Creston’s Fields places fifth in discus

DES MOINES — Kelsey Fields decided to go for the gusto on the final discus throw of her career.

In seventh place with one throw remaining in a highly competitive field of Class 3A discus throwers Thursday, Fields unleashed a throw of 133 feet, 3 inches to place fifth on the opening day of the 2021 Coed State Track and Field Meet.

Based on state qualifying meet performances, Fields was seeded eighth in the event. She steadily improved her distance during her three throws in the second flight, reaching the finals with a best of 121-8 on her third attempt in a ring that was still wet from a morning rain shower.

In the finals, Fields was in seventh place after two throws of 123-2 before capturing the fifth place medal when she added 10 feet on her final attempt.

“When I went into the ring, I thought well, this is my last throw ever and I just want to make it a good one,” Fields said. It wasn’t so flat, it was up better. I could tell it was going farther than my other ones.”

Fields is the first discus medalist in the 11-year coaching stint by head coach Clay Arnold and assistant Maggie Arnold. Fields improved from a 17th place finish in the event as a sophomore. There was no state meet held in 2020.

Fields’ final throw was just 3 feet shy of her school record of 136-8.

“That’s what winners do,” an elated Clay Arnold said afterward. “To come out here and improve every time except for one throw, she never showed a sign of nerves and just went about her business. It was great competition. I thought Kelsey sped up and got her hips into it on her last throws. On the very last one she got it up with a little different launch angle and that’s what got it to 133 feet.”

Faith DeRonde of Oskaloosa won the event at 140-1. Katelyn Lappe was second at 135-6, so only two feet separated second and fifth places.

“I knew I was going to have to throw far to make the finals,” Fields said. “That was my first goal. After that, it was to just keep bettering my throws. When I went over to talk to Maggie, she said to focus on my footwork. This year, everyone in 3A is really good, so just getting in the top five was a lot of fun. Now I’m ready for the shot tomorrow. It’s my favorite.”

Fields, seeded third after the state qualifying meets, was scheduled to compete in the 3A shot put at 9 a.m. today (Friday).

In area competition on the first day of state track and field competition in 735 days, the results were as follows:

Class 1A boys

• Doug Berg of Nodaway Valley was 13th in the 3,200 meters in 10:21.36 and teammate Ben Breheny finished 23rd in 10:41.87.

• Caleb Comstock of East Union had the 24th time in the 200 meter preliminaries with a time of 24.06 in the third heat.

• Mount Ayr placed third in the 4x800 relay. The foursome of Trae Ehlen, Bryce Shaha, Adler Shay and Ryce Reynolds ran 8:08.85 in taking the third place medals behind Earlham (8:04.37 and Danville (8:09.01). Reynolds anchored in 1:57.94 and all four Raiders ran below 2:06.

• Ryce Reynolds of Mount Ayr placed third in the 400 meters in 50.47. The top two were Trevor Sauerbrei of Wapsie Valley in 50.10 and Caden Thomas of Wapello in 50.27.

• East Union’s Scott Driskill was 14th in the long jump at 19-3.5 and Isaac Grundman of Lenox was 23rd with a jump of 18-3.

• Lenox was disqualified in the shuttle hurdle relay preliminaries.

Class 1A girls

• Karlie Larson of Mount Ayr was 24th in the 3,000 meters in 12:41.80.

• Adalyn Reynolds of Mount Ayr qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 200 meters by winning the second heat in 26.62. She had the fourth best qualifying time.

• Mount Ayr was 12th in 10:24.29 in the 4x800 relay. Runners were MaKayla Jones, MaKenna Jones, Payten Lambert and Karly Elwood. The Lenox unit of Cassidy Nelson, Ava Junker, TJ Stoaks and McKinna Hogan was 16th in 10:42.53.

• Adalyn Reynolds of Mount Ayr had the eighth finals qualifying time of 13.04 in the 100 meters prelims. She placed third in the third heat. The finals are 3:50 p.m. Saturday.

• Reynolds also placed third in the 400 meters in a time of 1:00.24. The top two were Rachel Fehr of West Bend-Mallard in 58.12 and Nia Howard of Springville in 59.94

• Madison Fry of Nodaway Valley was 17th in the long jump at 14-7.5 and Aunalee Bruce of Southwest Valley was 24th at 13-6.5.