Warriors win district meet, qualify eight events for state track

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

The Central girls track and field team won the May 13 district meet at Edgewood-Colesburg and qualified eight of its 18 events for state. It is the seventh time since 2009 that the girls were crowned champions and the 12th time in the last 15 seasons the team has finished either first or second, adding to the already illustrious career of coach Martha Bauder. 

But it wasn’t just Bauder who added another notch in the record books. Several athletes across multiple events moved into Central’s girls track/field all-time top 10 list after posting personal records. 

Abby Cummer is now eighth in shot put, Jaydin Dettman sits sixth in the 400 meter dash, Delaney Scherf is ninth in the 800 meter run and Brandy Beatty is now fourth in the 100 meter hurdles. 

The 4x200 relay team of Maddy Wille, Grace Kuehl, Kaitlyn Wiley, and Hannah Asche sits  10th, as does the 800 sprint medley team of Beatty, Kuehl, Wille and Asche. The distance medley team of Wille, Kuehl, Asche and Delaney Scherf is ninth. 

“This meet started out on excellent terms—the best weather all season and the best state qualifying meet weather we’ve had in probably the last 10 years. So spirits were already high,” said Bauder. “Then we were confident that we had a line-up full of possibilities and opportunities for success. So the girls just went to work, event after event, and posted 18 PRs, 11 season bests, eight state qualifying events and a district team championship.” 

The qualifying list includes Dettman in the 400 meter dash, Delaney Scherf in the 800 meter run and Beatty in the 100 meter hurdles. The team also qualified five relay teams: the shuttle hurdle, 4x200, 4x400, 800 sprint medley and distance medley. 

Central barely missed several other qualifiers by just a few seconds or inches, including Gracie Cummer in the 400 meter hurdles by .08 of a second. The 4x100 relay of Wille, Kuehl, Wiley and Beatty was .4 seconds shy, Abby Cummer was 11 inches short in the shot put and Dettman missed out in the 3000 meter run by 9 seconds.

Getting into the events, Shannon Farmer finished 14th in the 100 meter dash. In the 200 meter dash, Ashlyn Scherf was sixth and Lexi Loan seventh, both just three seconds off the pace. In the 400 meter dash, Dettman crossed the line second in a personal record time of 1:02.98, while teammate Staci Herman came in eighth. Delaney Scherf added another top-five finish and personal record time in the 800 meter run, placing fourth with a time of 2:30.93. Mylee Wingert finished 20th. 

In the 1500 meter run, Lizzie Royer finished eighth in personal record time of 5:57.06, while Allie Mussman finished the race 12th. The duo of Dettman and Mussman were both top-10 in the 3000 meter run, as Dettman ran a personal best time of 12:16.54 and finished sixth, while Mussman came in 10th. 

During the two hurdle races, three Warrior runners set personal record times, including Beatty in the 100 meter event, where she finished fourth in 16.77, and both Gracie Cummer and Taylor Moser in the 400 meter event. Cummer ran the race in 1:12.89 to finish third, and Moser ran a 1:20.20 to finish seventh. McKenna Jaster also competed in the 100 meter hurdles, finishing 12th. 

In the field events, Brittni Tieden finished sixth in the high jump. Loan’s distance was good for eighth in the long jump and Gracie Cummer landed in 11th. In the discus, Alyson Feickert finished 12th and Abby Cummer 15th. Both also competed in the shot put, where Cummer finished sixth with a personal record distance of 34 feet, 7 inches, and Feickert finished 18th. 

One area the Warriors have excelled in all season is the relays, and the district meet was no exception, as Central finished top five in all seven races. In the 4x100, the team of Wille, Kuehl, Wiley and Beatty finished third, just missing state with a time of 53.71. It was a second place finish in the 4x200 for the squad of Wille, Kuehl, Wiley and Asche, who missed first place by just .12 seconds. The 4x400 was a three-second victory for Asche, Dettman, Wiley, and Delaney Scherf, and the 4x800 relay team with Moser, Katelyn Scherf, Carly Kluesner and Royer crossed the line fifth. 

In other relay action, the Warriors won the 4x100 shuttle hurdle event behind the running of Beatty, Wiley, Gracie Cummer and Jaster, who defeated Maquoketa Valley by little more than a second. The team added a second place finish in the 800 sprint medley with Beatty, Kuehl, Wille and Asche, who missed first place by a mere three seconds. In the distance medley, Wille, Kuehl, Asche and Delaney Scherf finished third. 

“While there were so many fun and dramatic events, one in particular stands out. The shuttle hurdle relay, which we came in seeded first by just over one second, was built up to be a battle and that it was. We started out with Beatty, who has been getting our team out to a lead all season, but found her self going hurdle for hurdle Maquoketa Valley. After the exchange, Wiley had to come from just a smidge behind to get a slight lead going in to Gracie Cummer, who extended the lead a bit, but not yet to a comfortable distance. Then, Jaster came out with determination and built on the lead, but even going into the last couple hurdles, we knew one little nick of a hurdle could cause us to get second,” said Bauder. “Luckily, Jaster stayed focused, picked up her knees and made it through cleanly for the win.” 

The Warriors will compete in the state meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines on May 20-22.