Miles Thompson gives his heart to Grandma, gets his speed from Mom

MARION — Miles Thompson had the wind at his back.

And, as always, he had his grandma in his heart.

“She’s a great role model in my life. I’d do anything for her,” Thompson said. “She’s a great person. She puts God first. She’s just an amazing person.”

And her grandson is a top-flight sprinter.

A junior at Cedar Rapids Washington, Thompson moved to the top of the state leader board in the boys’ 100-meter dash, racing through it in 10.56 seconds at the Clark Weaver Invitational track and field meet Saturday at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Thompson emerged from a star-studded 100 field that also included teammate Michael Blank, along with Iowa City Liberty’s Luke Meyers and Marion’s Alex Mota.

Yes, he was aided somewhat by a 15-mile-per-hour tailwind. But hey, fast is fast.

“I felt (the wind) a little bit. It was amazing,” Thompson said. “I was hoping for 10.7, but (10.56) ... I’ll take that, too.”

Thompson’s heart belongs to his grandmother, Nina Barber. He gets his wheels from his mother; Kristyn Barber was an excellent sprinter for Washington more than two decades ago.

Blank edged Thompson in the 200, and the duo combined to push the Warriors to victory in the 400-meter relay.

Linn-Mar won seven events and breezed to the boys’ team title with 136 points. Iowa City Liberty was second with 105.5.

“We usually just run two or three events, because our coaches want to keep us healthy for the end of the season,” said junior Nicholas Gorsich, the 400-meter hurdles champion (55.69 seconds).

Gorsich showed no effects of what he called “a minor groin strain,” and he was immune to the wind.

“Honestly, I didn’t even notice it,” he said. “I felt so comfortable. I ran up on the first two hurdles. It felt good. I had so much gas in the tank.”

Other Linn-Mar individual champs were Isaac Guerrero (long jump), McKade Jelinek (discus), T.J. Jackson (high jump) and Hayden Kuhn (1,600). The Lions earned gold medals in the shuttle hurdle and distance medley relays.

Western Dubuque’s Eli Naumann won the 800-meter run and anchored two winning relays.

Solon edged Cedar Rapids Prairie, 119-111, for the girls’ team crown, winning five events, including three relays.

MaKinley Levin was the long jump champion, Sophia Stahle claimed the 400-meter hurdles, and the Spartans prevailed in the shuttle hurdle relay, the distance medley and the 4x400.

Future University of Iowa teammates (and roommates) Gabby Cortez of Cedar Rapids Prairie and Audrey Biermann of Western Dubuque — as expected — were the individual stars.

Biermann anchored the Bobcats to the all-class state lead in the sprint medley relay (1:48.95) and moved to No. 3 in the 100 (12.25). She also won the 400 in 58.27 seconds.

But Cortez passed her in the anchor leg of the 400-meter relay. The Hawks were timed in 50.00 seconds, Western Dubuque in 50.08.

“I’ve gotten to know Audrey a little better this year,” Cortez said. “I think we can do some really good things together (at Iowa).”

Cortez also moved up to No. 2 statewide in the 800, in 2:14.46.

“I wanted to go a little faster, but under the conditions, this was the best I could do,” she said. “The last 200, heading into the wind, I was just thinking time, time, time.”

Girls Results

Teams — 1. Solon 119, 2. C.R. Prairie 111, 3. Linn-Mar 83, 4. Western Dubuque 70, 5. (tie) Bettendorf and Iowa City Liberty 69, 7. C.R. Kennedy 68, 8. Pleasant Valley 42, 9. Davenport Central 32, 10. Davenport West 23, 11. Davenport Assumption 22, 12. Marion 17, 13. Linn-Mar JV 9, C.R. Washington 6, 15. Burlington 1, 16. C.R. Jefferson 0.

Shot put — 1. Kennedy Evans (LM), 37-2; 2. Taryn Penney (WDbq), 36-7; 3. Deja Redmond (CRW), 35-7.

Discus — 1. Emma Joens (CRP), 118-6; 2. Darya Acas (ICL), 110-1; 3. Abigail Felton (Solon), 101-6.

High jump — 1. Isabelle Woody (ICL), 5-2; 2. Tessa Teagarden (Bett), 5-2; 3. Allison Harris, 4-10.

Long jump — 1. MaKinley Levin (Solon), 17-4 3/4; 2.Taylor Lee (CRP), 17-3 1/2; 3. Kaylee Bunn (LM), 16-7 1/2.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Western Dubuque (Ramler, Recker, Walters, Biermann), 1:48.95; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 1:52.15; 3. Linn-Mar, 1:52.97.

3,000 — 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL), 10:24.57; 2. Keirra Hess (CRP), 10:47.49; 3. Kayla Young (Solon), 11:06.50.

3,200 relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Boleyn, Sommer, Foad, Case), 9:49.87; 2. Bettendorf, 9:53.44; 3. Solon, 10:02.67.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Solon (Buffington, Stahle, Foster, Stahle), 1:08.99; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 1:09.53; 3. Davenport West, 1:11.36.

100 — 1. Audrey Biermann (WDbq), 12.25*; 2. Mary Gustason (LM), 12.46; 3. Avery Horner (Bett), 12.61.

Distance medley relay — 1. Solon (McQuinn, Levin, ONeill, Quillen), 4:38.10; 2. Western Dubuque, 4:45.11; 3. Davenport West, 4:45.58.

400 — 1. Audrey Biermann (WDbq), 58.27; 2. Kaia Holtkamp (Solon), 1:00.89; 3. Addison Swartzendruber (CRK), 1:01.13.

800 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Gustason, Hand, Gaffney, Schmidt), 1:49.24; 2. Bettendorf, 1:50.29; 3. Solon, 1:50.48.

100 hurdles — 1. Grace Braden (CRK), 15.61; 2. Ryann Decker (CRP), 15.66; 3. McKenzie Borden (Bett), 15.96.

800 — 1. Gabby Cortez (CRP), 2:14.46*; 2. Sidney Swartzendruber (CRK), 2:19.91; 3. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL), 2:20.20.

200 — 1. Sarah Jordan (CRP), 26.63; 2. Maya Williams (Bett), 27.05; 3. Bella Motley (DavA), 27.14.

400 hurdles — 1. Sophia Stahle (Solon), 1:09.38; 2. Ashley Smith (DavW), 1:11.00; 3. Madison Prier (Mar), 1:11.39.

1,500 — 1. Bethany Smeed (CRK), 5:03.53; 2. Lily Johannes (CRP), 5:06.86; 3. Dylan Moeller (DavC), 5:12.69.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Jordan, Decker, Russell, Cortez), 50.00; 2. Western Dubuque, 50.08; 3. Linn-Mar, 51.56.

1,600 relay — 1. Solon (Holtkamp, Levin, Federspiel, Bock), 4:10.00; 2. Pleasant Valley, 4:17.83; 3. C.R. Prairie, 4:22.06.

*meet record

Boys Results

Teams — 1. Linn-Mar 136, 2. Iowa City Liberty 105.5, 3. Pleasant Valley 98.5, 4. Western Dubuque 74, 5. (tie) C.R. Kennedy and C.R. Washington 62, 7. C.R. Prairie 49, 8. Marion 39, 9. Davenport West 24, 10. Bettendorf 20, 11. C.R. Jefferson 17, 12. Davenport Central 16, 13. Burlington 12, 14. Linn-Mar JV 10, 15. (tie) Waterloo East and Davenport Assumption 8.

Shot put — 1. Ryan Saddler (PV), 53-1; 2. Dakota Hoffman (WDbq), 53-0; 3. Noah Allen (CRW), 50-4.

Discus — 1. McKade Jelinek (LM), 180-9; 2. Keaton Roskop (LM), 153-1; 3. Dakota Hoffman (WDbw), 134-9.

High jump — 1. T.J. Jackson (LM), 6-7; 2. Brenden Linde (CRK), 6-0; 3. Ashton Urmie (DavW), 6-0.

Long jump — 1. Isaac Guerrero (LM), 21-8 1/2; 2. T.J. Jackson (LM), 21-7; 3. Luke Meyers (ICL), 21-3.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Iowa City Liberty (Adam, Chandler, Meyer, Meyers), 1:40.23; 2. Pleasant Valley, 1:40.25; 3. C.R. Washington, 1:40.28.

3,200 — 1. Shane Erb (Mar), 9:36.14*; 2. Jedidiah Osgood (Mar), 9:50.02; 3. Isaiah Hammerand (WDbq), 10:03.95.

3,200 relay — 1. Western Dubuque (Williams, Schroeder, Begle, Naumann), 8:14.43; 2. Iowa City Liberty, 8:21.66; 3. Pleasant Valley, 8:23.54.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Gorsich, Singh, Grant, O’Toole), 1:03.42; 2. Pleasant Valley, 1:03.76; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 1:04.63.

100 — 1. Miles Thompson (CRW), 10.56*; 2. Luke Meyers (ICL), 10.71; 3. Michael Blank (CRW), 10.91.

Distance medley relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Guerrero, Henderson, Ferguson, Kuhn), 3:41.72; 2. Davenport Central, 3:53.74; 3. Pleasant Valley, 3:57.69.

400 — 1. Calvin Curcija (Bett), 50.48*; 2. Luke Meyers (ICL), 50.96; 3. Eliot Sharp (Mar), 52.59.

800 relay — 1. Davenport West (Clark, Caruthers, Gardner, Caruthers), 1:33.65; 2. Pleasant Valley, 1:33.97; 3. Burlington, 1:34.18.

110 hurdles — 1. Eric Lucas (ICL), 14.50; 2. Geramie Hardaway Jr. (CRP), 14.59; 3. William Grant (LM), 15.87.

800 — 1. Eli Naumann (WDbq), 1:58.44*; 2. Bryson Canton (CRP), 2:02.43; 3. Gavin Keeney (ICL), 2:04.33.

200 — 1. Michael Blank (CRW), 22.27*; 2. Miles Thompson (CRW), 22.37; 3. Daniel DeGeorge (PV), 22.94.

400 hurdles — 1. Nicholas Gorsich (LM), 55.69*; 2. William Grant (LM), 57.44; 3. Ian Lucas (WatE), 57.79.

1,600 — 1. Hayden Kuhn (LM), 4:30.24; 2. Miles Wilson (CRK), 4:32.97; 3. Tarun Vedula (PV), 4:39.03.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (Amah, Thompson, Armon, Blank), 44.18; 2. Linn-Mar, 44.58; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 44.69.

1,600 relay — 1. Western Dubuque (Williams, Schroeder, Horsfall, Naumann), 3:31.77; 2. C.R. Prairie, 3:34.02; 3. Iowa City Liberty, 3:36.16.

*meet record

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com