Cyclones compete at Iowa State Meet
With just 17 athletes, the HCHS girls track and field team managed to put up some strong numbers in their first meet of the season.
“We had a great first meet of the season,” said Cyclone Head Coach Jenny Hamilton. “For this meet, you have to qualify based on official marks from last year.”
In the sprint medley relay, Lily Schechinger, Paige Sonderman, Josie Sonderman, and Abby Broeckelman finished with a time of 2:04.37 for 19th place, just over ten seconds behind Bondurant Farrar, who won with a time of 1:53.86.
“We thought our sprint relays competed well,” Hamilton said. “It was enjoyable to watch them get mentally prepared for their races and help each other figure out the starts and exchange zones.”
In individual events, Aubree Wegner and Paige Sonderman competed in the 400m dash. Wegner finished with 1:04.99, and Sonderman was right on her tail with 1:07.21. Brylee Schechinger finished the 800m run with a time of 2:38.41.
Lindsey Sonderman competed at the Drake Relays and State Championships last year, finished second in the 1500m run with 4:51.48, just under one second behind the winner, Izzy Hardin of Maquoketa. Sonderman won the 3000m with 10:12.87, beating out Marissa Farabee of Pella, who came in second with 10:30.54.
“Big highlight of the night was Lindsey winning the 3000, beating her own school record by 8.5 seconds, and setting a new IATC Indoor State Championships 3A meet record,” Hamilton said. “That type of thing doesn’t just happen from talent. She puts in an extraordinary amount of extra time and miles, and worked for this accomplishment.”
The Cyclones next meet will be Friday at 11:30 a.m. the Kuyper Athletic Complex in Pella, where they will be competing against 39 other schools.
“We are so excited for this group,” Hamilton added. “We have girls who want to be here, want to get better, and want to compete. We look forward to getting back to work on Monday and competing again.”
