Comet girls place third at Waukon Indians Relays

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

WAUKON — Even a Cinderella Story needs a sequel.

For Charles City freshman Kiki Connell, her original Cinderella Story came last fall when she lost her slipper — or rather one of her running shoes — at the beginning of the state cross country Class 3A race, yet still managed to make it to the balcony for a sixth-place medal.

Then sticking with the fairy tale theme, Connell recently stayed up late anticipating the strike of the midnight hour.

“I was so nervous,” Connell said about checking online updates of who made the Drake Relays cut. Connell was in contention when she recorded a time of 10 minutes, 44.53 seconds in the 3,000-meter run during the Decorah Lady Vikings Relays on April 16.

“Then when I saw I made it after the deadline [midnight last Thursday] I was so excited.”

When Connell recorded the time, it placed her 13th among all Iowa high school girls classes — the top 21 make the cut.

“I thought it had a good chance to stay within the Top 21,” Charles City girls track head coach Darren Bohlen said. “It might have been a good thing with all the bad weather we’ve been having to help it hold up, but I expected someone like Kiki to make it.”

The last time Charles City’s girls program had a distance runner make it to the Drake Relays was McKayla Cole in 2017.

“Other than McKayla and Kiki, we’ve haven’t had too many distance runners make it,” Bohlen said.

At the Waukon Girls Indian Relays, Connell didn’t run in the 3,000. But she participated in the 4-by-200 relay, which placed fourth; and won the junior varsity long run.

“I’m just going to do my normal off-day workout,” Connell said of her plans on Wednesday — her race is on Thursday at 5:40 p.m.

“I’m a little nervous, but I know it’s going to be a great experience for me,” Connell said.

At the relays, Charles City finished third with 63 team points behind runner-up Crestwood (107.5) and champion Decorah (206).

Charles City senior Sydney Loeckle had a productive day winning the discus with a season-best throw of 115 feet, 4 inches, and placing second in the shot put with a throw of 34 feet, 10 inches — tying Hailey Nierling of Decorah. Nierling was awarded the tiebreaker due to having a next-best throw.

Loeckle later participated in the 1,500 run, and then in the 4-by-100 relay in the next varsity event, helping the Comets place third.

The Comet 4-by-100 shuttle hurdle relay team of Lynn Hoeft, Tayler Schmidt, Alex Litterer and Sadie Ruzicka recorded a season-best time of 1:09.77.

Charles City junior Whitney Martin and senior Gillian King placed second and third, respectively, in the 800 with times of 2:31.40 and 2:33.59.

Crestwood’s Emily Friesen won the event with a time of 2:30.62.