Distance races reach sublime levels in Iowa

State Meet Highlights

 
The Iowa state championship meet at Drake Stadium is a three-day spectacle that rates at or near the top in attendance and enthusiasm among all of the state meets. And that high-energy atmosphere feeds into the performances in the four class championships. That was never more true than in this year's boys 3200, which saw one of the best state-meet races ever.

Top Performances:

 
- An instant classic, the 3200 meters race in Class 3A between Thomas Pollard and Chandler Austin produced the fastest two times in state history. Pollard, a junior from Gilbert, bolted from the starting gun and ran his first four laps in 4:25. To the surprise of nearly everyone in the field, he kept that pace going in the second half of the race. He finished in 8:50.43 and Austin made up some of the gap but was second in 8:51.74. Those are the US#2 and 7 times in the country.

 
- Josh Evans' impressive triple in Class 4A may have been slightly overshadowed by Pollard and Austin, but he won the 800 (1:50.98), the 1600 (4:06.32) and the 3200 (9:00.97). Ed Delashmutt's 1976 Iowa mile record of 4:07.2 rates just slightly ahead of Evans' 1600 time. Evans was also part of Linn-Mar's US#1 SMR, which ran 3:24.39.

 
- Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar, a sophomore, has established herself as the best female distance runner in state history in races longer than a mile. She ran US#2 9:24.67 to win the 3,000 and also won the 1,500 in 4:31.10.

 
- Kaley Ciluffo of Pleasant Valley ran US#10 2:08.56 to win the 4A 800 meters and also placed second to Jenks in the 1,500 with 4:34.19. She also was part of a championship 4x400 relay squad and a US#1 and all-time state best sprint medley relay (3:57.59).

- Jalynn Roberts-Lewis of Roosevelt tripled with victories coming in the 100 (12.09), 200 (24.45) and long jump (19-2).

- Sydne Davis, also of Roosevelt, reeled off US#3 51.52 in the 400 hurdles and also won the 110 hurdles in 14.21. He was part of a runner-up 4x400 relay team.

- Rico Gafford of East clocked 10.60 and 21.49 in the prelims before headwinds in the 4A finals slowed him a bit. But he still won both events.

- In Class 3A, Rose Ripslinger of Assumption ran 12.20 and 24.85 for wins and 56.86 for second in the 400 meters.

- Connor Ham of Solon ran 14.03 in the prelims of the 110 hurdles and also won the 200 with 21.78.

- Junior Jeff Giannettino of West Burlington cleared 6-10 to win the 2A high jump. He jumped 7-0 at the Drake Relays earlier this spring.

Top Teams:

The Waukee boys got a pair of wins in the 4x100 and 4x200 on their way to 80 points and a team championship. Linn-Mar was second with 68. The girls' champion was Ciluffo-led Pleasant Valley, which scored 82.50 points, and surged ahead of Urbandale with the 4x400 victory at the end.

Solon's boys and Assumption's girls won the 3A team competition.

Top Competition: The racing between 2A standouts Jasmine Staebler of Clayton Ridge and Natalie Halfman of St. Ansgar deserves mention because there was a barely a step between them in three finals. In the 200, Staebler edged Halfman 25.55 to 25.72. In the 400 it was Staebler again, 55.53 to 55.56. And in the 800, Staebler ran 2:14.40 to Halfman's 2:14.79. Halfman took second a fourth time in the 100, in 12.58. We're happy to report that both girls are juniors and eligible to come back and race one another again in 2015.

Record-breaker: State meets are usually an event where top distance runners are stretched thin to double and triple, so Pollard's big result in the 3200 is all the more impressive in that it came in the Iowa championship meet. More impressive still is that he's only a junior.

Results: http://parser.dyestat.com/meets.jsp?state=IA