Mount Vernon’s Evelyn Moeller focuses in, sets a school record in the 800

WILLIAMSBURG — Evelyn Moeller countered a case of the midrace blahs with midrace determination.

“I know I’ve got to focus on that third 200 (of an 800-meter race),” the Mount Vernon High School sophomore said. “I know my workouts are good and I’m in shape. I just had to do it.”

She did it, all right.

Moeller zoomed all the way up to No. 2 on the state’s 800 leaderboard Tuesday, circling the Bob Murphy Stadium oval (twice) in a school-record 2 minutes, 15.39 seconds at the Williamsburg Invitational track and field meet Tuesday night .

“It was my first race of the day,” Moeller said after taking nearly 4 seconds off her previous personal best.

“My legs were fresh. I knew today was a big opportunity.”

This was the second time during the current school year that Moeller shed time in this town.

“Last fall, during cross country, I had a breakthrough here (at Williamsburg) during the middle of the season,” she said.

Cedar Rapids Prairie swept the team championships of the 15-team invitational.

The Prairie girls captured six event titles and scored 126 points. Williamsburg was second with 89, followed by Mount Vernon (78).

Led by Quinton Alexander’s 110-meter hurdles title (in 14.19 seconds), the Hawks were crowned in seven boys’ events, and tallied 160 points. Center Point-Urbana was the runner-up with 65.

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Benton Community junior Owen Von Ahsen upheld his status as one of the state’s top 400-meter hurdlers.

Von Ahsen didn’t eclipse his season-best (he ranks No. 4 in the state at 54.57 seconds), but Tuesday’s 55.49-second effort was plenty to prevail.

Last year, he finished 16th in the 3A state competition at 57.04 seconds.

“I worked a lot on hurdles last summer,” he said. “And I did a lot of plyometrics. Football and basketball kept me in shape.

“I didn’t know I’d be this high up in the (state) standings. I want to break 54 (seconds). I hope I can do that at (the) Drake (Relays) and at state.”

Among other highlights Tuesday:

* Clear Creek Amana’s Landon Prince bettered his state-leading effort in the boys’ discus with a fling of 182 feet, 2 inches.

* Prince did not compete in the shot put Tuesday, but state-leader Greyson Hartman of Washington (Iowa) did, and won it at 57-4.

* Belle Plaine’s boys came out of Heat 1 to win the distance medley relay, in 3:42.88.

* Nathan Miller of Center Point-Urbana became the fifth Iowa boy this season to creep under the 50-second standard in the 400 meters, winning in 49.90.

* Mount Vernon’s Libby Dix moved to No. 3 in the girls’ discus with a fling of 139-8.

Girls Results

Teams — 1. C.R. Prairie 126, 2. Williamsburg 89, 3. Mount Vernon 78, 4. Mid-Prairie 77, 5. Mount Pleasant 52, 6. Iowa City West 50, 7. Solon 47, 8. Clear Creek Amana 45, 9. Center Point-Urbana 42, 10. Washington 39, 11. Grinnell 35, 12. Benton Community 30, 13. Iowa City Regina 21, 14. Alburnett 15, 15. Williamsburg JV 4, 16. Belle Plaine 1.

Shot put — 1. Ella Ensminger (Mount Pleasant), 38-9; 2. Libby Dix (Mount Vernon), 37-9; 3. Ana Glawe (Benton), 36-6 1/2.

Discus — 1. Libby Dix (Mount Vernon), 139-10; 2. Kate Shafer (Solon), 123-9; 3. Harper Pacha (Mid-Prairie), 113-8.

High jump — 1. Lyla Canny (C.R. Prairie), 5-2; 2. Ellie Nielsen (Williamsburg), 5-2; 3. Reese Naeve (I.C. Regina), 5-0.

Long jump — 1. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 17-11; 2. Amara MacLagan (I.C. West), 16-0 1/2; 3. Lucy Wischmeyer (Mount Vernon), 15-10.

Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Russell, Cooper, Hunter, Wiley), 1:50.87; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:51.42; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:52.41.

3,000 — 1. Stella Rose (C.R. Prairie), 11:53.00; 2. Ella Faul (C.R. Prairie), 12:07.27; 3. Cora Smith (Mount Vernon), 12:07.90.

3,200 relay — 1. Mid-Prairie (Hostetler, Stutzman, Brokaw, Landstrum), 10:01.11; 2. Washington, 10:05.49; 3. Williamsburg, 10:08.61.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Benton Community (Sadler, Werner, Moore, Seeck), 1:09.87; 2. Clear Creek Amana, 1:10.15; 3. C.R. Prairie, 1:10.73.

100 — 1. Jeorgia Evans (Mid-Prairie), 12.59; 2. Alex Scott (Mount Pleasant), 12.86; 3. Ailea Wetjen (Williamsburg), 12.90.

Distance medley relay — 1. Mid-Prairie (Hershberger, Miller, Miller, Landstrum), 4:32.88; 2. Williamsburg, 4:33.69; 3. Solon, 4:34.48.

400 — 1. Ava Hocker (Williamsburg), 59.24; 2. Aaliyah Causey (CPU), 1:02.61; 3. Adah Fishell (Alburnett), 1:03.58.

800 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Hunter, Young, Cooper, Russell), 1:46.14; 2. Mount Pleasant, 1:46.60; 3. Solon, 1:48.72.

100 hurdles — 1. Sophia Olivo (I.C. West), 15.57; 2. Baylee Whitehill (C.R. Prairie), 16.03; 3. Reese Naeve (I.C. Regina), 16.11.

800 — 1. Evelyn Moeller (Mount Vernon), 2:15.39; 2. Sam Schoff (Mount Vernon), 2:25.02; 3. Reese Wiley (C.R. Prairie), 2:28.99.

200 — 1. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 26.34; 2. Ailea Wetjen (Williamsburg), 26.57; 3. Ava Hocker (Williamsburg), 27.17.

400 hurdles — 1. Paisley Joens (C.R. Prairie), 1:07.16; 2. Kiersten Swart (Mount Vernon), 1:07.78; 3. Jaylin Herring (CCA), 1:10.08.

1,500 — 1. Harper Groteluschen (C.R. Prairie), 4:59.50; 2. Brooklyn Stutzman (Mid-Prairie), 5:02.18; 3. Rachel Hostetler (Mid-Prairie), 5:08.80.

400 relay — 1. Mount Pleasant (Sanders, Scott, Williamson, White), 50.56; 2. Washington, 50.82; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 51.05.

1,600 relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Wade, Katcher, Bowe, Causey), 4:12.56; 2. Iowa City West, 4:15.93; 3. C.R. Prairie, 4:19.00.

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Boys Results

Teams — 1. C.R. Prairie 160, 2. Center Point-Urbana 65, 3. Mid-Prairie 62, 4. (tie) Grinnell and Mount Vernon 60, 6. Benton Community 55, 7. Clear Creek Amana 49, 8. (tie) Belle Plaine and Washngton 42, 10. Vinton-Shellsburg 31, 11. Williamsburg 29, 12. Solon 27, 13. Iowa City Regina 25, 14. Mount Pleasant 20, 15. C.R. Washington 14.

Shot put — 1. Greyson Hartman (Washington), 57-4; 2. Burke Berry (Mid-Prairie), 54-10; 3. Malachai Williams (Williamsburg), 50-5 1/2.

Discus — 1. Landon Prince (CCA), 182-2; 2. Bryon Christianson (Vinton-Shellsburg), 155-8; 3. Carter Holmes (Benton), 151-11.

High jump — 1. Eli Patterson (Benton), 6-6; 2. Donovan Crouchet (CPU), 6-2; 3. Kaden Hoeper (Solon), 6-0.

Long jump — 1. T.Y. Pour (C.R. Prairie), 21-7; 2. Stanley Krob (Mount Vernon), 20-11 1/2; 3. Lane Vokoun (Belle Plaine), 20-11 1/4.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Williamsburg (Bamrick, Wetjen, Heitman, Hocker), 1:34.41; 2. C.R. Prairie, 1:35.76; 3. C.R. Washington, 1:38.55.

3,200 — 1. Emmett Swartzentruber (Mid-Prairie), 9:45.97; 2. Cadel Conner (Grinnell), 9:47.01; 3. Preston Yutzy (Mid-Prairie), 9:52.46.

3,200 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Johnson, Mulford, Miller, Lee), 8:11.09; 2. Mount Vernon, 8:12.81; 3. Center Point-Urbana, 8:15.05.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Alexander, Mai, Bush, Boxa), 1:01.19; 2. Benton Community, 1:04.50; 3. Belle Plaine, 1:05.21.

100 — 1. Kellan Harter (Grinnell), 11.13; 2. Ryan Henry (Mid-Prairie), 11.36; 3. Tay Seals (CCA), 11.41.

Distance medley relay — 1. Belle Plaine (Vokoun, Timm, Eichhorn, DeMeulenaere), 3:42.88; 2. C.R. Prairie, 3:45.76; 3. Washington, 3:46.65.

400 — 1. Nathan Miller (CPU), 49.90; 2. Carson Nove (C.R. Prairie), 51.30; 3. Eli Kampman (Solon), 52.00.

800 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Byishimo, Erickson, Cooling, Peterka), 1:30.37; 2. Grinnell, 1:30.47; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:31.19.

110 hurdles — 1. Quinton Alexander (C.R. Prairie), 14.19; 2. Owen Van Ahsen (Benton), 16.25; 3. Eli Patterson (Benton), 16.62.

800 — 1. Harrison Laug (Grinnell), 2:02.70; 2. Dawson Scheil (Mount Vernon), 2:03.46; 3. Kyle Johnson (C.R. Prairie), 2:04.21.

200 — 1. A.J. Maloney (CPU), 23.15; 2. T.Y. Pour (C.R. Prairie), 23.23; 3. Edwin Gangba (I.C. Regina), 23.28.

400 hurdles — 1. Owen Von Ahsen (Benton), 55.49; 2. Sam DeMeulenaere (Belle Plaine), 56.92; 3. Dane Mai (C.R. Prairie), 57.57.

1,600 — 1. Alex Torres (Vinton-Shellsburg), 4:24.63; 2. Nicholaus Lee (C.R. Prairie), 4:25.98; 3. Cadel Conner (Grinnell), 4:29.86.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Alexander, Byishimo, Cooling, Kpahn), 43.44; 2. Grinnell, 43.59; 3. Iowa City Regina, 44.50.

1,600 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Bennis, Roelfs, Erickson, Nove), 3:26.24; 2. Belle Plaine, 3:32.98; 3. Center Point-Urbana, 3:33.04.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com