Mount Vernon girls take 3A lead into the final day of state track and field meet

DES MOINES — Eastin Whisner embodies the Mount Vernon girls’ track and field program.

Exceptional now. In the future ... look out.

A freshman, Whisner ran third in the Class 3A girls’ 400-meter hurdles at the state track and field meet Friday morning at Drake Stadium.

“Our coach put me in it about halfway into the season,” Whisner said. “It has become one of my good races.”

Whisner finished in 1 minute, 6.26 seconds. Reese Brownlee of Clear Lake won it in 59.83 seconds, becoming the first sub-60 competitor in that event since Woodbine’s Debbie Esser did it in 1975.

“She’s an animal,” Whisner said of Brownlee. “I looked ahead after I went over the second-to-last hurdle, and she was already over the last one.”

Fueled by a roster of youth, Mount Vernon heads into Saturday in first place in the 3A girls’ team race. Through 10 events, the Mustangs have 35 points in the bank.

Clear Lake is second with 31 points, followed by Gilbert (29) and Adel ADM (28).

Mount Vernon’s Libby Dix was third in the shot put.

Western Dubuque and Maquoketa ran 2-3 behind MOC-Floyd Valley in a closely contested 800-meter relay.

The Dutch ran in 1:42.06, the Bobcats in 1:42.23, the Cardinals in 1:42.96.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Western Dubuque anchor Brynn Walters said. “We did as much as we could, and we put up a good, fast time.”

State track and field: Class 3A Girls

At Des Moines (Drake Stadium)

Top 10 teams (through 10 events) — 1. Mount Vernon 35, 2. Clear Lake 31, 3. Gilbert 29, 4. Adel ADM 28, 5. Hampton-Dumont/CAL 20, 6. (tie) Pella and Sioux Center 16, 8. Charles City 14, 9. Knoxville 13, 10. Maquoketa 12.

Shot put — 1. Charlee Morton (Hampton-Dumont/CAL), 41-2; 2. Jordyn Matiyow (Lewis Central), 40-9 1/2; 3. Libby Dix (Mount Vernon), 38-9 3/4; 5. Lauren Luzum (Decorah), 38-0 3/4; 6. Michaela Silich (Western Dubuque), 37-10 3/4; 8. Ana Glawe (Benton Community), 36-10 3/4.

Long jump — 1. Reese Brownlee (Clear Lake), 19-3 1/2; 2. Frankie Huether (North Polk), 17-11 1/2; 3. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 17-10 1/4; 7. Elizabeth Timmerman (Clear Creek Amana), 17-0 1/4; 8. Lucy Wischmeyer (Mount Vernon), 17-0.

Distance medley relay — 1. Gilbert (Banning, Hanson, Feddersen, Dani), 4:06.13; 2. Sioux Center, 4:07.52; 3. Atlantic, 4:10.50; 4. Marion, 4:11.39; 7. Mount Vernon, 4:12.86.

800 relay — 1. MOC-Floyd Valley (Tooker, McEwen, Jeltema, Huss), 1:42.06; 2. Western Dubuque, 1:42.23; 3. Maquoketa, 1:42.96; 6. Solon, 1:43.99.

400 hurdles — 1. Reese Brownlee (Clear Lake), 59.83; 2. Jaya Kleemeier (Winterset), 1:05.59; 3. Eastin Whisner (Mount Vernon), 1:06.26; Ryen Pepper (Washington), 1:06.70.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com