Hansen defends hurdles crown for Cyclones’ lone H-10 gold
HARLAN (May 7) -- After claiming Harlan Community’s only conference gold medal Monday in the 400-meter hurdles, junior Chloe Hansen expressed some anger and frustration to Cyclone girls coach Doug Renkly.
For Renkly, that’s a sign of good things to come.
Hansen, who has battled shin splints for much of the season, is starting to feel much better physically. She anchored two place-winning relays to season-best times during Monday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference Co-Ed Meet at Merrill Field, then held off Denison’s Vanessa Gunderson to win her signature event - the 400 hurdles - for the second straight year.
Instead of feeling pain after the race, Hansen was more concerned about her technique and her time of 1:08.18, which is about one second away from her personal best run at the Drake Relays April 28.
“She was pretty angry with herself after the race,” Renkly said. “She thought she stuttered on a lot of the hurdles and didn’t run as well as she knows she can. I just had to calm her down a little bit and tell her, ‘There’s two things I like here. Number one: you’re on your feet; and number two: you’re really mad.’ I think she’s starting to come around again.”
As a team, the Cyclone girls slipped to seventh place in the conference meet as some of the team’s top sprinters continue to be sidelined or limited by nagging injuries. HCHS placed in 13 events but Hansen’s gold marked the only top-three finish as the team scored just 45 points.
For the Cyclone boys, this year’s conference meet went well for the most part. They didn’t bag any gold, but placed in the top four of 12 events, scored 21 times in 18 events overall and finished with 102 points to place fourth out of 11 teams.
Some of the highlights included Caleb Bieker’s ‘PR’ discus throw of 167 feet, 4.5 inches - he now ranks fourth in school history - as well as Jon Owens’ ‘PR’ time of 57.07 in the 400 hurdles and the 4x400 relay’s season-best time of 3:28.61 - about a six-second improvement. All three events placed second, as did Nick Foss in the long jump and the 4x100 relay.
Hawkeye Ten Conference Co-Ed Track Meet • May 7 • at Harlan
Girls Team Scoring - 1. Glenwood 161, 2. Denison 123, 3. Creston 79, 4. Lewis Central 75.5, 5. Atlantic 72, 6. Shenandoah 65, 7. Harlan Community 45, 8. Red Oak 38, 9. Kuemper Catholic 37, 10. St. Albert 32.5, 11. Clarinda 12.
Boys Team Scoring - 1. Atlantic 152, 2. Lewis Central 142.5, 3. Glenwood 130.5, 4. Harlan Community 102, 5. St. Albert 74, 6. Kuemper Catholic 40, 7. Denison 36, 8. Shenandoah 30, 9. Clarinda 19, 10. Red Oak 12, 11. Creston 3.