DES MOINES — After a long (and nearly rain free) weekend at the 113th annual Drake Relays to end April, it is back to the ‘regular schedule’ in the first days of May for the Solon girls track team. The Lady Spartans left their mark on the famous ‘Blue Oval’ in Des Moines, going against the top season-to-date performances from all qualifying Iowa high schools. With entries in 11 events across three days of runs, jumps, and throws, Solon was seventh overall in the ‘Drake Cup competition’–the top scoring 3A school. The girls landed four ‘top eight’ finishes among all schools entered.
“I think it went pretty well. We got some answers that will help as we head toward the end of the season,” noted Solon coach Jess Brimeyer. “We can’t run all the same lineups that we used to qualify (for Drake) but seeing where we finished among Class 3A competition there provides ideas for building the lineups for Districts (and, eventually, the State Meet).”
Those Drake marks included school records in the 4×100 meter shuttle hurdle relay and the individual 400 hurdles. Sophia Stahle had a leg in each. In the 400 hurdles, her 1:04.47 meant a record. “Obviously too, the shuttle hurdle relay team was awesome. Clean preliminary run. Their best time. Then they came back for third in the finals,” noted Brimeyer. “Sophia teamed there with Aly Stahle, Mia Stahle and Calla Foster.” Their ‘prelim’ time of 1:05.78 set the new record. In the finals, 1:05.92 was still good for third place Drake recognition. Sophia also notched a 15.59 for 18th in the 100 hurdles.
Coming in with the state’s best sprint medley (800 meter) relay qualifier, Solon finished second with Aly Stahle, Mia Stahle, Sophia Stahle and Gracie Federspiel moving the baton to a 1:47.35 finish. Federspiel later claimed seventh place with her 58.52 open 400. She was busy all weekend. Her 800 time was 2:16.17, the best 3A time at Drake, and good for 11th overall. “Everyone performed well; lots of solid runs,” reviewed Brimeyer. “Sophia and Gracie did a lot of running.”
There were other great performances, even if they didn’t end up at the scoring stand. “Anna Quillin had good splits in both the 4×800 and 4×400 relays,” relayed Brimeyer. Quillin teamed with Grace Hoeper, Kobi Lietz and Kerrigan Lyons in the 4×400 as they logged a 4:10.67. In the 4×800, she was joined by Federspiel, Ashlyn Williams, and Hoeper in 9:47.57 for 12th place. In the 4×100, Aly Stahle, Emma Wolff, Piper Stahle, and Mia Duckett brought it around in 50.75, the best time ever from that foursome.
In the 100 meters, Aly Stahle cracked the top 16, running 12.88. From the field events, Kate Shafer’s 116’1 throw was second best after one round in the discus first flight. “Kate improved on her state qualifying throw, Just a couple feet from her best; finishing 16th overall,” pointed out Brimeyer.
The countdown now aims at Conference, District, and then State. “We had a really strong weekend,” added Brimeyer. “We are looking forward to those meets, and getting creative with where we get our points.”
Upcoming schedule
Thursday, May 4 – At WaMaC Meet, West Delaware HS (Manchester). 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 11 – Class 3A State Qualifying Meet, Mt. Pleasant HS.
Thursday, May 18-Saturday, May 20 – State Co-Ed Meet, Drake University, Des Moines.
Solon girls bring home Drake Sprint Medley Runner-up and top seven team finish
May 4, 2023