Washington gets medal in 400 hurdles, 2 in long jump

DES MOINES - Highland finished 19th in the Class 1A girls team race as the 4x100 meter relay placed third Saturday.

Friday at the state track meet at Drake Stadium, Washington High School had two girls finish in the top eight of the Class 3A long jump and Ethan Hunt placed sixth in the 400 hurdles. He ran a time of 55.34 seconds.

Saturday saw the Demons take 11th in the sprint medley with Cade Hennigan, Jacob Miller, Ethan Hunt and Mitchell Driscoll running a time of 1 minute, 35.76 seconds.

'You can't ask anything else but to run a clean race,” Hennigan said.

'I think it was our best one ever,” Hunt said.

'We have Mitchell and Ethan and they're great with their legs,” Miller said.

'Everybody was ahead of me on the last stretch but I gained a little ground,” said Driscoll, who helped the Demons finish fourth in their heat. 'It wasn't my best race, I don't think, but it was good.”

Justin Simmering was 20th in 2:03.95 in the 800.

In Friday's 110 high hurdles, Hennigan was 22nd in 16.2 and Lincoln Kleese was 24th in 16.35. Kleese was 22nd in the long jump at 18 feet, 11.75 inches. The 4x1 of Kleese, Luke Turner, Miller and Heenigan was 22nd in 45.52. The 4x4 of Driscoll, Turner, Simmering and Hunt was 16th in 3:30.49.

Highland ran a time of 51.09 to place third in the 4x100 meter relay final. Emily Yahnke, who was sixth in the 100 (13.14) earlier Saturday, anchored her three senior teammates (Aly Stokes, Kristy Thomann and Sarah Schneider).

'I ran my heart out,” Yahnke said. 'Me and Kristy's handoff was really smooth. I really thought maybe we had a chance at getting first becausewe're good competitors. We had high expectations coming in. These girls are a lot of fun to run with. It was my last race with them, and I'm really going to miss them next year.”

'Coming off blocks is always really important, so it felt really nice coming out, which is always good,” Schneider said. 'Our goal was to win it, but it was pretty good. I'll take third place.”

'Me and Sarah's handoff went really well,” Stokes said. 'I gave her a couple of extra steps because she was getting really close to me. I think it helped us quite a bit, and then me and Kristy's handoff is always really good.”

'Aly and I have been handing it off to each other all four years of high school,” Thomann said. 'Emily, she's so fast, I have to make sure I keep up with her, but it's been working out really well because we've been working hard in practice. I'm just really proud of all of us.”

The same four placed 10th Friday in the 4x2 at 1:49.42.

WACO's Colton Horak was 15th in the 1A 400 hurdles in 57.88.

Highland's Madison Thomann was 21st in 5:19.48 in the 1A 1500.

Keota's Justin Moeller ran a season best to place 14th in the 1A 800 with a time of 2:03.48. He anchored the distance medley to eighth place with JD Stout, Sam Sieren and Wyatt Sieren in 3:39.49.

Iowa Mennonite's Leah Bontrager ran a 2:35.11 in the 1A 800 to place 20th.

Washington's 4x2 of Isabel Bailey, Leah Marek, Ashley Telleen and Jenah Greiner had the 22nd-best time coming in and placed 16th in 1:49.55.

'All four girls run pretty similar splits and we know they are always going to leave it all out there,” WHS coach Stefanie Haworth said. 'It was a fun race to watch.”

As soon as the race was done, Bailey had to long jump in the first of two flights. Greiner was in the second. Bailey's first two jumps weren't the best, but her third attempt got her to the finals.

'She left it all out there and was able to get a jump that had her winning her flight,” Haworth said. 'We had no idea what the second flight would do, so she left to warm up for the 4x1.”

Greiner had a decent first jump, then had to run the 4x1, so officials made her hurry up and get her next two preliminary jumps in before she ran.

'The situation definitely wasn't ideal, but she did a great job of staying calm and doing what she had to do,” Haworth said. 'Her jumps weren't her season best, but it was enough to get into finals. When Jenah and Isabel found out they both made finals it was such an incredible feeling. They have both worked so hard for four years and for them both to come home with an individual state medal is pretty awesome!”

Bailey was seventh at 15-10.25 and Greiner was eighth at 15-9.75.

The 4x1 improved from 14th to finish 11th in 51.33.

'Handoffs were pretty good and we were just .1 off our season best,” Haworth said. 'Leah did a great job of getting us out to a great start, Isabel runs the backstretch so strong and hands off to Jenah who really takes control of that curve. Kelsey (Pacha) did a great job of fighting through in that anchor spot to keep us in fourth in our heat.”

It was an end to the high school careers of Bailey, Greiner and Telleen.

'I think it hit them last week that this was it,” Haworth said. 'It was a pretty emotional week last week but they came to state and gave it 100 percent. It's a very special group of seniors this year and they will definitely be missed next year. They've accomplished so much in their four years at Washington High School, they should all be extremely proud of everything they've accomplished! It was a great way to finish our season. We've had to overcome a lot this season with injuries and sickness. We finally had a full team at the state qualifying meet. These girls have worked hard all season so it's great to see all their hard work pay off.”