Loy motivated, not distracted

DES MOINES — Her husband was here, and it served as motivation rather than distraction.

'That played a big role,' Olivia Loy said. 'He's my No. 1 fan.'

Loy established two new Class 3A girls' records and repeated as the 400-meter champion at the state track meet Thursday afternoon at Drake Stadium.

A senior at Anamosa, Loy motored through the 200-meter preliminaries in 25.12 seconds.

Then, in the one that really counted, she controlled the 400-meter race in 56.05.

'Definitely a great day,' she said. 'I absolutely wasn't expecting this. I am very surprised.'

The bride of serviceman Troy Stumpf for 4 months, Loy knew for 'a couple months' that Troy was arranging a weekend leave from Andrews Air Force Base.

A triple champion last year, Loy doesn't compete Friday. But she'll have a full slate Saturday.

She's the top seed in the 100 and 200 and will run on the sprint medley relay.

Defending-champion Davenport Assumption is the team leader through five events. The Knights have accumulated 29 points. Dubuque Wahlert is second with 23, followed by Decorah (16).

Decorah notched a pair of third-place finishes, from Kassie Hoyme in the discus and its 3,200-meter relay team.

'We all pushed really hard, and it turned out well,' said relay anchor Taylor Schuring.

Stephanie McMillan of Independence cleared 5 feet, 5 inches and earned runner-up honors in the high jump.

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