The district track meet at Roth Track and Field in Wayland Thursday night highlighted some of the best athletes that class 1A has to offer, all vying for a spot at the state track meet in Des Moines.
In total seven area schools competed at the event, Iowa Mennonite, Keota, Sigourney, Highland, Lone Tree, WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union. In the team race, the Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves came out on top with their score of 110 points. Other area team scores included Sigourney second with 77 points, Highland third with 76, WACO fourth with 70, Lone Tree fifth with 65, and Keota ninth with 35. In each event, the event champion automatically qualified for the state meet. Others can still qualify but the state will only accept the next 12 best performances, which will be figured Friday. Automatically qualifying for the state meet Thursday night for the area included:
Drake Brezina of Iowa Mennonite School in the 400m dash with his time of 52.77 seconds.
John Quinn of Winfield-Mt. Union was an auto qualifier in the 800 with a time of 2:04.84. Garret Baker of WMU also punched his ticket, taking the 100 with a time of 11.67 seconds. Ross Vantiger advanced to state for the Wolves winning the 400 hurdles in 58.97 seconds. The Wolves 4x100m relay team is headed to Des Moines. The team of Baker, Vantiger, Zach Davis and Bryce Robison were champions in 44.41 seconds.
Kieffer Sexton of Highland was an automatic qualifier in the 3200, winning the race in 10:05.82. Sexton did it again in the 1600, winning with a time of 4:42.25. Sexton was also a part of the 4×400 team that won the event title, along with Jake Wood, Trey Lasek, and James McPherson in 3:38.02 to qualify. Sexton made it four events on the night as he joined teammates Wood, Billy Burton and Chase Rath to take the distance medley title and a spot at state with a time of 3:43.09.
Jovonte Squires will represent the Lone Tree Lions in Des Moines. Squires qualified for state by winning the long jump, clearing 22’1”.
Bryce Achen of WACO rolled past the field in the 200 to qualify with a time of 23.11 seconds. Achen made it two for two when he took the boys 110 hurdles with a time of 15.99 seconds. Achen qualified in his third event with teammates Jackson Roth, Colton Horak and Beau Beckler as WACO won the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 1:01.24.
The Sigourney Savages will send their 4x200m relay team of Peyton Crawford, Ben Appleget, Jordan Albert and Bryce Goldman to state after their win and time of 1:34.49.
The State Championship meet fields will be finalized by the end of the day today, and it is still possible for more area athletes and events to qualify based on time. KCII sports will bring you more information as it becomes official. The Iowa State track meet is held May 19th-21st.