Waukon track girls may have come up shy of team scorebooard but not on effort in five qualified events at Class 2A State Meet
4x800 finishes 17th at State Meet ... The Waukon girls track team’s 4x800 relay foursome pictured above ran to a 17th-place team finish at the Class 2A State Track Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines Thursday, May 19 in a time of 10:29.87. That crew included (left to right in the above photos) juniors Katerina Kovarik and Jayden Knox, and junior Paige Hansmeier and sophomore Mia Kurth. Photos courtesy of Nate Troy, Cresco Times Plain Dealer.
The 2022 Waukon girls track and field season came to a close where all high school track and field athletes long to be at season’s end, as the Lady Indians competed in five events at this year’s Class 2A State Track and Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines that took place Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21. Although none of those five event efforts by the Indians cracked the top half of their respective 24-qualifier elite fields at this year’s season grand finale and avoided the final team scoreboard, all nine athletes who competed for the track Tribe are all underclassmen and are set to return again next season - and some for even longer than that.
The Indian effort began with first-time State Meet qualifier sophomore Kloe Hemmersbach competing in the Class 2A shot put field early Thursday afternoon. Needing a top-eight preliminary effort to advance to the event finals of the 24-thrower field, Hemmersbach’s best of three throws in her preliminary flight came up just under a couple feet short of that final advancement spot that ended up at 36’5.25”.
The sophomore slinger’s preliminary trio of tosses ended up at 33’1.5”, her best 34’5.5”, and a final 32’6”, with that second throw landing her in 16th place overall. This year’s Class 1A shot put championship was won by Denver senior Sydney Eggena and her title toss of 44’0.5”.
From the field to the track, the Waukon girls competed in a pair of relay events to wrap up Thursday’s action, both crews of which each featured three returning veterans from last spring’s season grand finale but also each had one first-time competitor as well. The Tribe’s 4x800 crew returned experience in the junior trio of Jayden Knox, Katerina Kovarik and Paige Hansmeier that teamed up with sophomore Mia Kurth in her State Track Meet debut, with that crew running to a 17th-place finish in their 24-team field in a time of 10:29.87.
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