STATE: Maricle wins high jump title, Angel to place for Queens
May 20—DES MOINES — The first day of the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships kicked off on Thursday morning under sunny skies and warm temperatures, and local athletes wasted no time making noise in their respective events.
With exciting races and big finishes littering locals on Thursday, it only adds anticipation for the rest of the weekend
MARICLE WINS 3A HIGH JUMP TITLE
Central DeWitt's Soren Maricle is now a state champion.
"I don't think I've processed it yet, even though I've heard it coming out of people's mouths," Maricle said. "It's still sinking in."
The Saber junior took the school's first ever high jump state title home on Thursday after winning a jump-off in the Class 3A field.
Maricle, who finished 5th in 2021, came out a cleared 5-06 for the first time in competition. It elicited a huge reaction from the junior and kept her in the running for a state title.
"Coming into this, jumping 5-06 was my only goal," Maricle admitted. "At that point, I didn't really care if I was first or second."
None of the remaining jumpers could clear 5-08, which eliminated two more. However, Charles City's Keely Collins had gone jump-for-jump with Maricle, which sent the two to a jump off.
Both missed 5-08, then both missed 5-07. Maricle cleared 5-06 for the second time that day to close out her win.
"I'm just so glad people were out to watch me and took the time to come out and watch the whole thing," Maricle said. "I'm so grateful for the support."
ANGEL ADVANCES
Clinton's Kanijah Angel is headed to the 100-meter dash finals after running one of the eight fastest qualifying times on Thursday afternoon. That ensures Angel some state hardware and a top-8 finish.
"I feel great," Angel said with a big grin across her face when wrapping up running for the day Thursday afternoon. "To come last year as a freshman and be seeded so low, then to work so hard all year to come back and make it to finals, it feels amazing."
Angel finished the race at 12.72, qualifying with the sixth fastest time. She will run the finals to mark her final place in Class 4A on Saturday.
"I'm just feeling great," Angel said. Angel now had the 4x100 prelims and 4x200, then the 100 finals to run. "I'm loving it."
Clinton's Addison Binnie ran a 12.04 in the 100-meter dash, it's his first year running that event at Drake Stadium.
Easton Valley's Aidan Gruver pulled out of both the 100-meter dash and 400-meter dash on Thursday after finishing 19th int he 200 earlier Thursday morning.
A trio of local athletes took on the 100-meter dash later on Thursday evening. Camanche junior Ella Blinkinsop ran a 13.15 to finish 20th. Teammate Grace Sanderson came in 15th overall with a time of 13.28. In between those two, Northeast junior Paige Holst finished 12th overall with a 13.19. All three will join with teammates for relays later this weekend.
MOELLER PLACES 7TH
Prince of Peace junior Sarah Moeller started the morning off right for the Irish, bringing home sone hardware in the first field event of the tournament.
Moeller snuck into the Class 1A shot put finals with the eighth best throw in the prelims, tossing the shot 36-09 on her first throw of the day.
In the finals, she had a throw similar to her qualifying throws, and then she scratched on her second. That left one throw to make an impact.
"I knew it wasn't one of my best throws and I had to give it my all at the end," Moeller said.
On her third throw of the finals, Moeller launched a personal best of 37-09.25 to finish with a seventh place medal.
"To get to the finals was great in the first place," Moeller said. "But PR'ing was always my goal, and I finally did that on my last throw, I just put as much as I could into it."
Senior Lilly Isenhour ended her shot career in tenth place unofficially with a throw of 35-07.25.
Both Irish throwers will compete in the 1A discus on Friday.
"I definitely want to do better in discus," Isenhour said. "I wanted to PR today but still .. I'm just so happy for Sarah [Moeller] and that's all that really matters right now."
Camanche senior Allison Kenneavy also narrowly missed a place in the Class 2A shot put on Thursday afternoon. Kenneavy finished with a best throw of 35-01.50 to finish 11th in the field. Kenneavy will now turn her attention to the 2A discus competition on Friday.
Two Clinton River Kings competed in the throws on Thursday as well. Keegan Krause and Ajai Russell threw the discus on Thursday morning in Class 4A competition. For both, it was their first appearance at the state meet.
Krause came in 13th and Russell 16th to finish their discus seasons. Krause threw it 153-08 and Russell finished at 148-02.
Krause will compete in the Class 4A shot put on Friday.
BLOUNT WRAPS UP SEASON
Marcus Blount was just happy to finish higher than his qualifying seed on Thursday in the Class 1A 3200-meter run.
"It was my first time being out here," Blount said. "And it was a really fun, crazy experience being out here.
"I'm happy with my race," Blount said after the race. "Coming in 24th, I don't think I came in last and that was kind of my goal was to not finish last. Go out there, run hard, have fun, do my best."
The Prince of Peace junior snuck into the field of 24 with the 24th qualifying time in the race. He finished two places higher when he ran his race at Drake Stadium, clocking in at 10:56.37 for 22nd in Class 1A.
SPRINTS SPRINTS SPRINTS
Four different athletes tried their hand at making the 200-meter dash finals on Thursday morning, narrowly missing the top eight in their races.
In the 4A race, both Quinn Nielsen and Kanijah Angel ran for the Clinton River Queens. Angel just missed qualifying for the finals and a medal, running the race and finishing just outside the top 10. She crossed the finish line at 26.30, good for 11th place but just short of finals.
"I hated the 200 and I didn't even want to run it," Angel said. "There's a lot I need to work on in my 200, but today I came out and I did that. I didn't make the finals, but it felt good to PR."
Nielsen clocked in at 27.72 Thursday morning.
In the Class 1A 200 preliminaries, Easton Valley senior Aidan Gruver missed his goal of the finals as well. Gruver crossed at 23.91, cracking the top 20 in the field. Gruver was slated to run both the 100 and 400-meter dashes later that day, but pulled out of both events.
Clinton senior Zach Connell finished in 16th unofficially with a 23.23 in the boys' 200-meter dash prelims for 4A.
AND OTHER EVENTS
Clinton junior Addison Binnie wrapped up his state appearance on Thursday, finishing the 100 and 400-meter dashes.
Binnie, who finished in eighth place in 2021, clocked in at 52.71 on Thursday in the 400-meter dash.
"I'm not very happy with the outcomes I had in the 100 or the 400," Binnie said. "It just means I have to comer back stronger, keep working in the offseason like I did last year, and hopefully I'll be able to shave a few seconds off both those races."
Central DeWitt's Shuttle Hurdle Relay team had a tough break to start the afternoon session on Thursday. The team took a stumble on a hurdle halfway through the race and was disqualified, ending their chase for a state place.
The boys' 4x800 Relay team finished in the top 20 of 3A.
DeWitt's Allie Meadows was a 19th place finisher in the 400-meter dash after clocking in at 1:03.93.
Camanche's Grace Sanderson competed in the Class 2A long jump. Sanderson's best jump of the day was a 16-6.25, putting her 10th in the standings.
STEAMERS SEND TWO TO FINALS
CHARLESTON, Ill. — The Fulton Steamers have ensured two top-8 finishes this weekend of their five qualifying events after moving on to the finals in both the 4x100 and the 100-meter dash on the first day of state.
The Steamers moved on to the finals in the 4x200 after running a qualifying time in the prelims on Thursday. The quartet of Abbigail Thyne, Annaka Hackett, Mikayla Gaza and Lauren Mahoney clocked in at 1:47.93 to finish eighth in the prelims and move on to the finals.
Senior Lauren Mahoney is also competing for a medal in the 100-meter dash. Mahoney ran a 12.61 on Thursday to move on to the finals.
Mahoney will run the 100-meter finals at 1:35 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, followed by the 4x200 Relay at 2:25 p.m. Saturday.
