With strong showings in early season track meets, Solon’s girls go up against the ‘best in state’ in the 2024 high school edition of the prestigious Drake Relays.
Solon hits ‘The Blue Oval’ track on Drake University’s campus in Des Moines with entries in ten events thanks to times and distances achieved in meets through the first half of the season. High school events are primarily Friday and Saturday this week.
Senior Gracie Federspiel leads the Solon contingent, qualifying in the 400 and 800 individual events. She also shows up as the anchor leg on the 4×800 relay with Ava Rolwes, Anna Quillin, and Falyn Svalstad; and the 4×400, with Kobi Leitz, Anna Quillin, and Grace Hoeper. In the 4×200, Aly Stahle, Mia Duckett, Mia Stahle and Marin Ashbacker are on the relay card. In the 4×100, look for Aly, Mia and Piper Stahle to team with Mia Duckett.
Mia Stahle is slated to lead off the sprint (800 meter) relay, with the baton passing to Duckett, Aly Stahle and then Leitz. Aly Stahle will also be in the blocks for the 100 hurdles, Duckett is at the line in the 100-meter dash. Kate Shafer will be in the discus field, after her 121-foot heave in the last couple days to qualify.
“For the most part, we got in what we really thought we were capable of,” reviews Solon head girls coach Jessica Hotek. “We would have liked the shuttle hurdle relay to make it, too. They were pretty close. Abby Felton, also, (shot put) was so close to going as she hit PRs.” In the ‘other’ throw, teammate Kate Shafer’s 121-foot discus toss met the Drake mark, too.
As Drake closes, the track season steams to a close. “It’s pretty good to qualify for Drake, especially with preparing for the State Meet,” notes Hotek. “To see where other 3A schools are helps us make decisions about where we should put people (ahead of conference and the state qualifying meets). It also gets experience for some of our underclassmen. Drake is kind of a midseason state meet, in that way–depending on who you have going down.”
Ahead of Drake, two strong midseason showings
Last week, with three meets scheduled, Solon’s girls logged a runner-up finish on April 15 in Williamsburg, were rained out of their April 16 home meet, then sent a split ‘last chance’ squad to Waterloo.
At Williamsburg, Maquoketa won the 13-team meet with 95 points. The Lady Spartans posted 85, the host school was third with 72, Iowa City West (67½) was fourth followed by Mid-Prairie (63½), Clear Creek-Amana (57), Mount Vernon (53), Grinnell (38), Center Point-Urbana (34), Regina Iowa City (31), English Valleys (28), Vinton Shellsburg 22) and Prairie (8).
Wins at Williamsburg came from Solon’s 4×800 foursome of Ava Rolwes, Anna Quillin Grace Hoeper and Gracie Federspiel with a 9:47.73 finish, and in the shuttle hurdle relay with Mia Stahle, Zoey Grimm, Aly Stahle and Trea Eidahl breaking the ‘electronic tape’ at 1:08.95. Federspiel doubled back with 57.74 in the 400 and a five second gap over the rest of the field of 25 runners. Falyn Svalstad (2:27.44) and Ava Rolwes (2:28.57) ran second and third in the 800.
Abby Felton launched a 38-2 toss for second in the shot put then came back with a 104-05 discus throw, for fourth place. That backed teammate Kate Shafer’s 121-00 spin for third. More field event points came from Jerzey Haluska’s 6th place finish (14-04) in long jump.
A 1:48.59 was good for third place in the 4×200 relay produced by Mia Duckett, Aly Stahle, Haluska and Avery Kellen. Mia Stahle’s 1:09.78 was fifth in the 400 hurdles. The distance medley quartet of Laeni Hinkle, Cydney Jaster, Piper and Mya Stahle brought the baton around in 4:39.74 for fifth place, too. Kobie Lietz was sixth (27.83) in the individual 200.
Partial squad tests the track in Waterloo
Weather washed out the home Denny Gruber Relays on Thursday. A partial squad did make it to Waterloo on Friday competing in five events–a ‘last chance’ to improve performances ahead of the early morning April 20 deadline for Drake Relays entries.
It also provided a good look at Class 3A and 4A competition in northeast Iowa. At that meet, Solon senior Gracie Federspiel turned over a 2:18.67 800 meters. The Lady Spartans 4×800 relay entry picked up third place with a 9:35.88 clocking produced by Ava Rolwes, Anna Quillin, Falyn Svalstad, and Federspiel.
This week, Drake’s high school competition gets underway Thursday, but is centered around Friday and Saturday, April 26-27.
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