By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
DES MOINES – It isn’t often that you have a chance to make people remember you.
For the last day of the area athletes running at the State track and field meet, they seemed to make sure people would remember their runs.
English Valleys sophomore Ava Gehrking had a memorable day as she raced in two different final events.
Gehrking first took the track in the 100 meter dash. She came out fo the blocks quickly and was able to finish with a time of 12.38, which placed her second overall in the class 1A field.
“It felt pretty good running the 100 today, I just had to remember to get a good 10 steps, that’s what my coach always reminds me to do,” Gehrking said after her 100 meter run. “Sometimes I shoot straight up, and that isn’t the best thing to do.”
Gehrking was able to set a personal best in her run in the 100.
“It feels really good to be able to have fast times and accomplish the goals that I have wanted to get,” Gehrking said.
This is the second-straight year Gehrking placed in the 1A 100 meter event. She was fifth last year.
“It is amazing to be able to continue to improve on what I was able to do a year ago,” Gehrking said.
The day didn’t stop at the 100 for Gehrking. She would later run in the 200 meter dash. There, she set another personal best with a time of 25.97, which placed her fourth overall in the class 1A field.
“It was a tiring race, but overall it felt really good. I was able to get a nice power out of the blocks and that just was really good,” Gehrking said. “I could really start to feel the tiredness after I came off the turn, so that is something that I am going to have to work on for next year.”
The overall fatigue that Gehrking felt as she rounded the turn may have played a part in why she faded back down the frontstetch. The fade proved to be not too bad, as she was able to recover for a fourth place finish.
Chloe Glosser of Pekin raced in the 1,500 race. For most of the day Glosser ran in the top-5 racers.
She stayed there all race and finished with a third place finish of 4:45.1
“I doidn’t get the start that I wanted in the race, which seems to be a very common theme here at Drake Stadium,” Glosser said after her race. “I just trusted in my training and my stamina to pull me through and it really paid off. I just have to trust in myself and trust in God’s plan to work even harder to get to the position that I wanted to be in.”
Glosser was quickly able to recover from the slow start. By the midway point of the race Glosser had made it to the lead pack, and was starting to distance herself from the rest of the chase pack.
Although she wasn’t able to catch the leaders she established a strong position in third place and stayed there for two laps, where she would finish.
“It felt really great to finish third, that’s exactly what I was aiming for,” Glosser said. “I was also able to lower my personal record by about two seconds, which is also something that I wanted to do.”
Another distance runner, Sigourney’s Troy Klett had a strong finish in the 1,600 boys race.
Klett trailed the field for most of the race, but with 400 meters to go Klett turned on the speed and passed several runners on the last lap.
Klett finished 19th with a time of 4:39.52.
Kasey Davis from Pekin ran in the finals of the 100 meter hurdles. He finished the race with a time of 15.4, which placed him eighth overall.
Davis also ran as a part of the Pekin boys 110 shuttle hurdle relay race. In that final heat the team of Robert Brown, Davis, Will Adam and Henry Adam finished with a time of 1:01.98. Overall they finished sixth.
The English Valleys girls sprint medley team of Kailor Lown, Mallory Koehn, Ava Gehrking and Anna Luers ran a time of 1:53.93. They were able to place 12th overall.
Pekin’s boys sprint medley relay team of Davis, Brown, Riley Smith and Nolan Glick ran a time of 1:36.52 which placed them 16th overall.
Another Pekin runner, Tea Orgovanyi, ran in the 100 meter ambulatory race. Orgovanyi ran down the front stretch of the Blue Oval with a smile on her face the whole way. After crossing the finish line she hugged the other two competitors, and together they walked to the platform giving high fives and smiles to anyone that was nearby.
On the podium Orgovanyi heard her name announced to the stadium and raised her hands up high, grabbing some of the loudest cheers of the day from the entirety of the 10,000 plus in attendance at Drake Stadium.
The English Valleys team finished 12th overall in the final standings with 25 points. Pekin placed 31st with nine points. The class 1A boys winner was Lisbon with 54 points.
In the girls class 1A points race Pekin placed 10th with 27 points. English Valleys was 22nd overall with 13 points. The class 1A girls champion was St. Albert, Council Bluffs.
