Domination.
Albion News area teams and athletes made a strong statement at the D-5 District track & field meet Wednesday in Albion, cramming the result sheets with 30 state meet qualifying efforts and racking up 103 overall places.
Leading the way for area schools was Lindsay Holy Family, which ran away with the girls team championship and placed a competitive third in the boys competition.
Newman Grove also had a strong day, finishing third in the girls standings and fourth among boys teams. Spalding/Spalding Academy was fourth among girls and ninth in the boys field, while Cedar Rapids took sixth in boys competition and seventh on the girls side. St. Edward finished eighth in the girls standings and 10th on the boys list.
All in all, it was the Holy Family Lady Bulldogs’ day. The Lindsay girls ran up a 177 point total, finishing 90 points ahead of runner-up Wheeler Central.
No one shined brighter than freshman Andrea Weeder who captured four gold medals in the competition. Weeder raced to victories in the 800 (2:25.7), 1600 (5:31.8) and 3200 (11:53.8) meter runs individually and was part of the winning 4×400 relay (4:17.2).
Holy Family made a clean sweep in the relays, also winning the 4×100 (52.6) and 4×800 (10:14.9) events.
Stacy Beller won the 300 low hurdles (49.0) for the Lady ‘Dogs and qualified for state in the 100 highs with a runner-up effort (16.5). Taylor Bender had a pair of second-place finishes in the discus (104-6) and shot put (35-5), while Melissa Schumacher took second in the high jump (4-10) and Torie Wiese runner-up in the triple jump (31-10).
Fellow freshman Breanna Korus was second to Weeder in the 800 (2:27) and 1600 (5:34.9) and Tessa Kurtenbach qualified for the state meet with a second place finish in the 200 dash (27.3).
Molly Paul of Cedar Rapids won the D-5 discus (109-4) to earn a repeat trip to the state meet. Spalding/Spalding Academy’s Tara Cockerill captured the shot put gold (38-½) to also qualify for an Omaha trip.
Other girls from News area schools qualifying Wednesday were Joan O’Brien of Newman Grove (2nd in pole vault, 6-6), Susan Bauer of S/SA (2nd in 100 dash, 13.0) and Brenna Carlstrom of St. Edward (2nd in 400, 63.9).
On the boys side, Holy Family’s Kevin Weeder raked in two gold medals to set up a return trip to Omaha. Weeder took the 1600 meter run (4:49.6) and 3200 meter run (10:25.1).
Bulldog teammate Andrew Kurtenbach took first in his specialty, the 800 meter run (2:04.2), and also qualified in the 400 with a runner-up finish (52.8). The Holy Family Class D leading 4×800 relay team won in 8:45.
Newman Grove received two gold medal efforts as Jordan Nelson won the long jump (19-5) and Luke Gasper captured the 110 high hurdles (16.0). Bryce Schilousky of Cedar Rapids gave the News area one more champion, racing to a win in the 300 intermediate hurdles (42.6).
Also qualifying for the state meet were St. Edward’s Ramone Brown (2nd in the 100 dash, 11.1) and Darrek Schmidt of Newman Grove (2nd in the 3200, 10:40.3).
Complete Area Results in Print & Online Editions of Albion News.
