Thursday, May 9, was the first time Clear Lake was host for one of eight Class 3A State Qualifying Track Meets.
With cloudy skies and threats of inclement weather, the Lions pushed on and after the final time was entered and times were tallied across the state, Clear Lake had qualified 19 events between both boys and girls teams.
On the girls side of the track, 11 events qualified.
The Lion girls will be taking three relays to the Blue Oval of Drake University with the sprint medley team of Maddie Leisure, Lydia Brattrud, Lauren Englin and Reese Brownlee finishing first with a time of 1:48.81, the second best in the state Thursday night.
The 4×800 team of Emily McLaughlin, Addie Doughan, Rebekah Steinbron and Anna Feuerbach finished first overall in a time of 9:52.35 which was the 10th best time in the state.
The distance medley team qualified 19th overall and was ran by Englin, McGrath, Steinbron and Feuerbach. The team finished second with a time of 4:26.66.
Individually, the Lions saw plenty of success. Brownlee finished the night with four events qualifying including her 400 meter hurdle time of 1:02.97, the best in the state in Class 3A. Brownlee also ran the open 400 meter dash to qualify second at Drake this week in a time of 57.32. She will compete in one field event, the long jump, after leaping 18-06 on her first attempt and second best in the state.
Addie Doughan qualified in three events after an impressive night of distance running. The state cross country competitor earned a first place finish in the 3000 meter run to start her night off, finishing in a time of 11:13.35 before turning right around and qualifying as part of the 4×800 relay team. Doughan’s third event of the evening was the 1500 meter run in which she qualified 10th, but led the pack in Clear Lake with a time of 5:01.16.
Anna Feuerbach, a state cross country medalist, will return to Drake University this week where she will compete in three events, including as a member of the 4×800 and distance medley teams and individually in the 800 meter run in which she qualified 21st overall with a time of 2:26.84.
Freshman Ella Landau will compete at Drake University for the first time in her high school career after qualifying 19th overall in the long jump. At the state qualifying meet, Landau jumped to a third place finish, clearing 15-07.5.
Rounding out the girl qualifiers is another freshman, Taylor Schwenn who is competing in the shot put, qualifying eighth overall after a toss of 37-09.25 made her an at-large qualifier.
Also running for the Lions was: 3000m – 6th, Brooklyn Heesch, 13:01.26; Shuttle Hurdle – 5th, Aliya Johnson, Payton McGrath, Mariposa Coleman, Pieper Lester, 1:12.99; 100m – 7th, Taylor Schwenn, 13.6; 10th, Alaina Hartl, 14.5; 400m – 7th, Hope Halverson, 1:06.61; 4×200 – 4th, Leisure, Saylor Schmitt, Lily Lilliberg, Brattrud, 1:51.88; 100mH – 6th, P. Lester, 16.79; 13th Mariposa Coleman, 18.42; 800m – 4th, Jezzie Thompson, 2:40.4; 200m – 9th, Sophia Tweeten, 29.19; 16th, Avery Puttmann, 31.46; 400mH – 7th, A. Johnson, (PR) 1:12.6; 1500m – 4th, McLaughlin, (PR) 5:20.42; 4×100 – 4th, Leisure, Lilliberg, Landau, Emersyn McGrath, 51.53; 4×400 – 3rd, Steinbron, Schmitt, Englin, Feuerbach, 4:17.17; Discus – 15th, Madi Ott, 60-07; Shot Put – 10th, Ott, 32-03
Boys Results
On the boys side, the Lions qualified a total of eight events with five of the events being relays.
The 4×100 meter relay team of Blake Enke, Titan Schmitt, Sam Dodge and Alex Kerr ran a 42.86 which placed first at the meet and will enter state in the fourth spot.
The 4×200 team of Enke, Kerr, Dodge and Schmitt ran a 1:30.4, a season best for the team, which finished second and qualified eighth overall.
The sprint medley team qualified 10th overall and finished second at the meet in a time of 1:34.63. The team was comprised of Enke, Schmitt, Dodge and Kerr.
The distance medley team of Tyler LeFevre, Aidan Hartl, Jack Englin and Isaac Brownlee finished their race in 3:43.06 and finished fifth overall, but was able to qualify 21st for the state meet.
The shuttle hurdle team of Derek Erpelding, Gage Larson, Keeton Jeppeson and Cooper Cooke finished in a time of 1:01.84 which was good for third. The team qualified 12th overall with the finish.
Individually, the Lions saw freshman Jaxson McIntire run the 400 meter dash in a time of 53.20 to finish second by .01 and automatically qualify for the state meet.
In the 110 meter hurdles, the Lions ran Cooper Cooke who qualified 19th overall with a second place finish in a time of 15.64.
Dylan Litzel competed in the high jump and after he was the last man standing, Litzel cleared 6-5 which qualified him fifth overall at Drake.
Other times for the Lion boys: 3200m – 4th, Caleb Jones, 10:55.07; 9th Cael Stucky, 11:27.62; 4×800 – 7th, Aiden Burtness, Drake Thomsen, Cy Brewer, Cael Stucky, 9:57.66; 100m – 7th, Enke, 11.58; 13th, Dontrel Johnson, 12.21; 400m – 4th, Bradyn Watkins, 54.2; 110mH – 3rd, Erpelding, 16.1; 800m – 5th, Owen Smith, 2:09.28; 9th, Aiden Burtness, 2:13.85; 200m – 4th, Hartl, 23.35; 6th, LeFevre, 23.72; 400mH – 12th, Hayden Bergman, 1:04.89; 1600m – 4th, Owen Smith, 4:49.15; 12th, Caleb Jones, 5:11.54; 4×400 – 5th, Brownlee, Schmitt, Dodge, Kerr, 3:35.78; Long Jump – 8th, Jaxson McIntire, 19-05.5; 9th, Johnson, 18-09.5; Discus – 5th, Landyn Lewerke, 138-04; 8th, Thomas Meyer, 132-02; Shot Put – 6th, Lewerke, 46-11.25; 13th, Henry Bunn, 40-05.5
