Des Moines, IA- Drake Stadium, the Blue Oval, the mecca of Track and Field in the state of Iowa. The 2025 State Track and Field meet set a record for attendance with over 40,000 tickets sold. With that many eyes on the competitors, adrenaline took over, leading to records falling and championships being earned.
Since the final day of the three-day event combines all four classes together, as opposed to splitting them like the first two days, we will break it down by event.
Sprint Medley Relays
The Danville girls’ team entered today with a chance to gather some points, and the sprint medley team of Macie Wagner, Violette Sowell, Delaney Newberry, and Alaina Gourley set the tone with a 7th place time of 1 minute and 51 seconds, a season best time. This gave the Bears two points.
In the girls’ Class 3A section, Mt. Pleasant collected a time of 1 minute and 55 seconds, finishing in 24th place.
Over in the boy’s Class 1A sprint medley relay, Van Buren County’s squad of Bryce Moquin, Kayden Simmons, Izaak Loeffler, and Lincoln Bainbridge turned in a 6th place time of 1 minute and 35.3 seconds, granting the Warriors three points.
Amazingly, a difference of just five-tenths of a second can knock you back three spots and out of a scoring position. Danville claimed 9th place with a time of 1 minute and 35.8 seconds.
Fairfield finished in 22nd place in Class 3A’s race with a time of 1 minute and 36 seconds, while Keokuk did not finish.
800-Meter Run
Despite just anchoring the sprint medley relay for the Bears, Gourley finished in 5th place with a time of 2 minutes and 16 seconds in the girls’ Class 1A field. In just two events, Danville had accrued six points.
In the girls’ Class 3A section, Mara Smith of Fort Madison finished close to the middle of the pack with a time of 2 minutes and 22 seconds, good enough for 15th place.
Winfield-Mt. Union’s Kohlby Newsom had only the 5th fastest 400-meter split of the boys’ Class 1A field. Then he was shot out of a cannon on the second lap, turning in a split of 56.2 seconds, which was faster than his first lap, to win the state championship with a final time of 1 minute and 53 seconds. The personal best time gave the Wolves ten points.
Just Dykstra of WACO was next in line for our local competitors, snatching 11th place with a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds. Danville’s Nick Powell took home 15th place with a mark of 1 minute and 59 seconds.
Class 3A’s heat featured a record-breaking performance by Western Dubuque’s Quentin Nauman as the Oregon commit sprinted to an All-Time State Record time of 1 minute and 49 seconds. He is the only Iowa prep runner to break the 1 minute and 50 second barrier as his time ranks 7th in the nation. Nauman then found another gear in the 1600-meter race later in the day and broke the 4-minute barrier with a time of 3 minutes and 59 seconds. No one in the nation, nevertheless a junior, had been able to do both in the same meet let alone the same day.
Fairfield’s Gabe Tejada was able to keep pace with the four leaders but could not make a move as he stayed in 4th place with a time of 1 minute and 53 seconds for a personal record. This finished added five points to the Trojans’ total.
Tyler Alderton of Washington gathered one point for the Demons with an 8th place time of 1 minute and 57 seconds, also a personal record. Lastly, Fort Madison’s Nolan Guzman took home 19th place with a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay
Columbus, who is making a run in the boys’ Class 1A standings, added eight points to their total after snatching 2nd place with a season-best time of 1 minute and 0.25 seconds with the team of Riley Kaalberg, Johnathan Miranda, Alexander Rees, and Lamar Ceant. The Wildcats sat at nine team points after this event.
100-Meter Dash
There’s something to be said about consistency, success will usually follow. Mt. Pleasant’s Alex Scott finished with the exact same time that she did in girls’ Class 3A qualifying at 12.42 seconds, which barely snuck her into the top eight. This time it earned 6th place and three points for the Panthers.
In the boys’ Class 1A field, London Franklin of New London improved upon his personal record time in qualifying, clocking 11.08 seconds, but could not improve his position. The Tiger snatched 5th place and four points for his team.
What is turning into a bit of a southeast Iowa rivalry in the boys’ Class 3A division, Keokuk’s Ryan Bair and West Burlington/Notre Dame’s Landry Habericther were placed right next to each other in lanes seven and six, respectively, and much like the last three races it was neck-and-neck.
Competitors would like to always shine in the biggest of moments and Bair and Haberichter did just that with personal record times. Bair would get the better of the Falcon with a silver medal time of 10.69 seconds, while Haberichter snatched the bronze with a mark of 10.7 seconds—one-hundredth of a second difference.
110-Meter Hurdles
Columbus’ impressive tandem of Alexander Rees and Lamar Ceant both qualified for the boys Class 1A 110-meter hurdles after Rees upset Ceant at the state qualifier but Ceant upended Rees in the prelims with times of 14.77 seconds and 14.86 seconds, respectively.
Ceant got off to a slow start, but a strong middle section had him contending for the state championship. Until he lost his timing on the penultimate hurdle, leading to a kick that the Spartans would be proud of. Incredibly, he kept his balance and lunged for the finish line, taking the silver medal with a personal record time of 14.2 seconds.
As the only sophomore in the race, Ceant will most likely be a favorite to snatch the title next year.
Rees, one of two juniors, had the fastest time amongst the juniors as he grabbed 4th place with a time of 14.42 seconds. This duo injected a quick 13 points to the Wildcats total, putting them at 22 at the time of this race’s finish.
200-Meter Dash
It did not go quite to plan for Ceant and Rees in the boys’ Class 1A field, as the duo finished 7th and 8th place, respectively. Ceant turned in a time of 22.88 seconds, followed by Rees with a mark of 23.03 seconds. This tandem had contributed 24 points to the Wildcats total after scoring this event.
Ryan Bair has been his own one-man wrecking crew for Keokuk as he snatched another silver medal for the meet, this time in the Class 3A 200-meter dash with a time of 21.59 seconds, the 7th best time in the state of Iowa. He has been responsible for all 18 of his team’s points.
Girls 1500-Meter Run
In the Class 3A field, a trio of runners got to perform from the Southeast Conference and Fort Madison’s Avery Rump continued her excellent weekend, moving up eight spots from her qualifying slot with a season best time of 4 minutes and 54 seconds, which was good enough for 22nd place.
Her teammate, Jordyn Marshall, collected a 24th place time of 5 minutes and 19 seconds. Iris Dahl of Washington clocked a time of 5 minutes and 2 seconds to take home 22nd place.
Boys 1600-Meter Run
A quartet of Southeast Iowa Super Conference competitors lined up for the Class 1A mile-run and all four accrued personal best times. Newsom (Winfield-Mt. Union) nearly added another point to his team’s total but finished just outside the top eight in 9th place with a mark of 4 minutes and 28 seconds.
WACO’s Jude Dykstra followed right behind with a time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds to take home 10th place. Ty Muniz of Columbus collected a time of 4 minutes and 34 seconds to finish in 16th place, while New London’s Riley Raines claimed a time of 4 minutes and 37 seconds for 21st place.
Over in Class 2A, Simon Wendel turned in a 19th place time of 4 minutes and 37 seconds for Mediapolis.
4×100 Meter Relay
Mt. Pleasant was our lone team to look out for in the girls’ Class 3A division and the team of Kynlee Whie, Alex Scott, Taylor Williamson, and Kiyah Sanders finished in 6th place with a time of 49.11 seconds, gathering three more points towards their team total.
In the boys’ Class 1A division, New London had the pressure on after finishing 1st in the prelims. The same team of Cale Westerbeck, Gavin Strawhacker, Brigham Porter, and London Franklin had already taken 2nd place in the 4×200 meter relay.
Now, the Tigers have a state championship after claiming a faster time than they clocked in the prelims of 42.5 seconds, their season best time. That victory added ten points to their team’s total.
Columbus finished in 4th place with a time of 43.53 seconds with the team of Juan Chairez, Rees, Ceant, and Kaalberg. This added five points to their total.
4×400 Meter Relay
The Danville girls’ team scored seven points in one day after adding one more in the girls’ Class 1A 4×400 meter relay with an 8th place time of 4 minutes and 14 seconds.
Van Buren County took home 5th place with a time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds in the boys’ Class 1A finals, earning the Warriors four more points to their total.
Boys Para Wheelchair
Washington’s Josh Anderson competed in the Para Wheelchair division and his best finish was in the 200-meter with a time of 35.6 seconds, which earned him the bronze. He also took 4th place in the 100-meter, 400-meter, and 800-meter races.
Brandon Klein of Fort Madison collected the silver medal in the Wheelchair shot put with a heave of 18 feet and 2.75 inches. He finished in 5th place in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races. Klein also took 6th in the 400-meter.
Scoring
*Italics indicates State Team Champion
Boys Class 1A: Lisbon (54), ACGC (44), South Hamilton (35), T-5th Place Columbus and New London (30), 17th Place Winfield-Mt. Union (15), T-18th Place Van Buren County (14), T-41st Place WACO (4), T-44th Place Wapello (3), T-47th Place Danville (2)
Girls Class 1A: St. Albert (46), St. Ansgar (40), St. Edmond and Nashua-Plainfield (36), 24th Place Danville (12), T-48th Place Winfield-Mt. Union (2), T-52nd Place WACO (1)
Boys Class 2A: Spirit Lake and Okoboji (65), Okoboji (55), Treynor and Denver (48)
Girls Class 2A: Pella Christian (80), Van Meter (60), Tipton (54)
Boys Class 3A: Newton (60), Pella (56), Clear Creek Amana (55), 11th Place Fairfield (27), T-14th Place Keokuk (18), T-17th Place Washington (13), 23rd Place Fort Madison (10.5), T-29th Place West Burlington/Notre Dame (6)
Girls Class 3A: ADM (67), Mt. Vernon and Gilbert (58), T-20th Place Fort Madison (12), T-26th Place Mt. Pleasant (7), 36th Place Washington (3)
Boys Class 4A: Ankeny (100), Cedar Falls (78), Dowling Catholic (66.5)
Girls Class 4A: Waukee Northwest (101.5), Pleasant Valley (68.5), Cedar Falls (56), T-15th Place Burlington (18)
Boys Para: Siouxland Christian (40), Shenandoah (38), Alburnett (32), 8th Place Washington (21), 9th Place Fort Madison (19)
Girls Para: Iowa City West and Dubuque Hempstead (40), West Liberty (32)
That will do it for KILJ’s coverage of the 2025 State Track and Field Championships, we would like to thank all of our sponsors for allowing us to cover the state meet and thank you all for tuning in. KILJ will be back next year for the 2026 State Track and Field Championships!