Warriors finish state meet with a new school record and podium in the 4x400
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
It was an eventful three days for the Central Warriors girls track and field team, as they provided thrills on the track, cheers to the finish line and filled a community with Warrior pride as they competed in eight events at the Iowa High School Track & Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
Central’s first event was the 4x800 relay, which featured Hannah Asche in the lead position, where she posted a 2:26 opening lap before handing the baton to Jaydin Dettman, who ran a solid lap that put the Warriors into second as the baton was passed to the third-leg. Taylor Moser ran valiantly, but faded to mid-pack in the final 200 before handing the baton to anchor Delaney Scherf, who cruised to a 2:25 lap time. The Warriors finished seventh in 9:56.31, earning two points and a top-10 finish to open the meet.
The first day wasn’t finished for the Warriors or Scherf, who returned about two hours later to run in the 400-meter dash, putting up a time of 1:02.67 and placing 18th in the race.
The day also continued for Asche, who, in the long jump, achieved a personal record distance of 16 feet, 6 inches, which put her in fourth place and gave the Warriors five more team points.
Friday morning, the Warriors kicked things off in the 4x200 relay with Grace Kuehl, Tori Sylvester, Dettman and Asche. Kuehl led the race of quickly, before giving way to Sylvester, who pushed it to keep pace with the rest of the field. When Dettman got the baton, she rallied the Warriors over her 200 meters before passing the baton to anchor Asche, who challenged the field but simply ran out of track before she could chase the leaders down. The Warriors finished the race 12th and set a new school record with a time of 1:48.84.
Later in the day, Dettman returned to the track for the 400-meter hurdles, where she finished 15th in 1:09.55. Teammate Brooke Tieden also competing in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 10 inches on her second attempt, before missing 5 feet and finished 16th.
Heading into Saturday, the Warriors had two events remaining: the sprint medley and 4x400 relay, a race in which they were the top seed.
The day started early in the morning in the sprint medley, with Kuehl, Lexi Loan, Sylvester and Scherf running a 1:56.54 to finish in 20th.
Then all eyes turned to the 4x400, the last event of the meet. Scherf was in the lead off position and had the Warriors settled into fourth place before passing the baton to Sylvester. With the rest of the field closing in, Dettman received the baton to start the third leg in the middle of the pack. She battled throughout her 400 meters before passing the baton off to anchor Asche, who once again gave chase toward the leaders. This time, there was enough track to run them down and cross the line with a spot on the podium in third place. The Warriors finished a little over two seconds out of first place with a final time of 4:05.30.
The Warriors went to state and represented the community well, displaying teamwork, sportsmanship and the meaning of Warrior pride.