Shaun Beyer paces Kennedy to district track title

MARSHALLTOWN — Shaun Beyer wasn't blowing off his team. He had to make final preparations for a final advanced-placement exam — microeconomics — Friday morning.

Besides, he more than earned an early departure.

Beyer won four events to lead Cedar Rapids Kennedy to the boys' team title at Class 4A track and field state-qualifying meet Thursday at Leonard Cole Field.

'We qualified in a lot of things,' said Beyer, a senior who has signed to play football at the University of Iowa. 'We'll be taking a lot to state. The more, the merrier.'

Kennedy edged Cedar Falls, 182-170, in the boys' team race. More importantly, the Cougars automatically sends 11 entries to state, based on their top-two finishes Thursday. More will be added once the at-large field is released.

The Cougars won seven events, and Beyer did more than his share of the heavy lifting. He captured both jumps (22 feet, 5 inches horizontally, 6-2 vertically) and completed the 110-meter hurdles in 14.86 seconds. He anchored the victorious shuttle hurdle relay, which clocked in at 57.34 seconds.

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Kennedy's meat and potatoes is its field events, and that was the difference in the team race Thursday.

'It's always great to dominate the field events,' said Beyer, who took off shortly after his day's work was done.

In addition to Beyer's sweep in the jumps, Kennedy got a mammoth effort from Jackson Coker in the discus (183-5) and a clutch final throw from Dalles Jacobus, whose heave of 57-3 vaulted him past Cedar Rapids Washington's Dallas Hobbs in the shot put.

'It's crazy to me how tough this district was,' Jacobus said, alluding to the fact that six shot contestants went over 51 feet. 'Last year I threw 53 and walked though it.

'I love the competition. I hope it's even more intense at state.'

Washington was third with 117 points and posted five automatic qualifiers, led by its winning 400-meter relay.

Cedar Falls was the girls' champion with 157 points. Jefferson won eight events and was the runner-up with 126 points, followed by Kennedy (111) and Washington (101).

'We just wanted to get everything qualified that we could,' said Jefferson's Abilene Ranschau, who won the 100-meter hurdles (15.03) and participated in the triumphant 800-meter and sprint medley relays.

Ranschau is recovering from a sinus infection that slowed her last week.

'You don't want to hear too many details,' she said. 'I'll just say I'm feeling a lot better.'

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The surprise of the day came in the 400-meter relay, in which Jefferson — the Drake Relays champion — was beaten by Waterloo East. The J-Hawks did win five relays, and also got a 1-2 finish from Ellie Trosky and Sam Kitterman in the 400 hurdles.

Washington picked up six automatic qualifiers on the girls' side, Kennedy three. Washington's Reagan Gorman and Kennedy's Hannah Fusselman split close races in the 3,000 and 1,500, and Kennedy's Katie Beer was the high jump champ.

Kennedy scored 15 points at last year's regional, then made a startling jump Thursday.

CLASS 4A TRACK & FIELD STATE QUALIFIER

At Marshalltown

(Top 2 from each event automatically qualify for state, plus 12 next best efforts statewide)

BOYS

Teams — 1. C.R. Kennedy 182, 2. Cedar Falls 170, 3. C.R. Washington 117, 4. Waterloo West 72, 5. Mason City 69, 6. C.R. Jefferson 34, 7. Marshalltown 24, 8. Waterloo East 22.

Shot put — 1. Dalles Jacobus (CRK), 57-3; 2. Dallas Hobbs (CRW), 56-3 1/4; Discus — 1. Jackson Coker (CRK), 183-5; 2. Dalles Jacobus (CRK), 162-7; High jump — 1. Shaun Beyer (CRK), 6-2; 2. Jacee Clark (WE), 6-1; Long jump — 1. Shaun Beyer (CRK), 22-5; 2. Malik Haynes (CRK), 22-1.

3,200 relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Smith, Gearhart, Nurse, Lavallee), 8:05.56; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 8:16.33; 3,200 — 1. Isaac Smith (CF), 9:52.92; 2. Sam Schillinger (CF), 9:53.06; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (Coates, Jordan, Dix, Beyer), 57.34; 2. C.R. Washington, 58.19; 100 — 1. Tayshaun Cooper (WW), 10.84; 2. Denison Harrington (CF), 11.01; 400 — 1. Gaven O'Hair (CF), 49.81; 2. Sam Tudor (WW), 50.32; 800 relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (Jones, Shanklin, Baker, Christophersen), 1:29.79; 2. C.R. Washington, 1:29.85; 110 hurdles — 1. Shaun Beyer (CRK), 14.86; 2. Alex Sanchez (MC), 15.05; 1,600 — 1. Sam Schillnger (CF), 4:27.01; 2. Isaac Smith (CF), 4:27.20; 200 — 1. Tayshaun Cooper (WW), 21.69; 2. Denison Harrington (CF), 22.12; 400 hurdles — 1. Nathan Hoy (CF), 54.20; 2. Isaiah Nimmers (CRW), 54.44; 1,600 medley relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Walker, Penrith, O'Hair, Gearhart), 3:35.82; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 3:37.29; 800 — 1. Hunter Lavallee (CF), 1:57.51; 2. Ethan Smith (CF), 1:57.53; 400 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (Dostal, Herzog, Leonard, Nimmers), 43.14; 2. Waterloo West, 43.40; 1,600 relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Hoy, Gearhart, Smith, Lavallee), 3:22.91; 2. Waterloo West, 3:24.10.

GIRLS

Teams — 1. Cedar Falls 157, 2. C.R. Jefferson 126, 3. C.R. Kennedy 111, 4. C.R. Washington 101, 5. Waterloo West 76, 6. Mason City 64.5, 7. Waterloo East 53, 8. Marshalltown 33.5

Shot put — 1. Katie Halterman (CF), 38-11; 2. Haile Cook (CRJ), 37-9 1/2; Discus — 1. Katie Halterman (CF), 113-6; 2. Perisa Levy (CRW), 106-8; High jump — 1. Katie Beer (CRK), 5-2; 2. Auriona Kimbrough (CF), 5-0; Long jump — 1. Kitra Bell (WW), 17-9; 2. Vanessa Eniola (CRW), 17-9.

3,000 — 1. Reagan Gorman (CRW), 10:48.77; 2. Hannah Fusselman (CRK), 10:50.71; 3,200 relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson (Hanna, Belew, Meyer, Koenigsfeld), 9:40.72; 2. Cedar Falls, 10:06.38; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson (Trosky, Bergmann, Prohaska, Kitterman), 1:08.17; 2. Cedar Falls, 1:09.92; 100 — 1. Kerris Roberts (WE), 11.97; 2. Alicia Harrington (CF), 12.11; Distance medley relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Sterrett, Nichols, Clark, Kvale), 4:20.63; 2. C.R. Washington, 4:24.34; 400 — 1. Zoey Thune (WW), 59.43; 2. Madison Hall (CF), 59.54; 800 relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson (Ranschau, Bergmann, Anderson, Blue), 1:42.72; 2. Waterloo East, 1:43.84; 100 hurdles — 1. Abilene Ranschau (CRJ), 15.03; 2. Vanessa Eniola (CRW), 16.70; 800 — 1. Sarah Hanna (CRJ), 2:23.83; 2. Paige Kvale (CF), 2:24.77; 200 — 1. Kerris Roberts (WE), 24.48; 2. Alicia Harrington (CF), 24.54; 400 hurdles — 1. Ellie Trosky (CRJ), 1:09.27; 2. Sam Kitterman (CRJ), 1:09.50; Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson (Bergmann, Anderson, Ranschau, Blue), 1:48.56; 2. Cedar Falls, 1:52.23; 1,500 — 1. Hannah Fusselman (CRK), 4:56.00; 2. Reagan Gorman (CRW), 4:56.07; 400 relay — 1. Waterloo East (Jenkins, Roberts, Dunn, Muhammad), 49.03; 2. C.R. Jefferson, 49.54; 1,600 relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson (Belew, Koenigsfeld, Hanna, Anderson), 3:59.67; 2. Cedar Falls, 4:00.93.

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