Des Moines, IA- Day one of the 2025 State Track and Field meet is in the books after Classes 1A and 4A saw some of our local athletes walk away with team points and some hardware. Here’s a look at how all of our local athletes fared in Thursday afternoon’s slate of events.
Girls Class 1A
The field events led off the afternoon session for the two remaining classes and Isabella Forbes of Columbus competed in the shot put. The Wildcat grabbed 21st place with a heave of 33 feet and 8.5 inches.
In the second session of the field events, Winfield-Mt. Union’s Kynlee Buffington, who has left her mark as a freshman already, claimed 7th place and two points for the Wolves with a leap of 16 feet and 8 inches in the long jump.
Wapello’s Kate Lanz was unable to qualify for the 200-meter dash finals after collecting a 21st place time of 26.96 seconds.
In the 4×800 meter relay, Van Buren County finished in 15th place with a time of 10 minutes and 17 seconds.
Danville’s Alaina Gourley sprinted to a personal record time of 58.44 seconds, earning 4th place in the 400-meter dash and five points for the Bears. Gourley will also participate in the 800-meter run on Saturday at 10:30 am, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 meter relays.
Lanz turned in a 12th place time of 1 minute and 1 second to conclude her performance at the state meet.
Boys Class 1A
The long jump featured some local talent as two Southeast Iowa Super Conference members ushered in three competitors. New London’s Logan Franklin took 17th place with a leap of 19 feet and 8.5 inches. Hayden Shelman of WACO tabbed a mark of 20 feet and 2.75 inches for 14th place.
But it was London Franklin of New London that sailed through the air to nab a distance of 21 feet and 11.25 inches, earning the Tiger the silver medal and eight points for the team total.
In the evening session, Wapello’s Kolton Small rattled off a 6th place throw of 50 feet and 0.75 inches in the shot put, which gave the senior three points towards his team and individual total. He will throw the discus tomorrow at 4:30 pm.
In the first running events of the afternoon, the shuttle hurdle relay team for Columbus was able to qualify for the finals after clinching a 7th place time of 1 minute and 1 seconds. The Wildcats will run on Saturday at 12:15 pm.
Ty Muniz of Columbus displayed his endurance in the 3200-meter run, taking home a time of 9 minutes and 51 seconds, a personal record, along with a point for the Wildcats as his time was good enough for 8th place.
Columbus continued to be a familiar school name as two Wildcats participated in the 200-meter dash prelims, along with Lincoln Bainbridge of Van Buren County. For Lamar Ceant and Alexander Rees, the duo finished 6th and 7th place, respectively. They will compete in the finals on Saturday at 2:05 pm.
Bainbridge gathered a time of 22.88 seconds, which put the Warrior in 11th place.
For the 4×800 meter relay, Columbus was the only one of our local teams to compete and the Wildcats finished in 19th place with a time of 8 minutes and 41 seconds.
London Franklin of New London continued his successful day in the 100-meter dash prelims as the he collected a 5th place time of 11.11 seconds to qualify for the finals. Riley Kaalberg of Columbus took 12th place with a time of 11.33 seconds.
Kohlby Newsom of Winfield-Mt. Union will be competing in a trio of events before the meet concludes on Saturday and he has already collected five points for the Wolves after nabbing 4th place with a time of 50.11 seconds in the 400-meter dash.
Girls Class 4A
Lilian Mennen of Burlington cleared 5 feet even to finish tied for 19th place in the high jump.
Burlington’s sophomore phenom Kylee Hill has now added a silver medal to her collection after ripping off a throw of 149 feet and 3 inches in her second throw of the finals. She entered the meet with the 23rd best throw of the state qualifying marks.
She will defend her shot put title tomorrow at 2 pm.
Boys Class 4A
Burlington’s lone qualifier, Laderrias Shealey, participated in the 100-meter dash prelims and collected 24th place with a time of 12.83 seconds.
Stay tuned to KILJ for updates, results, and recaps from now until Saturday, May 24th! We would like to thank all of our sponsors for allowing us to cover the 2025 State Track and Field meet.