Conditions were “really tough” at Iowa 4A state track and field qualifier in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — How bad was it?

Depends who you ask.

Ask Ashlyn Keeney, and it was nasty.

“I don’t really sweat very much, so I get overheated easily,” said the senior from Iowa City Liberty. “So this was really hard.

“It was hot on my face. My insides felt like they were burning up. My feet ... it was just hot.”

After a cool, windy spring, the pendulum swung sharply the other way this week. At the beginning of Thursday’s Class 4A state-qualifying track and field meet at Kingston Stadium, it was 93 degrees with a heat index of 97.

Keeney was on the track for two of the early races, the 3,000-meter run (she won it in a controlled pace of 11:07.43) and anchored the 3,200-meter relay.

“It was really tough,” said Keeney, who won the 800- and 1,500-meter races later in the evening. “Hopefully by the time the last two races come around, it will cool off.”

It finally did. The sun went down, the breeze was refreshing and it became downright pleasant. And Keeney responded.

That led Liberty to the girls’ team title. The Lightning edged Cedar Rapids Prairie, 172-170, for the crown.

The top two finishers in each event automatically qualified for the state meet, May 19-21 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Prairie has 13 automatic qualifiers, Liberty nine, Cedar Rapids Kennedy eight.

Linn-Mar dominated the boys’ race, winning eight events, earning 15 state spots automatically and scoring 188 points. Kennedy (124) was second.

At-large qualifiers are expected to be released Friday.

Like Keeney, Linn-Mar’s Hayden Kuhn took the conservative approach in the heat, pulling away with about 700 meters to win the boys’ 3,200 in 10:18.03. That’s about a minute slower than his season best, but it was plenty good Thursday.

“I was pretty confident that I could win on my kick,” Kuhn said. “The pace got really slow on the third and fourth laps, so me and (Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s) Miles (Wilson) started trading off laps.

“They were throwing water on me, and that helped a lot.”

Kuhn planned to retreat to the comfort of an air-conditioned car during the mandatory 45-minute break early in the meet. He returned and won the 1,600 meters.

Prairie won five girls’ relays. Asia Russell, Catie Reittinger, Sarah Jordan and Gabby Cortez blistered through the sprint medley relay in 1:45.90, which moved to No. 1 in the state this season.

Then, in the 3,200-meter relay, Lily Johannes anchored the Hawks to victory in 10:03.95.

“It was hot, but the wind helps a lot,” Johannes said. “If you stay smooth and run without thinking, it goes a lot better.

“It went better than I expected.”

Cortez won the 400 (56.17) and anchored the Hawks to titles in the final two races, the 4x100 and 4x400.

Because of a foot injury, Liberty’s Isabelle Woody has been relegated into high-jump-only duties. But she has blossomed into a very good one, and cleared a personal-best 5 feet, 4 inches Thursday.

“I started it when I was really little, but this year is the first time I’ve done it since middle school,” she said. “The season hasn’t been what I expected, but I wanted to make myself proud as a high-jumper.”

Woody, the daughter of Iowa track coach Joey Woody, expects to be at full strength next year at UC-Santa Barbara.

Cedar Rapids Washington monopolized the boys’ sprint events. Miles Thompson won the 100 and 200, and the Warriors led the field in the 4x100, 4x200 and sprint medley.

The effort by Watts McBride, Aidan Armon, Michael Blank and Thompson (1:28.06) moves the Warriors to the top of the state leader board.

Girls results

(TOP 2 IN EACH EVENT ARE AUTOMATIC STATE QUALIFIERS)

Teams (automatic qualifiers in parentheses) — 1. Iowa City Liberty 172 (9), 2. C.R. Prairie 170 (13), 3. Linn-Mar 138 (7), 4. C.R. Kennedy 108 (8), 5. Marshalltown 55 (1), 6. Ottumwa 43 (0), 7. C.R. Washington 19 (0), 8. C.R. Jefferson 14 (0).

Shot put — 1. Kennedy Evans (LM), 40-5 3/4; 2. Darya Acas (ICL), 35-9 1/4; 3. Josianna Toingar (LM), 35-5 1/4.

Discus — 1. Emma Joens (CRP), 122-11; 2. Darya Acas (ICL), 120-8; 3. Lilly Duff (Mtown), 117-5.

High jump — 1. Isabelle Woody (ICL), 5-4; 2. Allison Kriegel (LM), 5-1; 3. Eve Rust (Ott), 5-0.

Long jump — 1. Kaylee Bunn (LM), 17-6 1/2; 2. Jasmine Barney (ICL), 17-3; 3. Taylor Lee (CRP), 17-2 1/2.

Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Russell, Reittinger, Jordan, Cortez), 1:45.90; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 1:51.04; 3. Linn-Mar, 1:54.06.

3,000 — 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL), 11:07.43; 2. Cori Mac (ICL), 11:13.92; 3. Bethany Smeed (CRK), 11:24.52.

3,200 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Reittinger, Hughes, Moses, Johannes), 10:03.95; 2. Marshalltown, 10:14.44; 3. Linn-Mar, 10:22.23.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (Harris, Presley, Joyner, Braden), 1:08.05; 2. C.R. Prairie, 1:08.76; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 1:10.33.

100 — 1. Amira Coleman (ICL), 13.13; 2. Asia Russell (CRP), 13.24; 3. Mary Gustason (LM), 13.29.

Distance medley relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Jordan, Grissel, Murray, Koppes), 4:23.35; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 4:26.33; 3. Linn-Mar, 4:31.33.

400 — 1. Gabby Cortez (CRP), 56.19; 2. Sidney Swartzendruber (CRK), 57.45; 3. Addison Swartzendruber (CRK), 57.64.

800 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Gustason, Hand, Gaffney, Schmidt), 1:46.30; 2. C.R. Prairie, 1:47.50; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 1:49.85.

100 hurdles — 1. Grace Braden (CRK), 16.02; 2. Ryann Decker (CRP), 16.38; 3. Brie Klein (ICL), 16.76.

800 — 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL), 2:19.10; 2. Lily Johannes (CRP), 2:20.96; 3. Alexis Moses (CRP), 2:24.12.

200 — 1. Addison Swartzendruber (CRK), 26.41; 2. Mary Gustason (LM), 26.82; 3. Emily Schmidt (LM), 26.91.

400 hurdles — 1. Maci Harder (CRP), 1:11.03; 2. Asta Hildebrand (ICL), 1:11.83; 3. Tera Thompson (LM), 1:12.02.

1,500 — 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL), 5:02.42; 2. Bethany Smeed (CRK), 5:05.61; 3. Cori Mac (ICL), 5:11.22.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Russell, Jordan, Lee, Cortez), 49.04; 2. Linn-Mar, 50.10; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 50.97.

1,600 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Reittinger, Roe, Johannes, Cortez), 4:02.76; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 4:08.60; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 4:14.94

Boys results

(TOP 2 IN EACH EVENT ARE AUTOMATIC STATE QUALIFIERS)

Teams (automatic qualifiers in parentheses) — 1. Linn-Mar 188 (15), 2. C.R. Kennedy 124 (5), 3. Iowa City Liberty 119 (6), 4. C.R. Prairie 93 (3), 5. C.R. Washington 84 (6), 6. Marshalltown 53 (1), 7. Ottumwa 36 (2), 8. C.R. Jefferson 34 (0).

Shot put — 1. Sam Watts (LM), 54-9 3/4; 2. McKade Jelinek (LM), 51-2 3/4; 3. Noah Allen (CRW), 51-2.

Discus — 1. McKade Jelinek (LM), 171-9; 2. Keaton Roskop (LM), 161-1; 3. Dylan Davis (CRK), 147-7.

High jump — 1. T.J. Jackson (LM), 6-5; 2. Brenden Linde (CRK), 6-4; 3. Jeremiah Madlock (ICL), 6-2.

Long jump — 1. Malachi Holmes (Mtown), 22-4 1/2; 2. Isaac Guerrero (LM), 22-0 3/4; 3. T.J. Jackson (LM), 21-9.

Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Washington (McBride, Barnes, Armon, Blank), 1:36.09; 2. Ottumwa, 1:36.32; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:36.37.

3,200 — 1. Hayden Kuhn (LM), 10:18.03; 2. Miles Wilson (CRK), 10:22.08; 3. Conner Smith (Mtown), 10:25.49.

3,200 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Allard, Lee, Canton, Cortez), 8:18.00; 2. Iowa City Liberty, 8:19.26; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 8:23.21.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Singh, Gorsich, O’Toole, Grant), 1:00.12; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 1:01.03; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 1:01.22.

100 — 1. Miles Thompson (CRW), 11.07; 2. Luke Meyers (ICL), 11.40; 3. Treton Duffie (CRJ), 11.67.

Distance medley relay — 1. Iowa City Liberty (Wieck, Madlock, Meyers, Keeney), 3:38.73; 2. Linn-Mar, 3:40.62; 3. C.R. Prairie, 3:43.49.

400 — 1. Luke Meyers (ICL), 50.79; 2. Mason Farrington (Ott), 52.22; 3. Luke Meike (LM), 52.68.

800 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (McBride, Armon, Blank, Thompson), 1:28.06; 2. Linn-Mar, 1:30.07; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:30.37.

110 hurdles — 1. Eric Lucas (ICL), 15.14; 2. Nicholas Gorsich (LM), 15.64; 3. Aaron Seberger (Mtown), 15.69.

800 — 1. Brady Cortez (CRP), 1:59.26; 2. Gavin Keeney (ICL), 1:59.50; 3. Henry McMahan (CRK), 2:00.07.

200 — 1. Miles Thompson (CRW), 22.22; 2. Michael Blank (CRW), 22.31; 3. Luke Meyers (ICL), 22.33.

400 hurdles — 1. William Grant (LM), 56.09; 2. Nicholas Gorsich (LM), 57.05; 3. Austin Fountain (Ott), 57.34.

1,600 — 1. Hayden Kuhn (LM), 4:26.08; 2. Miles Wilson (CRK), 4:29.66; 3. Bryson Canton (CRP), 4:32.21.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (McBride, Thompson, Armon, Blank), 42.13; 2. Linn-Mar, 42.83; 3. C.R. Jefferson, 42.86.

1,600 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (O’Toole, Meike, Ferguson, Grant), 3:27.32; 2. C.R. Prairie, 3:29.40; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 3:29.45.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com