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Heitman qualifies for state in 4 events
Raiders combine for 11 automatic qualifiers
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MOUNT VERNON— Williamsburg’s Rayce Heitman competed in four events Thursday in a Class 3A track and field state-qualifying meet at Mount Vernon. He’ll be going to the state meet in Des Moines next week in all four.
Heitman’s day started with a new personal best in the boys’ long jump — a mark of 22 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
It’s an event Heitman decided to pick back up this season after a few years off. That’s worked out well for Heitman. His new personal best was also a school record.
“I did pretty good three weeks ago, so I figured I might as well keep trying to do better and better,” Heitman said.
Following the jump, Heitman ran the 200-meter leg in the sprint medley, won the open 400 and anchored the 4x400-meter relay team which came from behind for a victory.
The Raiders’ time of 1:32.12 in the sprint medley is ranked third in 3A, which finished runner-up to Newton. Wind gusts were over 30 miles per hour at the time of the race.
“Newton really helped us pull out a season best today with how good they are,” said Grady Wetjen, who ran the second 100-meter leg of the race.
“We felt great execution-wise, and we got all of our handoffs down pretty well.”
Heitman and Grant Hocker finished one-two in the 400. Hocker also ran a leg of the sprint medley and 4x400 relays.
“Me and Grant have played sports with each other all throughout high school and we push each other in every sport,” said Heitman. “It’s great to be out here with him and succeeding together.”
On the girls’ side, the Raiders automatically qualified in six events.
The Raiders started the meet hot, qualifying three events to state in the first few events.
Freshman Ellie Nielsen reached another personal best in the high jump, clearing five feet, five inches.
Nielsen has improved by an inch in the back half of the season and will be in medal contention come next week.
“It means a lot because I’ve been practicing real hard to try and get that breakthrough,” Nielsen said. “I think my leaning on the curve and my approach has really helped me to improve.”
As Nielsen finished up, the sprint medley quartet of Gracelyn Uhlmann, Makenna Hughes, Ailea Wetjen and Ava Hocker took home the medley title in 1:47.78.
Ranked second in 3A, the Raiders will be contenders for gold next week.
Another freshman, Channing Becker, punched her ticket to state early in the meet.
Becker finished runner-up in the 3,000-meter, thanks in large part to a 76-second last lap that catapulted her from fourth to second in the homestretch.
Ailea Wetjen finished runner-up in 100, while Ava Hocker won the 400 hurdles and was runner-up in the 400 to cap off the Raiders’ automatic qualifiers.
The Raiders totaled 11 automatic qualifiers combined in boys and girls events.
GIRLS RESULTS
Team scores
1. Mount Vernon 167, 2. Williamsburg 124, 3. Newton 116, 4. Solon 105, 5. Washington 95, 6. Grinnell 59, 7. Benton Community 49, 8. South Tama 22
Automatic State Qualifiers
Long jump — 1. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 20-3; 2. Lucy Wischmeyer (Mount Vernon), 17-6 1/4
High jump — 1. Sydney Maue (Mount Vernon), 5-10; 2. Ellie Nielsen (Williamsburg), 5-5
Discus — 1. Kate Shafer (Solon), 130-8; 2. Libby Dix (Mount Vernon), 127-5
Shot put — 1. Ana Glawe (Benton Community), 38-8; 2. Libby Dix (Mount Vernon), 37-6
Sprint medley — 1. Williamsburg (Uhlmann, Hughes, Wetjen, Hocker), 1:47.48; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:49.39
3,000 — 1. Edith Dawson (Mount Vernon), 11:29.18; 2. Channing Becker (Williamsburg), 11:30.13
4x800 — 1. Mount Vernon (Schoff, Hoffert, Rupe, Moeller), 9:53.50; 2. Newton, 10:01.50
Shuttle hurdle — 1. Newton (Klein, Lampe, Sims, White), 1:05.78; 2. Washington, 1:08.16
100 — 1. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 12.46; 2. Ailea Wetjen (Williamsburg), 12.51
Distance medley — 1. Mount Vernon (Wischmeyer, Swantz, Whisner, Swart), 4:18.65; 2. Solon, 4:20.86
400 — 1. CaliAna Whitaker (Mount Vernon), 57.62; 2. Ava Hocker (Williamsburg), 57.75
4x200 — 1. Newton (Klein, Rivera, Bruce, Clarke), 1:45.03; 2. Solon, 1:46.66
100 hurdles — 1. Tori White (Newton), 15.68; 2. Leighton Messinger (Washington), 15.91
800 — 1. Evelyn Moeller (Mount Vernon), 2:21.79; 2. Sam Schoff (Mount Vernon), 2:26.82
200 — 1. CaliAna Whitaker (Mount Vernon), 25.16; 2. Aiden Gosselink (Grinnell), 25.36
400 hurdles — 1. Ava Hocker (Williamsburg), 1:05.05; 2. Eastin Whisner (Mount Vernon), 1:07.25
1,500 — 1. Evelyn Moeller (Mount Vernon), 4:58.67; 2. Iris Dahl (Washington), 4:59.62
4x100 — 1. Grinnell (Stephenson, Flander, Louden, Gosselink), 48.65; 2. Washington, 49.32
4x400 — 1. Solon (Armentrout, Haluska, Hoeper, Hahn), 4:06.47; 2. Mount Vernon, 4:07.98
BOYS RESULTS
Team scores
1. Newton 178, 2. Mount Vernon 102, 3. Grinnell 94, 4. Washington 88, 5. Solon 80, 6. Williamsburg 71, 7. Benton Community 69, 8. South Tama 48
Automatic State Qualifiers
Long jump — 1. Rayce Heitman (Williamsburg), 22-2 1/2; 2. Alameen Shanto (Newton), 21-6 3/4
High jump — 1. Eli Patterson (Benton Community), 6-8; 2. Kaden Hoeper (Solon), 6-4
Discus — 1. Greyson Hartman (Washington), 173-1; 2. Cameron Corey (Grinnell), 150-7
Shot put — 1. Greyson Hartman (Washington), 55-4 1/2; 2. Nick Milburn (Newton), 54-11 1/4
Sprint medley — 1. Newton (Thomason, Trease, Ergenbright, Klein), 1:32.00; 2. Williamsburg, 1:32.12
3,200 — 1. Cadel Conner (Grinnell), 9:56.25; 2. Lance Zaabel (Newton), 10:20.51
4x800 — 1. Mount Vernon (O'Connor, Caskey, Olberding, Scheil), 8:08.02; 2. Washington, 8:10.25
Shuttle hurdle — 1. Newton (Lampe, Bauer, Bauer, Arauz), 1:01.58; 2. Benton Community, 1:01.84
100 — 1. Caden Klein (Newton), 11.15; 2. Nick Thomason (Newton), 11.28
Distance medley — 1. Mount Vernon (Bentley, Stanerson, Hlavacek, Olberding), 3:37.86; 2. Grinnell, 3:38.84
400 — 1. Rayce Heitman (Williamsburg), 50.27; 2. Grant Hocker (Williamsburg), 50.31
4x200 — 1. Newton (Thomason, Trease, Yahia, Ergenbright), 1:28.68; 2. Benton Community, 1:30.91
110 hurdles — 1. Reilly Trease (Newton), 15.14; 2. Austin Arauz (Newton), 15.55
800 — 1. Harrison Laug (Grinnell), 1:59.89; 2. Dawson Scheil (Mount Vernon), 1:59.98
200 — 1. Caden Klein (Newton), 22.09; 2. Christian Ergenbright 22.43
400 hurdles — 1. Caden Klein (Newton), 54.20; 2. Owen Von Ahsen (Benton Community), 54.21
1,600 — 1. Grady Olberding (Mount Vernon), 4:32.38; 2. Cadel Conner (Grinnell), 4:32.85
4x100 — 1. Newton (Thomason, Trease, Yahia, Ergenbright), 42.69; 2. Grinnell, 43.84
4x400 — 1. Williamsburg (Hocker, Banos, Brummel, Heaitman), 3:24.36; 2. Benton Community, 3:24.74
