West's Peyton Steva isn’t merely coasting home as high school track career winds down

IOWA CITY — Peyton Steva is dealing with something this spring. It's the opposite of senioritis.

'I put more time in the weight room last offseason,' she said. 'I had some really good training partners. We pushed each other to be great.'

Greatness isn't an exaggeration. Steva has found it.

The Iowa City West senior won the girls' 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 100-meter hurdles at the Forwald-Coleman Relays on Thursday at Bates Field.

'It's my senior season, and I've showed up for it,' Steva said. 'I feel a lot better this year. I just decided I needed to be better. I have a lot more drive.'

Thursday was the final day that competitors could qualify for next week's Drake Relays. Steva is the state leader in the 100 hurdles at 14.63 seconds; she ran 14.67 Thursday.

She followed with an effort of 12.63 seconds in the 100, then ran 25.99 in her 200 debut.

Steva is the daughter of West assistant coach Peggy McGuire, who won 100-meter state titles in 1986 and 1988 at Centerville, then ran at the University of Iowa.

'I'm getting really close to her times,' Steva said. 'She tells me I'm getting 'Mama fast.''

Waukee's girls and Iowa City West's boys were team champions. Waukee won handily, scoring 173 points; Pleasant Valley was next with 135.

The Trojans clinched the boys' title in the final event, tallying 134 points and edging Iowa City High (130) and West Des Moines Valley (125).

Kolby Greiner (1,600 and 3,200) and Gabe Caruthers (100 and 400) were double-winners for West.

Linn-Mar won six boys' events, five relays. The Lions' shuttle hurdle foursome lowered its time to 59.23, which ranks No. 2 in Iowa.

City High junior Caroline Schaeckenbach climbed to No. 2 in the girls' 400-meter hurdles at 1:04.91. She was a triple winner, also contributing on the Little Hawks' triumphant shuttle hurdle and 1,600-meter relays.

Not bad for a kid only in her second year in track.

'I feel like I can definitely keep improving,' Schaeckenbach said. 'I'm excited to get a PR today. It was a little windy, but once you start warming up, you're like, 'OK, let's keep moving.''

GIRLS' TRACK & FIELD: FORWALD-COLEMAN RELAYS

At Iowa City High

Teams — 1. Waukee 173, 2. Pleasant Valley 135, 3. Iowa City High 123, 4. Iowa City West 107, 5. West Des Moines Valley 70, 6. C.R. Kennedy 63, 7. Linn-Mar 47, 8. Muscatine 20.

Shot put — 1. Salima Omari (ICW), 40-6; 2. Ilah Perez-Johnson (PV), 38-2; 3. Arionnah Sonii (ICW), 37-5; Discus — 1. Madison Green (Valley), 130-9 1/2; 2. Alexie Little (ICW), 123-2; 3. Phoebe Burt (ICW), 115-4; High jump — 1. Sara Hoskins (PV), 5-2; 2. Carly Boss (Wau), 5-0; 3. Layanna Green (Wau), 5-0; Long jump — 1. Carli Spelhaug (PV), 17-5 1/2; 2. Morgan Ramirez (PV), 17-3 1/4; 3. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH), 16-11 3/4.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Waukee (Karunatilaka, Schlicher, Taylor, Caraway), 1:52.21; 2. Iowa City High, 1:53.48; 3. Iowa City West, 1:58.50; 3,000 — 1. Sydney Schaffer (Wau), 10:30.04; 2. Isabelle Schaffer (Wau), 10:31.73; 3. Chloe Skidmore (LM), 10:35.03; 3,200 relay — 1. West Des Moines Valley (Gould, Schulze, Booth, Hollander), 9:51.44; 2. Iowa City West, 10:06.21; 3. Iowa City High, 10:07.91; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Iowa City High (Ansley, Sekafetz, Swenning, Schaeckenbach), 1:05.73; 2. Waukee, 1:06.29; 3. West Des Moines Valley, 1:09.81; 100 — 1. Peyton Steva (ICW), 12.63; 2. Adrea Arthofer (PV), 12.81; 3. Kaliyah Perry (Wau), 12.86; Distance medley relay — 1. Waukee (Schossow, Bannister, Benson, Groathouse), 4:26.97; 2. Linn-Mar, 4:36.56; 3. Iowa City West, 4:38.20; 400 — 1. Jessica Caraway (Wau), 1:00.34; 2. Hallie Hanssen (Musc), 1:03.27; 3. Janjay Peters (Wau), 1:03.29; 800 relay — 1. Waukee (Karunatilaka, Schlicher, Perry, Taylor), 1:45.77; 2. Iowa City High, 1:46.47; 3. Linn-Mar, 1:48.18; 100 hurdles — 1. Peyton Steva (ICW), 14.67; 2. Kajsa Gerkens (CRK), 15.23; 3. Addie Drees (Wau), 15.84; 800 — 1. Lauren Schulze (Valley), 2:22.99; 2. CeCe Kelly-Harvey (ICH), 2:26.06; 3. Abby Riley (PV), 2:26.27; 200 — 1. Peyton Steva (ICW), 25.99; 2. Adrea Arthofer (PV), 26.18; 3. Morgan Ramirez (PV), 26.69; 400 hurdles — 1. Caroline Schaeckenbach (ICH), 1:04.91; 2. Amy Liao (ICW), 1:08.97; 3. Lilly Reynolds (ICH), 1:10.33; 1,500 — 1. Micah Poellet (LM), 4:48.61; 2. Sydney Schaffer (Wau), 4:56.74; 3. Isabelle Schaffer (Wau), 5:00.08; 400 relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Spelhaug, Wood, Ramirez, Arthofer), 49.60; 2. Waukee, 50.00; 3. Iowa City High, 51.32; 1,600 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Lindsey, DePrenger, Schaeckenbach, Kelly-Harvey), 4:05.99; 2. Waukee, 4:09.48; 3. West Des Moines Valley, 4:11.54; 1,600 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Lindsey, DePrenger, Schaeckenbach, Kelly-Harvey), 4:05.99; 2. Waukee, 4:09.48; 3. West Des Moines Valley, 4:11.54.

BOYS' TRACK & FIELD: FORWALD-COLEMAN RELAYS

At Iowa City High

Teams — 1. Iowa City West 134, 2. Iowa City High 130, 3. West Des Moines Valley 125, 4. Linn-Mar 104, 5. C.R. Prairie 86, 6. Pleasant Valley 83, 7. Muscatine 43, 8. Marion 30.

Shot put — 1. Jake Remsburg (Valley), 57-9; 2. Landon Green (ICW), 56-6; 3. Cade Collier (PV), 49-6 1/2; Discus — 1. Landon Green (ICW), 154-5; 2. Kaden Schilling (CRP), 152-1 1/2; 3. Levi Sherod (ICH), 150-8; High jump — 1. Aguek Deng (Valley), 6-3 1/4; 2. Marcus Morgan (ICW), 6-3 1/4; 3. Trayvon Williams (Valley), 6-0; Long jump — 1. Kaleba Jack (ICH), 21-10 1/2; 2. Dahron Fouch (ICH), 21-7 1/4; 3. Jaidyn Williams (LM), 21-1 1/4.

Sprint medley relay — 1. West Des Moines Valley (Mitchell, Neu, Keller, Shaner), 1:36.32; 2. Muscatine, 1:37.74; 3. Iowa City High, 1:38.85; 3,200 — 1. Kolby Greiner (ICW), 9:40.06; 2. Kent Nichols (PV), 10:01.21; 3. Andrew Bickford (CRP), 10:08.11; 3,200 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Brown, Taylor, Jones, Threlkeld-Wiegand), 8:09.48; 2. West Des Moines Valley, 8:11.19; 3. C.R. Prairie, 8:17.17; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Reilly, Kemokai, Davis, Thompson), 59.23; 2. West Des Moines Valley, 59.72; 3. Pleasant Valley, 1:00.80; 100 — 1. Gabe Caruthers (ICW), 11.03; 2. Ryan Kilpatrick (CRP), 11.17; 3. Max DePrenger (ICH), 11.39; Distance medley relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Sarsfield, Vega, Davis, Dolezal), 3:36.74; 2. Pleasant Valley, 3:41.86; 3. West Des Moines Valley, 3:46.65; 400 — 1. Gabe Caruthers (ICW), 48.88; 2. Max DePrenger (ICH), 50.18; 3. Noah Yahn (Musc), 50.39; 800 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Martin, Williams, Shelby, Hess), 1:32.53; 2. Muscatine, 1:33.39; 3. Iowa City High, 1:34.10; 110 hurdles — 1. Trent Davis (LM), 14.64; 2. Oisin Leopold (ICH), 14.90; 3. Carson Reilly (LM), 15.03; 800 — 1. Evan Armitage (Valley), 2:00.87; 2. Daniel Brown (ICH), 2:02.31; 3. Trent Long (LM), 2:02.40; 200 — 1. Ryan Kilpatrick (CRP), 22.92; 2. Matthew Mahoney (Valley), 22.95; 3. J.J. Gass (Valley), 23.24; 400 hurdles — 1. Ben Wilson (PV), 55.57; 2. Cole Mabry (ICW), 56.52; 3. Trajen Thornton (Valley), 57.14; 1,600 — 1. Kolby Greiner (ICW), 4:28.50; 2. Max Murphy (PV), 4:28.99; 3. Kole Sommer (PV), 4:30.93; 400 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Sarsfield, Hess, Vega, Williams), 43.84; 2. Iowa City West, 44.36; 3. C.R. Prairie, 44.43; 1,600 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Martin, Shelby, Dolezal, Davis), 3:26.71; 2. Iowa City High, 3:27.81; 3. Muscatine, 3:30.84.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com