Comet Middle School track athletes getting ready for Prime Time

Charles City posts placers at MS State Tourney

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Carly Stevenson’s distances achieved in the discus can prompt stupid questions.

Like … “Do they use the same weighted discus in middle school that they do in high school?”

“They sure do,” said Josh Dean, Charles City’s throwing coach who works with eighth-grader Stevenson as well as the high schoolers.

Stevenson has reached 110 feet this season while breaking a long-standing Charles City Middle School record.

At the Mike Henderson Junior High State Track Meet held in Ankeny on Saturday, Stevenson nearly reached 110 again with a first-place throw of 109 feet, 8 inches in the 8th-Grade Girls Large School Division.

“She just started throwing last year, and she’s already reached what top high school girls are throwing,” Dean said. “She’s very gifted, but she’s more than that as she’s willing to work hard.

“You drive by the circle (at the school track) on most days and you’ll see Carly and Sara (Martin) and Sydney (Loeckle) out there working on their form,” Dean said while mentioning his two high school all-conference throwers. “There are a lot of girls out there with talent, but they don’t always work to make the best of it.”

Charles City eighth-grader Kiki Connell placed third in the 1,500 with a time of 5 minutes, 12.57 seconds. Like Stevenson, Connell has recently broken a long-time school record in the 1,500.

But when you try to get Charles City Middle School girls track coach Sue Hoefer to discuss some of the school records her team has set this year, she insists such talk is premature.

“We just had our 4-by-200 relay set one (on Tuesday),” Hoefer said. “We’ve set a lot them this year, and we hope to set some more this Friday.”

Charles City Middle School boys and girls teams will compete in their respective conference meets on Friday, which will cap their seasons.

With Marley Hagarty placing eighth in the 400, the shuttle hurdle relay team of Dani Reetz, Emma Grimm, Megan Ingersol and Adison Oleson placing sixth (1:18.78), and the 4-by-400 relay team of Hagarty, Ingersol, Oleson and Connell placing sixth (4:37.23), the Comets tied for 13th out of 25 teams.

“The way they did it down there was to combine the 3A schools with the 4A schools for the Large School Division,” Hoefer said. “So we were a 3A school going against some of the top 4A programs in the state.

“This is a good group for us … we have a good core of runners that should immediately contribute to coach (Darren) Bohlen’s high school team next year.”

In the 7th-Grade Girls Large School Division, Comet Katie Sindt placed second in both the shot put (26 feet, 1 ½ inches) and discus (72 feet, 2 inches).

The Comet Middle School boys team also competed in Ankeny.

In the 7th-Grade Boys Large School Division, Tino Tamayo placed second in both the shot put (34 feet, 4 ½ inches) and the discus (110 feet, 5 inches); and Ian Collins placed second in the long jump (15 feet, 7 inches) for Charles City, which placed sixth with 39 points.