The Greene County Ram track and field teams will have 18 events at the coed State Track and Field Meet next week at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The girls team qualified 11 events and the boys team qualified seven at a Class 3A qualifying meet at Atlantic May 14. The first and second place finishers automatically get state meet berths, with the remaining spots filled by comparing times and distances from across the state.
Two Ram girls finished first at Atlantic. Senior Eme Johnson won the 100 meter hurdles in :15.99, and freshman Megan Durbin won the high jump, clearing the bar at 5’ 1”.
Second place finishes came from sophomore Nadia Fisher in the high jump at 5’ 0”; sophomore Olivia Hansen in the 200 m dash in :26.59; and senior Emma Saddoris in the long jump at 16’ 8”.
Three relays placed second and will compete at Drake Stadium. The 4 X 200 m relay (sophomore Hannah Stein, Saddoris, senior Emily Christensen, Hansen) ran in 1:49.04; the sprint medley relay (senior Mollie Sorber, Saddoris, Christensen, Hansen) was timed at 1:53.75; and the shuttle hurdle relay (Sorber, Fisher, senior Sarah Sandage, Johnson) was second at 1:09.15.
Qualifiers for the state meet based on their third place finishes are senior Hannah Onken in discus with a throw of 109’ 10”; Johnson in the 400 m hurdles with a time of 1:08.77; and the 4 X 100 m relay (Sorber, Saddoris, Christensen, Hansen) with a time of :52.08.
Freshman Emily Finch finished third in the 3000 m run with a time of 12:16.79, but that time did not qualify her for the state meet.
The Ram girls finished second in the team standings at the qualifying meet. Team scores were Glenwood 157, Greene County 147, Harlan 112, Creston 107, Winterset 82, Denison-Schleswig 67, Atlantic 46 and Carroll 25.
Senior Alex Rasmussen qualified in both the shot and discus for the second year. He won both events Thursday, with a distance of 47’ 1 “ in the shot and 141’ 7” in the discus.
Juniors Max Neese and Daric Whipple also qualified in individual events. Neese finished second in the 100 m dash with a time of :11.68. Whipple placed second in the 400 m low hurdles with a personal record time of :55.84.
The Ram boys claimed three more spots in the state meet with at-large qualifiers. Neese’s third place finish with time of :23.50 in the 200 m dash qualified him for that race.
Two relay teams qualified at-large. The shuttle hurdle team (seniors Dylan McConnell and Joe Doran, Whipple and junior Tyler Beger) qualified with a time of 1:01.69. The 4 X 100 m relay team (McConnell, sophomore Dalton Weber, senior Dylan Hamilton, Neese) qualified in third place with a time of :44.87
Team scores among the boys teams at Atlantic were Glenwood 132, Atlantic 110, Harland 109, Carroll 107, Greene County 80, Creston 56, Winterset 49, and Denison-Schleswig 45.
