Area teams smash IATC Indoors

AMES — If area track and field fans weren’t already hyped up for the 2026 spring season, they certainly should be after the 2026 Iowa Track and Field Coaches State Indoor Track meet in Ames on Thursday and Friday.

Union area teams flexed their muscles all weekend long, as nine area squads finished in the Top-10 in team standings and three finished in the Top-2.

Mid-Prairie, Mt. Pleasant and New London all took home Top-2 finishes. The Golden Hawk girls crushed the Class 2A field, scoring 75 points to win the title by a whopping 24 points. Mt. Pleasant put up 44 points to finish second in the Class 3A girls’ standings, and New London tied for second in the Class 1A boys standings, scoring 44 points.

Mid-Prairie flexed its muscle in the sprint events, thanks in large part to sisters Jovi and Jeorgia Evans, two returning stars from last spring.

Joergia Evans was the 60-meter champion in Class 2A. After Jovi qualified first in the preliminaries, a false-start knocked her off the line. Then, Jeorgia went from second in the prelims to first, winning the race in 7.87 seconds.

The two sprinters each finished Top-4 in the 200-meter dash. Jovi got the best of Jeorgia in that one, finishing second, while Jeorgia was fourth.

In individual distance events, Brooklyn Stutzman earned eight points for a second-place finish in the girls’ 3000-meter run. Kendal Landstrum took fourth in the 1500.

Mid-Prairie’s Sophie Miller and Tessa Bombei finished seventh and eighth in the 60-meter hurdles.

Mid-Prairie had four scoring relays, including a championship in the 4X800. The quartet of Landstrum, Tessa Brokaw, Stutzman and Rachel Hostetler crossed the tape in 9:59.06 to take home the gold.

The 4X100 team of Jeorgia Evans, Kyrie Poll, Myli Hershberger and Jovi Evans took second place. The shuttle hurdle group of Miller, Jovi Evans, Olivia Schlabach and Bombie finished fourth, and the 4X400 team of Hostetler, Brokaw, Ruby Miller and Poll finished sixth.

Mid-Prairie also racked up some points in the field. Jeorgia Evans was sixth in the long jump, and Harper Pacha took sixth in the shot put throw.

Mt. Pleasant’s big day was highlighted by two championships, one being a new IATC Indoors record in the Class sprint medley.

The Panther quartet of Kiyah Sanders, Kynlee White, Alex Scott and Avery Fedler cruised to victory in the 3A sprint medley, crossing the tape in 1:50.80, to win the title from the first section and earn 10 team points.

Also earning a 10-spot was Fedler in the 800-meter run. She finished the race in 2:21.02 to put herself at the top of the podium. The phenomenal freshman also took second in the 400.

Ella Ensminger took third place in the Class 3A girls’ shot put to give the Panthers a big score in the field. Another Top-4 finish came in the 4X100, when the squad of Ellie Freeman, Sanders, White and Scott finished fourth.

Scott earned three points with a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Izzy Sloat was seventh in the long jump to finish out the Panther scorers.

Mt. Pleasant wasn’t the only Class 3A girls’ team from the area to get into the Top-10. Washington finished 10th place, scoring 22 points.

Iris Dahl was second in the 1500, crossing the tape in 4:54.66, to give the Demons their best finish of the day. Jaedyn Moore scored in two individual events, getting fourth in the 200-meter dash and seventh in the 60-meter dash.

Washington also had two Top-8 relays. The 4X800 squad of Lauren Drahota, Emma Horak, Brinlee Flynn and Dahl took fourth, while the 4X400 team of Leighton Messinger, Moore, Jaslyn Villa and Dahl finished seventh.

In the Class 1A girls’ race, Pekin took sixth, with 31 points. That was thanks in large part to a new Class 1A shot put record for Anna Hadley, who launched one 42-04, and another record in the 3000, where Chloe Glosser took the win in 1:00.64.

Pekin’s shuttle hurdle team of Reece Brisbee, Carlie Gambell, Abby Guise and Paislee Coleman finished third. Th 4X800 squad of Maddy Petrehn, Emerson Porter, Ashlynn Adrian and Glosser took fifth. Coleman was eighth in the 60-meter hurdles.

The WACO girls finished tied for eighth in 1A, scoring 25 points. Carlee Lunsford and Josie Dykstray were second and sixth in the 800. Bren Graber took fourth in the high jump, and the 4X400 and sprint medley squads took fourth and fifth respectively.

Hillcrest Academy scored 22 points to tie for 11th. Rya Scott showed out with a champoinship in the 60-meter dash, crossing the line in 7.98 seconds, and a second-place finish in the 200. The Ravens’ 4X100 relay team added some more points, with a fifth-place finish.

Also scoring in girls’ competition were Columbus’ Ella Howell and Bella Forbes. Howell took eighth in the Class 2A 400-meter dash, while Forbes was eighth in the shot put, to give the Wildcats two team points.

The boys’ side of things was highlighted by an incredible performance from the lightning-fast New London sprinters. The quartet of Brigham Porter, London Franklin, Cale Westerbeck and Gavin Strawhacker flew to a first-place finish in the 4X100, crossing the tape in 44.32 seconds.

Franklin also finished first in the long jump, leaping 21-04.50. Logan Franklin scored in that event as well, taking fifth place.

Incredibly, New London was able to score 14 total points in the 60-meter dash. London Franklin took second, Strawhacker was fifth, and Westerbeck ended his night in seventh.

Strawhacker also took fourth in the 200-meter dash, and Riley Raines grabbed a fourth-place finish in the 1600.

Van Buren County wasn’t far back from the Tigers, scoring 30 points in the Class 1A boys race. Lincoln Bainbridge was a double champion, winning the 400-meter dash in 49.28 seconds, and the 800-meter run in 2:00.85 to score 20 team points by himself.

The VBC 4X400 team earned some big points with a third-place finish. Kayden Simmons grabbed fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles.

WACO and Pekin were 14th and 17th respectively in the Class 1A boys’ race. WACO earned 12 points after Jude Dykstra finished third in the 800-meter run, and then anchored the 4X800 team to third, alongside Locken Henderson, Gavin Slagel and Garrett Landau.

The Pekin boys scored 10.5 points. The 4X100 team took third, the 4X400 squad finished fifth, and Brody Sobaski was eighth in the high jump.

Mid-Prairie took home fourth place in Class 2A, scoring 34 points on the night. Ryan Henry was a champion in the Class 2A 60-meter dash, crossing the line in 6.99 seconds, while also scooping up a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash.

Tommy Miller earned his team eight points with a second-place finish in the shot put. Max Swartzentruber finished sixth in the 3200, and Thomas Lueck was eighth in the long jump.

Two relay teams for Mid-Prairie finished with points. The shuttle hurdle team was fifth, and the 4X800 team took seventh.

Columbus earned a ninth-place finish in the Class 2A boys’ race, scoring 22.5 points. Over half of those came in the 60-meter hurdles, where Lamar Ceant and Alex Rees finished second and third for a total of 14 points.

Ceant finished seventh in the 200-meter dash. Donovan Rees was eighth in the high jump, and Fritz Figaro finished eighth in the shot put.

Earning relay points were the Wildcat 4X100 team, which took fifth, and the 4X800 squad, which finished eighth.

Fairfield and Washington each finished with 12 points in the Class 3A boys’ race, putting both teams in a four-way tie for 15th.

Fairfield’s Eli Zillman earned 10 of those team points with fourth-place finishes in both the high jump and the long jump. The Trojan sprint medley team finished seventh.

Washington’s 4X800 team of Sawyer Tschantz, Parker Tschantz, Andrew Rees and Ethan Hotchkiss finished second place to earn eight points. Rees grabbed the other four team points with a fifth-place finish in the 1600.

Washington’s Josh Anderson won the 200-meter wheelchair race, and earned the only wheelchair points of the meet. He finished his race in 37.34 seconds.