INDEPENDENCE– As the postseason opened, Solon’s girls rolled again; this time all over their WaMaC Conference Super Meet track opponents, in Independence, Thursday, May 6.
Grabbing first place in 10 of the 19 events– and double-placing in five others– the Lady Spartans ruled the evening, stacking up 175 points in the 13-team conference meet, outscoring runner-up Williamsburg’s 97.5 and third-place Mount Vernon’s 71 points combined. Clear Creek-Amana (67.5) and Center Point-Urbana (67) battled for the next two spots. Independence and Marion tallied 47 each. South Tama (45.5), Vinton-Shellsburg (38), Dyersville Beckman (26), West Delaware (25), Maquoketa (20) and Benton (also 20) split the remainder.
“As we make entries for a meet, a girl’s or a relay team’s best time is used for seeding them,” explained Solon Coach Brent Sands. “You don’t always know where they are at as the meet gets underway. At WaMaC, we hit or exceeded our seeds in most events. To actually come out and do that in one night? That was great, especially people coming back to run with short recovery time, after an earlier event.”
Relay wins came right away, with Mia Stahle, MaKinley Levin, Sophia Stahle and Emma Bock teaming up for a 1:51.75 finish in the 800-meter sprint relay. Kaia Holtkamp, Anna Quillin, Meg O’Neill and Gracie Federspiel went 9:56.86 for the win in the 4×800. In between, Kiersten Conway and Ashlyn Williams ran 11:12.62 and 12:00.34, respectively, going first and fourth in the 3,000 meters.
Sometimes, the points don’t come easily. Field events– the shot put, discus, long jump and high jump were underway early– but continued well into the running events schedule. That requires concentration. A girl may be pulled between two events, and occasionally wondering if she would be done before a third one is called.
With an early miss in the high jump, Kaia Holtkamp’s focus was on her steps and then snapping her legs over the bar. In between, she rushed off twice to run 800s. It must have worked. She led off that 4×800 crew on its way to first place. After a couple makes back at the high jump pit, she was pulled away again. This time, she anchored the distance medley (1,600 meter) relay to a 4:22.58 finish. Monet Barnhouse, Heather Bachus and Ashley Stinocher delivered the stick, for another winner.
“It’s kind of mentally exhausting,” said Holtkamp. “At the beginning of the meet, I ask myself, ‘Can I do this?’ Then, as I am doing one event, I feel the adrenaline. It starts with success in one event and just builds, I guess.” And the high jump? On tired legs, late in the meet, Holtkamp matched her 5-2 personal best for second place. Still not enough? She led off the meet-ending 4×400 relay. There, she and teammates MaKinley Levin, Federspiel and Bock spun a 4:05.05 for another first.
So, at the end of the meet, with the team trophy in hand, how does it feel?
“It’s hard to find the words”, she smiled. “It’s fun to be around all these girls. We are just overjoyed! It’s a kind of positive energy that is so contagious. We are a tight-knit team this year!”
Sisters MaKinley and Callie Levin faced similar ‘what’s next?’ dilemmas. Mak’s 15-9 1/4 long jump was good for third place. Callie nabbed fourth, with 15-6 3/4. In between, they teamed with Mia Duckett and Mia Stahle for second place (at 1:48.967) in the 4×200. MaKinley closed her night setting up for a 4×400 win (4:05.05), with Holtkamp, Federspiel and Bock in on it, too. Callie teamed with Sophia Stahle, Mia Duckett and Adelyn McQuinn (51.56) for second-place points in the 4×100.
As they have for most of the season, Ava Conrad (38-0) and Leah Kollar (36-7) double-placed in the shot put. Conrad was third, Kollar one spot behind. Conrad got the win in the discus, flinging the plate 129-9 for first. Elly Holubar was seventh. “It was good to see our throwers get back up to where they had been. They had a best discus throw, best shot. Elly throwing over 100 again. They all showed up,” declared Sands.
Back to the track…Bock showed the crowd that she is ready to run 57-second 400s just about every time. Her 57.95 in the open 400 was a winner. Federspiel was third, in 1:01.14. Later, Bock went 2:26.83 for the win in the 800. Teammate Anna Quillin was fourth (2:32.91). Conway was second (5:16.64) in the 1,500. Williams was eighth in 5:32.20. Stahle– Mia this time– was fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:11.49). Jada Buffington led off the shuttle hurdle relay, with Mia Stahle, Calla Foster then Sophia Stahle, for fourth (1:12.36). Duckett was fourth in the 100 (13.47), with McQuinn eighth (13.81).
“Kaia had a great night,” reviewed Sands. “Emma, 57 with that wind, that was real good. All those people gave us what we kind of expected. But those seconds, thirds and fourths? Ady McQuinn second in the 100, Quillin in the 800, Ashyln in the 3,000. Gracie Federspiel third in the 400. They all stepped up and got us more points.”
The post-regular season parade continued this week. The WAMAC junior varsity meet was Monday in Dyersville, with the varsity state meet qualifier Thursday, back home in Solon.
The state qualifier was the focus. “No experimenting any more. We go with what we think is the right lineup,” said Sands. “We kind of know what we want to have at state. It’s one thing to (perform well) over three days at the state meet. It’s another thing to try to do it at the qualifier. We can name alternates, and not have some runners do four events in one night.”
The state track meet runs May 20-22 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Gallery • 3 Photos

With a dozen teammates cheering her on, Gracie Federspiel legs out her anchor in the 4x800 relay at the WaMaC Super Conference track meet in Independence May 6.