Tucker Judkins (WC) 56.11, 7. Elijah Davis (WSR) 57.03, 8. Jack Van Diest (WC) 57.40.
800 — 1. Max Harfst (WC) 1:59.55, 2. Sam Kepford (WSR) 1:59.64, 3. Justin Wright (CL) 2:02.77, 4. Nick Litterer (CC) 2:03.84, 5. Cody Reed (IFA) 2:06.70, 6. Matthew Franzen (D) 2:08.36, 7. Samuel Robinson (D) 2:13.49, 8. Parker Rossing (WC) 2:17.52.
1600 — 1. Trey Engen (A) 4:32.24, 2. Gus Hayes (D) 4:35.14, 3. Sam Kepford (WSR) 4:38.73, 4. Brady Hogan (D) 4:47.32, 5. Nick Kepford (WSR) 4:51.76, 6. John Piaszynski (WC) 5:01.00, 7. Jose Ramirez (WC) 5:02.03, 8. Jacob Vais (CC) 5:11.65.
3200 — 1. Trey Engen (A) 4:32.24, 2. Gus Hayes (D) 4:35.14, 3. Sam Kepford (WSR) 4:38.73, 4. Brady Hogan (D) 4:47.32, 5. Nick Kepford (WSR) 4:51.76, 6. John Piaszynski (WC) 5:02.03, 7. Jose Ramirez (WC) 5:02.03, 8. Jacob Vais (CC) 5:11.65.
110 HUR — 1. Andrew Magner (D) 15.08, 2. Drew Enke (CL) 15.44, 3. Riley Flint (HD) 15.49, 4. Cade Klein (HD) 15.94, 5. Timothy Long (IFA) 16.25, 6. Kasey Porter (WC) 16.29, 7. Kaiyu Levongkhom (WC) 16.31, 8. Mitchell Raber (CL) 16.33.
400 HUR — 1. Garrett Whitmore (WC) 54.87, 2. Drew Enke (CL) 57.36, 3. Kasey Porter (WC) 58.29, 4. Zack Graeser (CC) 59.51, 5. Cole Reams (CC) 1:00.82, 6. Drew Snyder (D) 1:01.18, 7. Wyatt Sutter (HD) 1:01.20, 8. Matt Waddington (HD) 1:01.86.
4X110 SHR — 1. Charles City (John Sibuma, Cole Reams, Jeremiah Chapman, Dylan Koresh, Zach Graeser, Tino Tamayo) 1:01.30, 2. Hampton-Dumont 1:02.10, 3. Decorah 1:02.58, 4. Iowa Falls-Alden 1:02.92, 5. Webster City 1:03.14, 6. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:12.16.
4X100 — 1. Webster City 44.11, 2. Clear Lake 44.53, 3. Decorah 44.54, 4. Algona 45.30, 5. Charles City 46.33, 6. Hampton-Dumont 46.56.
4X200 — 1. Webster City 1:32.58, 2. Clear Lake 1:32.83, 3. Decorah 1:33.21, 4. Charles City 1:34.28, 5. Algona 1:34.31, 6. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:35.86.
4X400 — 1. Charles City (Colton Slinger, Mason Deeter, Ian Collins, Nick Litterer, Dylan Koresh, Malcolm Lopez) 3:30.36, 2. Clear Lake 3:30.63, 3. Hampton-Dumont 3:32.20, 4. Iowa Falls-Alden 3:38.55, 5. Algona 3:42.76, 6. Decorah 3:43.02.
4X800 — 1. Charles City (Mason Deeter, Nick Litterer, Colton Slinger, Ian Collins, Antwone Cooper, Zack Graeser) 8:19.08, 2. Waverly-Shell Rock 8:21.47, 3. Decorah 8:33.29, 4. Iowa Falls-Alden 8:59.70, 5. Clear Lake 9:32.62.
800 SMR — 1. Algona 1:35.82, 2. Clear Lake 1:36.37, 3. Decorah 1:36.42, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:39.14, 5. Iowa Falls-Alden 1:40.89, 6. Charles City 1:41.72.
1600 DMR — 1. Algona 3:36.92, 2. Waverly-Shell Rock 3:37.52., 3. Clear Lake 3:39.64, 4. Decorah 3:57.69, 5. Webster City 4:00.39, 6. Hampton-Dumont 4:01.06.
HJ — 1. Ian Collins (CC) 6-04, 2. Bradley Andrews (CC) 6-02, 3. Keaton Solberg (D) 6-00, 4. Timothy Long (IFA) 6-00, 5. Tyson Cooley (CL) 5-10, 6. Cody Reed (IFA) 5-10, 6. Zane Anderson (CL) 5-10, 8. Malachi Montes (WC) 5-08.
LJ — 1. Ryan Zuspan (CC) 20-00, 2. Jorge Rivera (CL) 18-02, 3. Kaiya Levongkom (WC) 18-02, 5. Ben Buseman 9WSR) 17-11.5, 6. Cael Bohlen (CC) 17-11, 7. Carson Odor (CL) 17-08, 8. Rafe Bessman (IFA) 17-05.5.
DIS — 1. Mosai Newsom (WSR) 156-09, 2. Caleb Siech (WSR) 141.05, 3. J.J. Moore (WC) 139.02, 4. Logan Halverson (D) 136-05, 5. Andrew Hamilton (A) 135-02, 6. Tino Tamayo (CC) 134-11, 7. Sam Wilson (D) 124-04, 8. Cameron Levenhagen (CL) 121-00.
SP — 1. Mosai Newsom (WSR) 54-01, 2. Logan Halverson (D) 50-06.24, 3. Austin Lampman (WC) 47-06.50, 4. Seth Blanchette (WSR) 46-00.75, 5. Wyatt Folkerts (HD) 44-10, 6. Sam Wilson (D) 42-11, 7. J.J. Moore (WC) 42-10, 8. Noah Kleier (A) 42-06.

Girls Results
100 — 1. Rose Gullekson (D) 12.73, 2. Brielle Buresh (D) 12.87, 3. Alexa Chase (A) 13.07, 4. Claire Wragge (HD) 13.51, 5. Ashlyn Hay (WC) 13.72, 6. Leah Cherry (WSR) 13.74, 6. Allie Ford (IFA) 13.74, 8. Tatum Goings (WC) 13.80.
200 — 1. Brooke Berns (D) 25.81, 2. Radaisyia Thomas (A) 27.30, 3. Zoey Woodle (WC) 27.61, 4. Claire Wragge (HD) 28.05, 5. Grace Thompson (D) 28.37, 6. Ally Mulford (IFA) 28.41, 7. Abby Groen (A) 28.51, 8. Tara Krull (HD) 28.94.
400 — 1. Hadyn Miller (IFA) 1:01.97, 2. Dionna VanGorken (A) 1:04.42, 3. Peyton Bradley (A) 1:04.50, 4. Emma Neirengarten (D) 1:04.79, 5. Lauren Juhl (IFA) 1:06.45, 6. Ava Folkerts (WSR) 1:06.77, 7. Abby Halverson (D) 1:07.00, 8. Ingrid Hernandez (CC) 1:07.89.
800 — 1. Maddy Juhl (IFA) 2:21.61, 2. Grace Juhl (IFA) 2:22.11, 3. Leila Johnson (D) 2:29.49, 4. Brooke Courtney (D) 2:36.05, 5. Mackenzy Bilharz (CC) 2:37.99, 6. Ashlyn Hoeft (CC) 2:40.20, 7. Hailee Merryman (A) 2:44.14, 8. Katelyn Moore (CL) 2:44.56.
1500 — 1. Ellie Meyer (IFA) 4:59.98, 2. Maddy Juhl (IFA) 5:00.08, 3. Emma Hoins (WSR) 5:06.11, 4. Ashlin Young (A) 5:08.41, 5. Kiki Connell (CC) 5:14.17, 6. Carley Mullins (A) 5:24.52, 7. Britta Swanson (D) 5:29.24, 8. Julia Bowman (WSR) 5:38.13.
3000 — 1. Grace Juhl (IFA) 10:32.97, 2. Ellie Meyer (IFA) 10:46.73, 3. Emma Hoins (WSR) 10:58.80, 4. Kiki Connell (CC) 11:05.47, 5. Ashlin Young (A) 12:05.56, 6. Mindi Neve (CC) 12:12.63, 7. Annette Leschensky (D) 12:14.18, 8. Samantha See (D) 12:32.10.
100 HUR — 1. Abigail Holmes (A) 15.78, 2. Britney Young (WSR) 16.04, 3. Haley Eckerman (WSR) 16.29, 4. Grace Syverson (D) 16.31, 5. Jaclyn Reding (A) 16.87, 6. Katie Meyer (IFA) 17.12, 7. Olivia Amos (CL) 17.71, 8. Jennie Barkema (HD) 17.85.
400 HUR — 1. Ambria Pipho (D) 1:11.70, 2. McKenzie Barr (IFA) 1:11.91, 3. Laura Bates (WSR) 1:12.01, 4. Olivia Battle (D) 1:12.14, 5. Selah Opp (CC) 1:12.98, 6. Jenny Wibholm (IFA) 1:13.28, 7. Reagan Dahlquist (WSR) 1:13.72, 8. Jaelyn Hickman (HD) 1:13.74.
4X100 SHR — 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:07.80, 2. Charles City (Lynn Hoeft, Alex Litterer, Liz Fiser, Hannah Lahner, Kaylee Hennick, Madi Lincoln) 1:09.35, 3. Decorah 1:09.76, 4. Clear Lake 1:11.98, 5. Hampton-Dumont 1:16.04, 6. Iowa Falls-Alden 1:17.47.
4X100 — 1. Decorah 49.81, 2. Charles City (Alex Litterer, Rachel Chambers, Sami Heyer, Liz Fiser, Lynn Hoeft, Lydia Staudt) 51.39, 3. Algona 51.62, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock 51.91, 5. Webster City 53.36, 6. Iowa Falls-Alden 54.27.
4X200 — 1. Decorah 1:47.14, 2. Algona 1:49.11, 3. Charles City 1:51.32, 4. Webster City 1:51.97, 5. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:52.32, 6. Iowa Falls-Alden 1:54.34.
4X400 — 1. Iowa Falls-Alden 4:10.69, 2. Charles City (Marley Hagarty, Lydia Staudt, Whitney Martin, Kiki Connell, Ashlyn Hoeft, Sami Heyer) 4:16.43, 3. Waverly-Shell-Rock 4:19.23, 4. Algona 4:22.88, 5. Decorah 4:28.23, 6. Clear Lake 4:49.11.
4X800 — 1. Iowa Falls-Alden 9:36.11, 2. Charles City 9:58.49 (Whitney Martin, Lydia Staudt, Marley Hagarty, Mackenzy Bilharz, Ashlyn Hoeft, Mindi Neve) 9:58.49, 3. Decorah 10:07.51, 4. Clear Lake 11:10.04, 5. Algona 11:22.92.
800 SMR — 1. Decorah 1:51.04, 2. Iowa Falls-Alden 1:55.16, 3. Waverly-Shell Rock 1:55.65, 4. Algona 1:56.89, 5. Charles City 1:58.97, 6. Clear Lake 2:03.54.
1600 DMR — 1. Charles City (Kiki Connell, Rachel Chambers, Marley Hagarty, Whitney Martin, Lydia Staudt, Sami Heyer) 4:24.44, 2. Waverly-Shell Rock 4:26.00, 3. Iowa Fall-Alden 4:28.62, 4. Algona 4:35.21. 5. Decorah 4:40.24, 6. Clear Lake 4:59.92.
HJ — 1. Reagan Dahlquist (WSR) 5-07, 2. Ambria Pipho (D) 5-00, 3. Alexis Nichols (WC) 4-10, 4. Dionna VanGorkem (A) 4-10, 5. Jennie Barkema (HD) 4-10, 6. Jenny Wibholm (IFA) 4-10, 7. Ashley Schneberger (D) 4-08.
LJ — 1. Liz Fiser (CC) 17-01, 2. Britney Young (WSR) 16-06, 3. Ashlyn Hay (WC) 15-11, 4. Zoey Woodle (WC) 15-08.5, 5. Sydney Hoover (A) 15-04, 6. Molly McCauley (A) 14-03, 7. Jaelyn Hickman (HD) 14-02, 8. Cassie Wyatt (D) 13-10.
DIS — 1. Carly Stevenson (CC) 118-04, 2. Paige Springer (HD) 116-06, 3. Kameryn Etherington (A) 115-03, 4. Cora Crooks (CC) 106-02, 5. Haley Shaw (WSR) 101-05, 6. Hannah Brandt (WC) 99-08, 7. Jordyn Hussain (D) 96-11, 8. Katherine Bruening (D) 90-08.
SP — 1. Kameryn Etherington (A) 35-10.75, 2. Aanaiya Weston (D) 35-08, 3. Haley Shaw (WSR) 35-02.25, 4. Avery Shelton (D) 34-07.75, 5. Calgary Kuker (IFA) 34-02, 6. Mikala VanderPloeg (CL) 33-10.5, 7. Katie Sindt (CC) 33-07, 8. Taylor Johnson (IFA) 30-11.