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By Joe Wilkinson Special to the Economist

Chasing Presidents: Biden, Inslee

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 12:48pm

For a week or so every four years, the center of the political universe sits squarely on the east side of Des Moines. That is where a steady stream of presidential candidates trek past the various food-on-a-stick booths, livestock barns, 4-H displays and displays that are the Iowa State Fair.


Chasing Presidents: Bullock, Gabbard

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 12:51pm

So, I wasn’t really kicked out; just told I would have to leave… and escorted to the door. No chance to talk to with Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock in Des Moines that day.
Oh, it wasn’t his fault. Perhaps I over-assumed. Following presidential candidates this summer for the Iowa Wildlife Federation and a couple other environmental organizations, I make some connections and I miss some. I am asking candidates if they will support the Endangered Species Act, if elected. Today’s “guests” are Governor Steve Bullock of Montana and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.


Record 4x400 lifts girls to eighth

Submitted by admin on Thu, 05/24/2018 - 10:26pm
Lady Spartans leapfrog from 13th place late at state meet

DES MOINES– A top-eight finish; a couple more school records and Solon’s girls’ track team returned from the 2018 state track meet knowing they had pushed themselves to the limit.
Qualifying in 14 events, the Lady Spartans had the numbers. A down-to-the-wire second-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay and school record in the fourth-place shuttle hurdle relay were final day highlights; but it took an all-in effort from everybody to rack up the 28 team points.


Out of the crowd for top-25 finish

Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/02/2017 - 3:12pm
Conway 22nd at state meet

FORT DODGE– Even with a little sun breaking through by noon, it was still 40 degrees when the starter’s gun went off for the Class 3A girls state cross country championship Saturday. “It was very crowded in the first mile. I was blocked in from front and back,” recalled Solon freshman Kiersten Conway.
She’s been in big races before. It was very similar to her middle school state race with Iowa Speed Camp a year ago. “But here, they were in high school... and there were more of them,” said Conway. One hundred-thirty-eight to be exact, across the rolling hills north of Fort Dodge.


Seconds count; Kiersten Conway on to state

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/28/2017 - 9:08pm
Lady Spartans just miss qualifying as a cross country team

SOLON– A season spent near the top of the pack has paid off for Solon freshman Kiersten Conway. She will be on the starting line Oct. 28 at the State Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge. Conway was sixth in the Oct. 19 regional qualifying meet in Solon.


Girls third at WaMaC

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/21/2017 - 6:26pm
Boys 12th at conference cross country meet in Vinton

VINTON– For 14 Solon cross country runners, the 2017 season rests on one race.
The top three teams and top individuals to emerge from the Oct. 19 regional qualifying meet will run another day– Oct. 28 at the state meet in Fort Dodge.


Boys 7th, girls 2nd at Wellman meet

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/14/2017 - 5:29pm
Girls a close third at soggy North Linn

By Joe Wilkinson
Special to the Economist
TROY MILLS– Each year, at the North Linn Cross Country Invitational, you can count on the weather… to do something different.
Past years have featured sub-freezing temperatures, swirling snow or high winds. This year, Mother Nature offered soaked turf and light rain for one of the biggest late-season runs in Eastern Iowa. Still, runners from two dozen schools had to run the same course, in the same conditions. This year, coaches just hoped for a team of mudders.


Girls 3rd, boys 11th at Bob Brown invitational

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/06/2017 - 7:10pm
Girls 3rd, boys 11th

IOWA CITY– The finishes were firm, even though the times were missing.
Electronic gremlins made individual times disappear from boys’ results at the Sept. 2 Bob Brown Invitational cross country meet in Iowa City. However, scores– derived by the order runners from each school crossed the finish line– did hold up.
For Solon, Carl Richey was the top runner, with the team finishing 11th.
The system did hold up for the girls. Freshman Kiersten Conway was the first Spartan across in the girls’ combined junior varsity (JV)/varsity 5-kilometer race. As a team, the girls finished third.