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Pekin’s Hadley shines again
Sophomore thrower wins shot put title, takes 2nd in discus
DES MOINES — As a freshman, Pekin’s Anna Hadley made quite the statement in the 2023 Iowa high school state track and field meet. One year later, she made it even louder.
Hadley entered her sophomore season with big expectations, and lived up to them this weekend at the 2024 state meet. One year after taking home two Top-3 finishes in the throwing events, she did one better by grabbing a pair of Top 2s.
Hadley improved two spots from her third place finish last spring, throwing 39 feet, 02 inches to win the first shot put title of her young career.
“I didn't think that was the winning throw,” Hadley said. “But I hadn't hit over 39 for over a month, so that was pretty great.”
Hadley threw her best on just her second attempt, fouling on every throw afterward, but it was more than enough. In just her third state event, the Panther sophomore was a two-time state champion.
Hadley’s shot put title came one day before she was set to defend her 2023 championship in the Class 1A discus.
On Friday, Hadley jumped from sixth to first with a throw of 132 feet, 5 inches, but was knocked off by Lydia Kriegel of Iowa Valley, who threw 135-03 on her final throw.
“I knew I could have gotten first if I put in more effort, but she deserved the win,” Hadley said. “She did great with her throw.”
Hadley scored 18 points in the two events, giving Pekin a nice boost in the team standings. The Panthers would score 24 points total on the girls’ side.
Helping that total out was Chloe Glosser, who ran her state best in the girls’ 1500-meter run. Glosser finished in 4 minutes, 58.37 seconds, beating the heat to earn four points for the Panthers on Saturday.
“We had four seniors that ran at state and place last year,” Glosser said. “That was really a big deficit, but we came back.”
The final two points for the Panther girls came at the hands of the 4X800 quartet of Audrey Fariss, Alex Parsons, Krysta Sheetz and Glosser. The group took seventh place, finishing in 9:55.
The Panther boys scooped up nine points, all in relay events. The shuttle hurdle squad of Henry Adam, Will Adam, Alijah Brock and JaeDon Wolver crossed the tape in 1:02.86, while the 4X400 team of Will Adam, Nolan Glick, Brady McWhirter and Wolver took fifth, in 3:26.94.
