State dreams realized at 3A track qualifier

MT. PLEASANT — The road to Drake Stadium for the Union area’s Class 3A track and field teams went through Mt. Pleasant’s Mapleleaf Athletic Complex on Thursday.

While the final results of the Class 3A state qualifying meet weren’t in at 9:30 p.m., the Union’s three area schools all saw automatic qualifiers early in the meet.

The day began with a second-place finish from the Washington boys sprint medley team. The Demons were edged at the line by Clear Creek-Amana, but still took second, good enough for an automatic qualification.

One week after winning the Southeast Conference championship, Fairfield’s Carley Seeley was back at it again in the girls’ 3000-meter run. The Trojan freshman finished in first place to earn a spot in Des Moines.

“On that last lap, it was me telling myself, ’Carley you got this. You worked for this all season,’” Seeley said.

Seeley pulled away from Mt. Pleasant’s Abby Blint on the final stretch to win the race in 11 minutes and 36 seconds. Blint took second to quality both runners for state.

“Abby has been a great competitor all season and in cross-country, too,” Seeley said.

Washington’s Lance Sobaski had a rare challenge in the 3200-meter run, but the Demon distance star had plenty to outlast second-place Brandon Barker of Clear Creek-Amana for first place.

“It felt good to run with somebody for a little bit,” Sobaski said. “It was a fun race, definitely one of the most fun ones I’ve done all year.”

Sobaski’s teammate Elijah Morris joined him on the automatic qualifiers list in the 400-meter dash, where Morris finished first.

The area pushed more through in the hurdle events. Mt. Pleasant’s boys’ shuttle hurdle team ran down Fort Madison to finish second. Fairfield edged Mt. Pleasant for second place in the girls shuttle hurdle to give the Trojans another automatic qualifier.

It was a stacked girls’ 100-meter hurdle race, which included top hurdlers Anna Dunlap and Kelsey Pacha of Fairfield, as well as Karsyn and Kenna Lamm from Mt. Pleasant. Dunlap and Karsyn Lamm finished one-two to earn the automatic spots, although early indications say all four times were fast enough to make state.

Mt. Pleasant had another automatic qualifier in the boys’ 110-meter high hurdles. Bryce Wilson sped past the competition to take first place.

The area had a handful of big finishes in the field, led by another showing by Mt. Pleasant’s Jadan Brumbaugh in the shot put. The Drake Relays champion broke her own school record, throwing 44 feet, 10 inches for the win.

“It’s really exciting to be able to throw it that far after working hard all season,” Brumbaugh said. “Throwing farther each meet is really exciting to do.”

Elsewhere in the field, Mt. Pleasant’s Cooper Pullis won the boys shot put to punch his ticket to Des Moines. Fairfield’s Pacha finished second place in the long jump to earn her spot as well.

More qualifiers are expected to be announced late Thursday. The Union will have a tentative list of qualifiers on SoutheastIowaUnion.com on Friday.