Solon sweeps Wamac track and field championships

MANCHESTER — Conference track and field meets are when athletes are spread thin, worked hard.

Points are the point.

“I knew coming in that I had a pretty tough day,” Solon’s Gracie Federspiel said. “But I trusted my team and my coaches, and I know that I can do hard things.”

Pretty tough day. Really tough kid.

Federspiel earned girls’ athlete-of-the-year honors, winning four events to lead Solon to the Wamac Conference girls’ championship Thursday night at the West Delaware track and field complex.

Reigning Class 3A state champions, the Spartans won 10 events and accumulated 194 points, 42 more than runner-up Mount Vernon.

Federspiel and Sophia Stahle were co-stars for the Spartans. Federspiel broke the Wamac record in the 400 meters (56.57 seconds), won the 800 (2:18.62) and anchored a pair of winning relays.

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Stahle won both hurdle events (15.07 and 1:04.08, respectively), and also earned a pair of relay golds.

Can the Spartans repeat in two weeks? Bet against them at your own risk.

“We might not have a ton of stars, but we have power and toughness,” Federspiel said. “Our team lifts each other up.”

Solon ran third in the Drake Relays shuttle hurdle relay last week, then lowered their time further Thursday, running in 1:05.59.

“That’s great,” said Stahle said. “We really focused on our form. We’re getting it all put together.”

The Spartans don’t have stereotypical long, leggy hurdlers.

“We’re fast and quick,” Stahle said.

Solon boys make it a sweep

Solon’s boys also dominated, racking up 157 points. Led by boys’ athlete of the year Derek Weisskopf, Williamsburg was second with 111.5.

Ben Kampman had one role. And he filled it very, very well.

A Solon junior, Kampman needed just one throw to put the discus competition to rest.

“I thought the lines were shorter than they were,” Kampman said. “I popped one out there in practice.”

Then he popped one out even further in competition, opening his program with a career-best of 174 feet, 5 inches.

Kampman and Adam Smith both were Drake Relays finalists last week.

“Adam and I are always competing,” Kampman said. “It’s nice to have somebody like that next to you every meet.

“I’ve been putting more things together in practice. I’m trying to up my speed in the ring a little bit.”

Kampman’s title was one of four garnered by the Solon boys. Blake Timmons won the 200, and the Spartans ran first in the sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays.

Weisskopf placed in three field events, winning two. The junior, and a University of Iowa football commit, cleared 6 feet, 7 inches in the high jump and heaved the shot 54-3.

So, why not throw the long jump in there and do all four field events?

“No way,” he said. “I have enough trouble getting from spot to spot as it is.”

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Center Point-Urbana won three of four girls’ field events: Taylor Luscomb in the shot put, Ava Maloney in the long jump, Sydney Maue in the high jump.

Mount Vernon’s Libby Dix denied Stormin’ Pointers a clean field-event sweep, and did it emphatically.

Her discus effort of 140-5 ranks No. 4 in the state (all classes).

“Not quite good enough,” she said, pointing out that she was 7 inches short of the school record.

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There’s still plenty of time for that. Dix is a sophomore and has thrown 10 feet farther than last year.

Dix was the girls’ state wrestling runner-up at 170 pounds.

“Track and wrestling, they’re not similar one bit,” she said. “But the mentality, being on the big stage ... it prepares me for discus and makes the nerves go away.”

South Tama’s Tommy Tyynismaa won the boys’ 800 and 1,600.

Wamac Conference track and field meet

AT MANCHESTER

Girls results

Teams — 1. Solon 194, 2. Mount Vernon 152, 3. Clear Creek Amana 75, 4. Marion 67, 5. Center Point-Urbana 64, 6. Williamsburg 57, 7. West Delaware 50, 8. Independence 24, 9. (tie) Benton Community and Vinton-Shellsburg 21, 11. South Tama 15.

Shot put — 1. Taylor Luscomb (CPU), 40-0 1/2; 2. Kortney Babinat (STC), 39-9; 3. Kyla Vaughn (MtV), 38-11.

Discus — 1. Libby Dix (MtV), 140-5; 2. Taylor Luscomb (CPU), 124-4; 3. Kate Shafer (Solon), 120-7.

High jump — 1. Sydney Maue (CPU), 5-4; 2. Paige Schurbon (MtV), 5-0; 3. Emma Harwick (STC), 5-0.

Long jump — 1. Ava Maloney (CPU), 16-6; 2. Hailey Miller (Solon), 16-4 1/2; 3. Elsa Appleton (MtV), 16-1 1/2.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Solon (Duckett, Wolff, Stahle, Stahle), 1:48.59*; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:50.27; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:53.06.

3,000 — 1. Kayla Young (Solon), 10:59.03; 2. Claire Jensen (MtV), 11:19.59; 3. Emma Wilkerson (CPU), 11:25.67.

3,200 relay — 1. Solon (Quillin, Hoeper, Williams, Federspiel), 9:55.78; 2. Clear Creek Amana, 9:59.51; 3. Mount Vernon, 10:04.58.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Solon (Stahle, Foster, Stahle, Stahle), 1:05.59; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:08.96; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:09.01.

100 — 1. Caliana Whitaker (MtV), 12.52; 2. Aly Stahle (Solon), 12.53; 3. Kenzie Lovell (Marion), 12.81.

Distance medley relay — 1. Marion (Dietzenbach, Van Weelden, McAllister, Dabroski), 4:19.32; 2. Williamsburg, 4:25.17; 3. Solon, 4:25.97.

400 — 1. Gracie Federspiel (Solon), 56.57*; 2. Caliana Whitaker (MtV), 1:00.93; 3. Emma Meester (MtV), 1:01.92.

800 relay — 1. West Delaware (Peyton, Mensen, Schulte, O'Rear), 1:47.00; 2. Solon, 1:47.86; 3. Mount Vernon, 1:48.01.

100 hurdles — 1. Sophia Stahle (Solon), 15.07; 2. Silvana Kabolo (CCA), 15.10; 3. Chloe Meester (MtV), 15.55.

800 — 1. Gracie Federspiel (Solon), 2:18.62; 2. Laura Swart (MtV), 2:22.91; 3. Addison Dabroski (Marion), 2:24.29.

200 — 1. Aly Stahle (Solon), 25.59; 2. Abigail Cave (Marion), 25.75; 3. Caliana Whitaker (MtV), 26.04.

400 hurdles — 1. Sophia Stahle (Solon), 1:04.08; 2. Alivia Schulte, 1:06.11; 3. Jaylin Herring (CCA), 1:07.83.

1,500 — 1. Laura Swart (MtV), 5:07.08; 2. Haidyn Barker (CCA), 5:08.19; 3. Claire Jensen (MtV), 5:08.97.

400 relay — 1. Solon (Stahle, Wolff, Stahle, Duckett), 50.23; 2. Center Point-Urbana, 51.42; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 51.49.

1,600 relay — 1. Solon (Quillin, Hoeper, Lietz, Federspiel), 4:04.90; 2. Williamsburg, 4:08.29; 3. Mount Vernon, 4:08.66.

*meet record

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Boys Results

Teams — 1. Solon 157, 2. Williamsburg 111.5, 3. Marion 77.5, 4. (tie) Center Point-Urbana and Mount Vernon 75, 6. Clear Creek Amana 73, 7. Independence 52, 8. (tie) Benton Community and South Tama 42, 10. Vinton-Shellsburg 28, 11. West Delaware 7.

Shot put — 1. Derek Weisskopf (Wmsbg), 54-3; 2. Adam Smith (Solon), 53-10; 3. Brady McDonald (Ind), 51-11.

Discus — 1. Ben Kampman (Solon), 174-5; 2. Zach Sidles (Ind), 157-4; 3. Brennen Blegen (BC), 157-4.

High jump — 1. Derek Weisskopf (Wmsbg), 6-7; 2. (tie) Trey O'Neil (Wmsbg) and Oaken Foster (Solon), 6-0.

Long jump — 1. Keelan Hoover (Ind), 21-10; 2. Oaken Foster (Solon), 20-11; 3. A.J. Maloney (CPU), 20-7 1/2.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Solon (Moore, Knight, Timmons, Bachus), 1:33.44*; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:33.50; 3. Williamsburg, 1:36.52.

3,200 — 1. Jedidiah Osgood (Marion), 9:44.36; 2. Brick Kabela (Solon), 10:05.91; 3. Cooper Cook (Marion), 10:11.50.

3,200 relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Andersen, Witte, Havel, Stowers), 8:14.63; 2. South Tama, 8:18.90; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 8:19.96.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Solon (Carney, Brandt, Duckett, Kotar), 1:03.45; 2. Clear Creek Amana, 1:04.03; 3. Mount Vernon, 1:05.27.

100 — 1. Alex Mota (Marion), 10.95; 2. Owen Douglas (Wmsbg), 10.97; 3. Blake Timmons (Solon), 11.16.

Distance medley relay — 1. Mount Vernon (Stimmel, Bentley, Erickson, Fall), 3:37.01*; 2. South Tama, 3:42.63; 3. Vinton-Shellsburg, 3:44.41.

400 — 1. Jensen Meeker (MtV), 50.07; 2. Peyton Stowers (CPU), 51.68; 3. Braylon Wetjen (Wmsbg), 52.00.

800 relay — 1. Williamsburg (O'Neil, Heitman, Huedepohl, Douglas), 1:30.61; 2. Solon, 1:30.69; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:32.48.

110 hurdles — 1. Andrew Schlemme (CCA), 15.43; 2. Brady Kohrs (Ind), 15.73; 3. Nash Kotar (Solon), 15.81.

800 — 1. Tommy Tyynismaa (South Tama), 1:59.46; 2. Michael Yeomans (Solon), 2:00.34; 3. Zach Fall (Mount Vernon), 2:01.56.

200 — 1. Blake Timmons (Solon), 22.42; 2. Owen Douglas (Wmsbg), 22.46; 3. Alex Mota (Marion), 22.55.

400 hurdles — 1. Nathan Miller (CPU), 56.70; 2. Easton Patterson (BC), 58.00; 3. Trey O'Neil (Wmsbg), 58.29.

1,600 — 1. Tommy Tyynismaa (South Tama), 4:31.31; 2. Jedidiah Osgood (Marion), 4:34.08; 3. Eli Page (Vinton-Shellsburg), 4:37.02.

400 relay — 1. Williamsburg (Huedepohl, Steckly, Wetjen, Douglas), 43.79; 2. Solon, 44.23; 3. Marion, 44.56.

1,600 relay — 1. Mount Vernon (Stimmel, Fall, Erickson, Meeker), 3:24.09*; 2. Solon, 3:29.24; 3. Center Point-Urbana, 3:29.94.

*meet record

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com