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_________________________________________________
West Girls Win Prairie Invitational by 81 Points!
By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — When the Class
4A boys’ cross country cards are shuffled next time around, expect Cedar Rapids Washington to move up in the deck.
Lewi Manirumva won the individual championship and the Warriors ran away with the team title at the Prairie Invitational meet
Tuesday afternoon on the College Community Schools campus.
“Our guys were ready to run tonight,” said
Washington Coach Will Harte. “It comes down to putting in the miles, staying healthy and eating right. So far we’ve
done all of that.” Apparently underrated at No. 11 in the preseason 4A rankings, Washington rolled in a meet that included
No. 5 Cedar Rapids Xavier and No. 7 Iowa City West. The Warriors had four top-10 finishers and compiled 39 points, followed
by Xavier (75) and West (78).
Manirumva pulled away in the final mile and won in 16:32. Frank Canady of West was
next, 13 seconds back.
“I felt really good, and I had the strength in me,” said Manirumva, the sixth-place
4A finisher at state last year. “It was time to move.” West claimed the girls’ crown for the 12th consecutive
year and did so convincingly. The Women of Troy got a 12 finish from Nichole Engelhardt and
Allison Fick, had four runners in the top six and all seven in the top 11.
West compiled 22 points, its best
score at Prairie since a 19point output in 2001. Washington was second with 103.
Engelhardt and Fick ran in a three-girl
pack with Washington’s Maddy Becker for the first half of the race. Fick surged in front, then Engelhardt passed her
at the end and won in 15:33, her first career title.
The temperature at the start of the varsity race was near 90
degrees. But, unlike last year, when several runners were hospitalized with heat exhaustion, they seemed to hold up reasonably
well.
“You have to run a little different when it’s this hot,” Engelhardt said. “You have
to think conservative. If you go out too hard, you’re not going to be as strong or fresh at the end.” The Washington
boys had the same philosophy, cutting short their pre-race warm-up.
“I left it up to them,” Harte said.
“I have faith in those guys. They’re strong runners and smart runners. They know what they’re doing.”,
Junior Sara Stewart won the JV
race by nine seconds over teammate Bailee Goodfellow. West's Vi Tran-Phan was 3rd for the Women of Troy. The JV team won with
19 points, ahead of 2nd place by 38 points. In the Fresh/Soph race, West's Alissa Rothman won by 31 seconds over CRK
Allison Koch. All four girls from West were in the top 17.
______________________________________________________________
May 02. 2008 10:20PM
West rolls to title
IOWA CITY — Everybody else had gone home. The meet was over, but the noise continued.
"I'm just glad I get
to stand in the back of this pile of girls," said Mike Parker, girls' track coach at Iowa City West. "The thing I'm going
to tell them is thanks for letting me go along for the ride."
West overwhelmed the field at the Mississippi Valley
Conference Mississippi Division meet last night, winning 11 events and accumulating a whopping 234 points.
And it wasn't
as if the Women of Troy were competing against a bunch of chumps. Cedar Falls was the runner-up with 126 points. Iowa City
High was third with 106.
"We make it look easy because we practice hard," said Kristi Schuette, who won the 800-meter
run and anchored West to wins in the 3,200- and 1,600-meter relays.
West won its 34th consecutive meet, its 10th straight
this season. All that remains are the regional meet next Friday and the state championships May 15-17.
Stars were aplenty.
You had Schuette, who outdueled her sister Whitney in the 800 and held off City High's Kelly Krei to finish the 1,600 relay.
"Kelly's
good," Schuette said. "I decided I'd had enough of her coming back to beat me by a half-second all the time. I told myself
it wasn't happening today."
You had Jessica Gehrke, who won the long jump and anchored an upset win over Cedar Falls'
Drake Relays-winning 400 relay unit.
"I've been running against (Cedar Falls') Faith (Burt) since I was 7, and this
was the first time I'd ever beaten her," Gehrke said.
There was Taylor Freeman, who swept the throws, including an
MVC-record 153-4 in the discus. That broke her record of 149-10 set last year.
There was Nichole Engelhardt, who paced
West to 1-2 finishes in the 3,000 and 1,500.
"We definitely wanted to start it off with major points right off the
bat in the 3,000," Engelhardt said. "It's all about getting those points."
And there were others, far too many to mention,
who contributed in ways big and small. After all, 234 points is a mammoth number.
And it led to a crescendo of noise
afterward.
City High had its moments — most notably, wins by Krei (400), Mariah Jordan (100 hurdles) and its
sprint medley relay. But West, with its depth and overall strength, was too much for the field.
Cedar Falls won five
events, led by Burt in the 100 and 200. West, Cedar Falls and City accounted for all 19 of the event winners.
____________________________________________
April 29. 2008 11:37PM
West wins again
CEDAR RAPIDS — As long asMike Parker is coaching and somebody is keeping score,
Iowa City West will compete to beat you.
"I heard another coach say that every meet before their conference meet is
a glorified practice," Parker said. "That about made my stomach drop to my feet.
"Every time somebody else wants to
measure themselves against us, we take it seriously, whether it's the state meet or the Prairie Relays."
Last night
was the Prairie Relays. The Women of Troy took it seriously and won their 33rd straight meet. West won 10 events, including
all four field events, and accumulated 190 points at John Wall Field. Iowa City High was second with 129. Cedar Rapids Prairie
was third with 77.
"Our history obviously is pretty good. To keep that going means a lot," said Dani Freeman, who held
off Linn-Mar's Courtney Johnson to anchor West to victory in the 1,600-meter relay. "We don't want to end that streak."
Another
Freeman, Taylor (they're unrelated), set the evening's only meet record, resetting her mark in the discus with a fling of
151 feet, 6 inches. She also won the shot put at 43-5.
The Women of Troy, two-time defending Class 4A state champions,
used "a different lineup than you'll ever see again," according to Parker, three days before they chase a Mississippi Valley
Conference divisional title at City High.
They got a 1-2 finish in the shot put and the 200 and scored 58 field-event
points.
City High won five events, led by Ashley Wilkinson, who edged Cedar Rapids Washington's Maddy Halyard by one-hundredth
of a second in the 100-meter dash and anchored the Little Hawks to victory in the 800-meter relay.
Metro winners were
Audrey Ternus of Prairie in the 400 and Xavier's Meaghan Nelson in the 1,500. Xavier captured the distance medley relay and
Linn-Mar won the sprint medley relay.
_____________________________________________
April 26. 2008 12:24AM
Iowa City West's Freeman wins third title
DES MOINES — Taylor Freeman was in a bit of a bind.
The two-time defending champion in the Drake Relays girls'
discus, she needed a quality effort on her third throw Friday just to reach the finals.
"I usually try to stay as calm
as possible. I don't want to get angry," said Freeman, a senior at Iowa City West.
"I got a little bit of jitters (before
my third throw), but it turned out all right."
Freeman's play-it-safe, no-spin effort on her final preliminary toss
not only got her to the finals, it vaulted her into the lead. Then she improved on that effort in the finals with a throw
of 139 feet, 6 inches, to capture her third consecutive championship.
Even at less than her best, Freeman dominated.
She had the four best throws of the competition and won by nearly 16 feet over runner-up Becca Fischer of Sheldon.
"I
love it. I couldn't ask for more," she said.
A University of Arizona recruit, Freeman was third at Drake as a freshman.
She followed with three white-flag performances.
This one came with some white-knuckle moments early. Her first throw
was 108-11. She fouled the second throw. Instead of a windup on her third toss, Freeman simply stood in the circle and flung
the disc, which traveled 129-10.
Her best throw was her first throw in the finals.
Faith Burt of Cedar Falls
reclaimed the 100-meter title after losing it last year.
Burt won it in 12.36 seconds, edging Callan Jacobson of Benton
Community (12.43).
The Drake 100 champion in 2005 and 2006, Burt settled for third last year behind Gretchen Lamar
and Jacobson.
The 100 was run shortly after a cold front moved through Des Moines. The temperature dropped from 63
degrees to 46 between 10 a.m. and noon.
"I warmed up a lot in the (Drake) Field House more than I usually do," Jacobson
said. "I felt better prepared for the race. (The cold) wasn't a shock or anything. I had good control of my stride, my form
and everything."
North Tama's Blaire Dinsdale was denied at the wire in the 800 meters for the second straight year.
Waukee's Colette Gnade kicked to victory in 2:14.09. Dinsdale was next in 2:14.61.
"I've raced her twice this year
now, and I knew she has been working really hard on her finish," Dinsdale said.
Dinsdale's twin, Brooke — the
2006 Drake champion — was boxed in early and finished eighth.
Gnade anchored Waukee to the sprint medley relay
title earlier in the day.
Jennifer Jorgensen of Southeast Webster joined Freeman as a three-time field-event champion,
leaping 18 feet, 3 1/2 inches in the long jump.
Jessica Gehrke of Iowa City West was third at 17-9 1/4.
A.G.
Bradford of Davenport North was the 100-meter hurdles champion, in 14.24 seconds.
_______________________________________
April 23. 2008 9:41PM
Iowa City West prepares for Drake field test
DES MOINES — From a high school perspective, many of thehighlights
from this year's Drake Relays will be held off the track.
"Well it is called track ... and field," said
Brian Martz, boys' coach at Iowa City West.
And West has more than a mild foothold in the field.
For instance:
l
Aaron Martin and Jessica Gehrke have posted the state's best effort in the boys' and girls' long jump. Martin has soared 22
feet, 9 1/4 inches, Gehrke 18-9 3/4.
l Taylor Freeman is the defending champion in the girls' discus and is favored
to repeat. She figures to be a factor in the shot put.
l Thomas Reynolds is seeded No. 2 in the boys' discus and No.
3 in the shot put.
"We have the philosophy here of being a full-fledged team," said Mike Parker, whose girls' team
is the two-time defending Class 4A state champion. "We're not trying to fill 15 running events. We're trying to fill all 19
events, track and field.
"Some schools, it's probably not cool to be a thrower. At our school, it's not only cool,
but it's unbelievably competitive."
The boys' discus and long jump and the girls' shot put and high jump are this afternoon.
The girls' discus and long jump and boys' shot put and high jump are Friday morning.
West has more than its share of
field-event stars. But not a monopoly. Marion junior Drew Clark has a shot put season-best of 60 feet, the best in the state.
"There
should be a lot of guys up there," he said. "It should be some good competition. It will probably take upper 50s or 60 feet
to win it. The added competition will get everyone excited."
Clark was 11th in the Drake shot put last year (the top
10 all have graduated), and has improved sharply. He's stronger and attended a couple camps in the off-season to enhance his
technique.
Seniors Colten Kelly of Anamosa and Jared Kuehner of Center Point-Urbana were second and third in the Drake
high jump last year. Both cleared 6 feet, 5 inches. So did Noah Kittleson of Indianola, who won the championship based on
fewer misses.
Kelly cleared 6-7 Monday at Delhi.
Freeman and Reynolds are the latest in a line of outstanding
throwers at West. A University of Arizona signee, Freeman set the Drake girls' discus record (151-1) last year. The 2007 girls'
shot put champ, Danica Haight, is a West alum and a Michigan freshman.
"Our younger girls want to be around kids like
Taylor," Parker said. "She's a training maniac."
Parker had Gehrke tabbed as a high jump prospect last year. As it
turned out, she was more suited for horizontal leaps than vertical.
"She's still got a lot to learn, and that's good
news," Parker said. "If she gets her foot on the board, she can go 19 feet this year.
"She is on track to becoming
our next great one."
_______________________________________________
April 18. 2008 11:40PM
West sweeps Forwald/Coleman titles
By Nick Richards
News Correspondent
IOWA CITY — The balance of power in boys and girls track still resides on Iowa City's west
side.
Iowa City West won the boys and girls competitions last night in a soggy 36th Forwald/Coleman Relays at City
High. The Women of Troy won handily, amassing 222 points to City High's 129 1/2, and the boys used their depth in the field
events to beat City High, 161-119 1/2.
West did what it does best in both divisions — use balance to overwhelm
opponents. At one point, West senior Aaron Martin ran in the 800-meter relay then had to get to the long jump pit for his
final jump. His final leap was 21 feet, 9 1/4 inches to win the event.
"The seniors, the captains, are doing three
or four events, and they're the kind of kids that you have no doubt they'll step out there, and they'll be ready to go," said
sprint and hurdles coach Neil Davis. "It sets such a nice example to see those captains doing that, and you have young athletes,
ninth and 10th graders, thinking, 'well, that's what you do.'"
Not that City High performed poorly.
The boys
kept the race close for most of the night. Calvin Simmons won the 3,200, pulling away from a five-man pack with three laps
to go to win by more than ten seconds. Kevin Dibbern won the 200 over West's Alonzo Markham and ran second in the 100 to Des
Moines East's Dorian Minter by .02 seconds. The Little Hawks won the 1,600 medley.
"We really stepped forward in many
events. We're moving in the right direction," City High Coach Tom Carey said. "I think what's encouraging is that we're moving
forward. We are closing some gaps in some areas that we really were hoping to."
Dibbern ran in three of the night's
best races. He came from behind to defeat Markham in the 200, pumping his fist as he beat his West counterpart across the
line. He anchored the winning 1,600 relay team in the night's last race, again holding off Markham.
"He's got a big
chip on his shoulder this year, and it's great," Carey said. "He's such a nice guy, and you never know when nice guys have
a lot of talent how it's going to go, but he operates with a chip on his shoulder."
He was less fortunate against Minter
in the 100.
"I got out-leaned at the end," Dibbern said. "That was a really good race by him, though."
Linn-Mar's
Jon Rehnstrom won the high jump at 6 feet, and senior Zach Braff won the 800 meters in 1:56.26.
There was an excellent
battle in the girls shot put.
Danille Frere of Muscatine won at 44-11, followed by the West duo of Micaela Haight (44-2)
and Taylor Freeman (44-1 1/2).
City's Ashley Wilkinson won the 100 in 12.60, West's Jessica Gehrke the 200 in 25.81,
City's Kelly Krei the 400 in 58.10, and West's Whitney Schuette the 800 in 2:24.89 West won two relays (400, distance medley),
as did City High (1,600, sprint medley.
_____________________________________
March 26th, 2008
Kennedy's Erickson surprise winner in 400
CEDAR FALLS — Who needs height? Nicole Erickson had heart.
Erickson, a senior at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, surprised
a star-studded field to win the 400-meter dash at the Dickinson girls' indoor state track and field championships Tuesday
at the UNI-Dome.
"You look at the Dinsdale twins (from North Tama) and you look at (Hannah Willms of Dike-New Hartford),
and they're so tall," said Erickson, who, at 5-foot-4, stands a good half-foot shorter than all three of them. "It's intimidating.
"But
when you get down to it, height doesn't matter if you've got the heart to win the race."
And the legs to come from
behind. Erickson chased down Willms to win in 58.46 seconds. Willms was clocked in 58.52. Blaire Dinsdale and Brooke Dinsdale
were third and fifth.
Erickson started the race in Lane 5, outside the Dinsdales but inside Willms.
"I expected
them to be coming up beside me from the inside, but when they didn't, I kicked it in even further," said Erickson, who placed
third in the 200. "I've been training really hard all winter, and I knew I'd be in better shape than most everybody."
Team
scores are not compiled at the state indoor. If they were, there would be little doubt where the power resides. Iowa City
West and Cedar Falls were dominant.
Led by its winning 3,200-meter relay, West finished in the top three in six events.
"We
have a standard and it's our standard. It has nothing to do with anyone else," said West Coach Mike Parker. "We ran OK, but
some of our second places could have, should have and hopefully will become first places down the road."
Kristi Schuette
and Nichole Engelhardt completed the 3,200-meter relay with a pair of 2:25 splits, and the Women of Troy won the race in 9:52.96.
Whitney
Schuette and Elise Walz ran the first two legs. Kristi Schuette received the baton in third place, then moved West to the
lead for good.
"I knew there were a few girls I had to catch," she said. "(Parker) kept yelling, 'One at a time.' I
didn't want to slow down."
Engelhardt got passed — and a little panicky — but the two girls who ran by
her were merely lapped traffic.
"I tried to go with those girls, I thought they were ahead of me. But Coach told me
it was OK, we were still in first place," Engelhardt said.
West's Jessica Gehrke set a school record (18-5 1/4) in
the long jump in a runner-up finish to Southeast Webster's Jennifer Jorgensen.
Taylor Freeman was the shot put runner-up;
the 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams also finished second.
Callan Jacobson of Benton Community was second in the 200,
third in the 60.
In both races, Cedar Falls' Faith Burt set UNI-Dome girls' records. Burt also anchored Cedar Falls'
winning 400-meter relay.
"She's just a great runner," said Jacobson, whose 25.74 clocking was better than the time
she ran in winning the 200 last year. "My starts were better than they've been, and I'm still not in my best shape yet."
Blaire
Dinsdale was second to Colette Gnade of Waukee in the 800.
Before Erickson's shocking win, a pair of third-place finishes
were the Metro's highlights of the day.
Allie Ziskovsky of Cedar Rapids Prairie was third in the shot. And Cedar Rapids
Xavier earned the bronze in the 800 relay.
Emily Whitters, Jill Cooper, Tyler Sampson and Emily Ries were clocked in
1:48.99.
"We all run different events, and we came together to make this relay," Ries said. "We know we have the ability
to do something great."
n Contact the writer: (319) 368-8857 or jeff.linder@gazettecommunications.com
_________________________________
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
West High girls track team has
a record-setting meet
The West High girls track team enjoyed its trip to Dubuque Monday, setting five meet records at the Loras College Indoor.
"This meet has been here since 1982, so we're very pleased to break that many," West coach Mike Parker said. "Especially
under the training circumstance we've been under, I'm so proud and pleased how we started off."
Jessica Gehrke set a meet and school record with a long jump of 18 feet, 3 inches. She also won the open 50 and 300.
Nicole Engelhardt set the record in the 1,000 in 3:18.14, and Taylor Freeman set the mark in the shot put with a toss of
42 feet, 6 inches.
The 4x450 and 4x750 teams also set new records. The strange distances are because of the 150-meter indoor track at Loras.
Overall, West won 11 of 15 events.
Loras College Indoor
No team scores were kept.
West top three
50 -- 1. Jessica Gehrke 7.17; 2. Chloe Hoagland 7.33; 3. Katie Kelly 7.40.
300 -- 1. Gehrke 45.42.
400 -- 1. Dani Freeman 1:06.01; 2. Kalee Schilling 1:06.32; 3. Hadiza Sa-Aadu 1:07.55.
600 -- 2. Anna Murray 1:56.24.
800 -- 1. Elise Walls 1:79.33; 2. Taylor Fehlberg 1:39.77.
1,000 -- 1. Nicole Engelhardt 3:18.14 (meet record).
3,000 -- 1. Allison Fick 11:25.76.
50 hurdles -- 2. Brooke Ludvicek 8.57; 3. Natalie Mason 8.62.
4x300 -- 2. West (Tiffany Ross, Mariah Hinton, Kayla Brooks, Amy McCurdy) 3:17.85.
4x450 -- 1. West (Sa-Aadu, Freeman, Schilling, Kristi Schuette) 5:16.19 (meet record).
4x750 -- 1. West (Walls, Murray, Schuette, Engelhardt) 9:36.15 (meet record).
Long jump -- 1. Gehrke 18-3 (meet record, school record); 3. Sami Hansen 15-10½.
High jump -- 1. Lauren Nierman 5-1.
Shot put -- 1. Taylor Freeman 42-6 (meet record); 2. Micaela Haight 41-4½; 3. Courtney Fritz 34-9.
_______________________________
West wins Iowa City
battle
|
Girls’ team edges defending champ Iowa City High
By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
MARION — A disappointment last season. A mystery in August.
And now, a
pleasant surprise.
Iowa City West proved that it’s back among the state’s elite girls’ cross country
programs, edging two-time defending state champion Iowa City High to win the title at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet
Thursday afternoon at the Tuma Soccer Complex.
‘‘We definitely came here racing to win,’’
said junior Allison Fick, the individual runner-up.
‘‘This was the goal we had in mind.’’
West edged City, 40-43, for its second triumph over the Little Hawks in three races this season. City High ran away with the
Class 4A state title last year while West was an uncharacteristic sixth.
‘‘I’m very proud of our
girls,’’ West Coach Mike Parker said. ‘‘(City) is a great team. All three of our races against them
have been very close. If we’re even slightly off, we’re not going to beat them.’’
Cedar
Falls claimed the boys’ title with 60 points. West was second with 71 behind the 1-2 finish of Obsa Taddese and Brady
Fritz.
Taddese and girls’ individual champ Meaghan Nelson ran virtually the same race, pulling away in the
final mile.
Nelson, the defending 3A titlist, ran even with Fick for much of the girls’ race, then won going
away in 14:56. Fick was clocked in 15:24.
‘‘I
was trying to push the second lap,’’ Nelson said. ‘‘Gradually, I think, I was getting faster.’’
As you would expect in a soccer complex, the Tuma course is as flat as a grassy tabletop.
‘‘It’s
not like a true cross country course,’’ Nelson said. ‘‘It’s not too bad as long as you stay
focused. A lot of people said they got bored.’’ Nelson didn’t.
‘‘I tried not to think
about it,’’ she said.
The boys’ lead pack was three for a good share of the race, but Taddese
shed City High’s Calvin Simmons around the two-mile mark, then lost Fritz a little later. Taddese finished in 16:27,
Fritz in 16:36.
‘‘By the time there was a quarter-mile left, I just went,’’ Taddese said.
‘‘I’m happy, but I’d have been happier if we’d won.’’
Cedar Falls won
despite a 1-2-6 finish by West’s frontrunners. Each of the Tigers’ five scorers finished in the top 20.
Lewi Manirumva of Cedar Rapids Washington was the best Metro boys’ finisher. He was fourth. The Warriors were fourth
in both team competitions.
Through the past decade, the pendulum in the WestCity rivalry in girls’ cross country
and track has swung back and forth. Last fall, it was firmly on City’s side. Now it’s a virtual stalemate with
three weeks remaining until the state meet.
Parker didn’t know what he had in August — ‘‘I barely know all of their names,’’ he joked
at the Cedar Rapids Prairie Invitational. He does now.
We definitely came here racing to win.
''
Allison
Fick
Iowa City West runner
|
________________________________
PREP
CROSS COUNTRY
Iowa City
West girls rule in C.R.
|
By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — Call it retro training. The Iowa City West girls are going back to the ’90s.
‘‘I
think I got too wrapped up in the number of miles that girls from other teams were doing the last couple years, and we were
trying to keep up,’’ said West Coach Mike Parker. ‘‘This summer, we went with less miles and more
quality.’’
Quality miles made for a quality performance Thursday afternoon. West, coming off its worst
state finish (sixth place) of the Parker era, turned some heads by shocking defending Class 4A state champion Iowa City High
and winning the girls’ championship of the Cedar Rapids Invitational cross country meet at Noelridge Park.
‘‘Definitely, this is big excitement,’’ said Nichole Engelhardt, who led the Women of Troy with a
sixth-place finish. ‘‘This is what we came here to do.
‘‘We’re definitely a different
team. We’ve been doing different workouts. We’re not going down any farther this season. We’re coming back
up.’’
West accumulated 67 points, City High 74. Ames was third with 90.
Defending 4A state champ
Pleasant Valley
ruled the boys’ competition. Led by a 12 finish from Devin Allbaugh and Blake Irwin, the Spartans finished with 36 points.
West was next with 93, followed by Cedar Rapids Washington
(119) and Cedar Rapids Xavier (128).
Parker came to West in the late 1990s and immediately turned the Women of Troy
into a state power. He has reverted somewhat to his old workouts of shorter, faster mileage.
Kelsey Regan of Davenport
North was the individual champion, leading from wire to wire and finishing in 14:54. Cedar Rapids Xavier’s Meaghan Nelson
closed hard in the second half of the race and was the runner-up in 15:01. Engelhardt and teammate Allison Fick were sixth
and seventh.
|
August 28th, 2007
|
