March 29, 2024

Lenox’s Dukes shines at state track

Raiderettes fifth in shuttle hurdle

DES MOINES — Lenox senior Katie Dukes capped off her stellar track and field career here last weekend by winning medals in all three of her events.

The Tiger standout anchored Lenox’s distance medley relay to a seventh-place finish Friday and then won bronze medals in the sprint medley relay and the 800 meters on Saturday morning.

Dukes ran lifetime bests in all three of her races.

She anchored the distance medley relay with a 2:19 800-meter leg. She started Saturday morning’s session with a 58.9-second split on the 400-meter anchor leg. Then, she ran 2:18.47 in the final race of her career to finish third in the 800 meters.

Dukes was pulled along to the finish by Griswold standout Rebekah Topham, who finished second in 2:18.08. Pekin’s Gwynne Wright won in 2:16.86.

Topham went flying by Dukes on the backstretch, which caught Dukes’ attention and pulled her through to a new school record.

“It’s awesome, actually, ending my career and all my track on that. It’s great,” Dukes said. “I really just wanted to stay with the pack. Rebekah Topham came flying from nowhere and I just wanted to stay with her.”

Dukes charged past 11-time state champion Nicole Miller of Tipton in the final 100 meters for third place.

“I knew in order to catch Topham, I had to get around her first,” Dukes said.

East Union sophomore Emma Harper finished 15th in 2:26.95 and Nodaway Valley junior Destiny Scar was 16th in 2:27.49.

Dukes had only run a couple of 800s previous to this year, having specialized in the 400 meter dash.

“It’s kind of incredible. It’s kind of shocking, actually. I never thought I’d be an 800 runner,” Dukes said. “It makes me like the 400 a lot more, honestly.”

Her school record in the 800 meters came just about 40 minutes after she anchored Lenox’s school-record smashing sprint medley relay team to a third-place finish.

The Tiger team of Mika Weaver, Halee Wallace and seniors Aurora Arevalo and Dukes ran 1:52.89 out of the second heat to finish third. Hudson broke the meet record in 1:48.80 to win, with BGM second in 1:52.12.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Arevalo said. “It was a pretty great way to end the year. We did not expect to beat our school record again by 2 seconds. I couldn’t ask for a better finish, especially with these girls. Especially with Katie. I’ve been running with her for four years, so I’m really proud of her and all she’s done, too.”

The distance medley relay team of Weaver, Jacy Stoaks, Wallace and Dukes took home seventh place with its time of 4:23.80.

Dukes ran a monster anchor leg to bring the Tigers from way back in the field to finish fifth in heat three and seventh overall.

Raiderette record

The Mount Ayr shuttle hurdle relay team of Megan Warin, Laura Davison, Alyssa Johnson and Ashton Johnson moved up one spot from where it qualified to finals, placing fifth.

The Raiderettes ran 1:09.53 to break their school record in the event for the sixth time this year.

Warin got out to a better start out of the blocks for the Raiderettes, while Davison and Alyssa Johnson put Mount Ayr into the lead going into the anchor leg of the first heat.

Ashton Johnson held that lead for much of the anchor leg, but Nashua-Plainfield’s Dallas Weiss eventually overtook her.

“We wanted to make it to finals, because last year we just missed it by a little bit,” Ashton Johnson, the lone senior on the relay team, said. “It feels great to get a medal here at state. That really means a lot. All my four years I’ve worked really hard in the hurdles and to finish this way, it just feels really great.”

Nodaway Valley’s Scar also ran in the 1,500 meters on Saturday, running a new PR of 5:13.53 for 15th place.

2015 Co-ed State Track Meet

CLASS 1A GIRLS

Team standings —1. Hudson 72, 2. North Linn 67, 3. Pekin 57, 16. Lenox 14, 26. Bedford 8.50, 39. Nodaway Valley 4, 39. Mount Ayr 4.

Friday

Distance medley relay — 1. North Linn, 4:12.04; 7. Lenox (Mika Weaver, Jacy Stoaks, Halee Wallace, Katie Dukes), 4:23.80; 23. Mount Ayr (Caylie Hickman, Sadie Frost, Macy Larsen, Blair Glendenning), 4:38.25.

100 meter hurdles prelims — 1. Mallory Vawter, BCLUW, 14.87; 16. Katy Ehrsam, Nodaway Valley, 16.87; 20. Ashton Johnson, Mount Ayr, 17.11; 23. Alyssa Johnson, Mount Ayr, 19.63.

4x200 relay — 1. Hudson, 1:46.27; 23. Nodaway Valley (Rachel Scheel, Paige McElfish, Sadie Marnin, Sidney Hohertz), 1:53.47.

400 meter hurdles — 1. Maddie Boer, North Linn, 1:05.16; 11. Kenna Lundy, Nodaway Valley, 1:08.70.

4x100 relay prelims — 1. Hudson, 50.69; 12. Nodaway Valley (Katy Ehrsam, Paige McElfish, Sidney Hohertz, Kenna Lundy), 52.85.

4x400 relay prelims — 1. North Linn, 4:04.52; 15. Nodaway Valley (Rachel Scheel, Destiny Scar, Katy Ehrsam, Kenna Lundy), 4:18.73; 24. Mount Ayr (Blair Glendenning, Caylie Hickman, Macy Larsen, Bailey Anderson), 4:28.69.

Saturday

Sprint medley relay — 1. Hudson, 1:48.80 (meet record); 3. Lenox (Mika Weaver, Halee Wallace, Aurora Arevalo, Katie Dukes), 1:52.89; 20. Nodaway Valley (Paige McElfish, Sadie Marnin, Sidney Hohertz, Rachel Scheel), 1:57.72.

800 meters — 1. Gwynne Wright, Pekin, 2:16.86; 3. Katie Dukes, Lenox, 2:18.47; 15. Emma Harper, East Union, 2:26.95; 16. Destiny Scar, Nodaway Valley, 2:27.49.

Shuttle hurdle relay finals — 1. North Linn, 1:06.33; 5. Mount Ayr (Megan Warin, Laura Davison, Alyssa Johnson, Ashton Johnson), 1:09.53.

1,500 meters — 1. Rebekah Topham, Griswold, 4:45.76; 15. Destiny Scar, Nodaway Valley, 5:13.53.