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Royals’ Hill climbs to second in high jump

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KALB-KOENIGSFELD

DES MOINES — Incrementally, Lauryn Hill is becoming one of the best high jumpers in Class 1A.

The Colo-NESCO sophomore one-up’ed her performance at last year’s state meet and placed in a tie for second place at the Iowa Co-Ed Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium on Friday. Hill was a high jump returner, who vaulted 5 feet, 3 inches on her way to the runner-up spot. She tied with Central Decatur’s Emma Atwood.

Hill wastes no time preparing to jump. When her name is called, her stride is already headed for the bar.

“I worry about time a lot,” Hill said. “I don’t want to miss [her jump]. It’s better if I just do my warmups while I’m on deck and just go for it.”

She was one of four freshmen in the field at last year’s state meet — where she tied for third — and the only one who made it past the opening two heights. She exited clearing 5-0 and was content with setting a new Colo-NESCO school record at 5-2 in 2017.

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KALB-KOENIGSFELD

Not long after, hip surgery was in store for the budding prep athlete. Suddenly, waiting not only became the hardest part, but was the necessary part.

“It was tough. My first sport back was basketball, and I had lots of scar tissue,” Hill said. “All that breaking down, that didn’t feel good. I kind of thought it wasn’t going to work out so well. But by the middle of the track season, it finally started feeling back to normal.”

Hill was flawless in her first attempts at 4-9, 4-11 and 5-1. A hiccup sent her through on her second try at 5-3 before falling out. West Fork’s Lexi Jones failed at 5-5 as well, but was perfect on her first attempts at the four previous heights, giving her the edge on Hill and Atwood.

This year, Hill set a new school record at 5-4 and one of two Colo-NESCO high jumpers to return to Des Moines in May. She’s hoping to come back stronger next year, and become a three-time qualifier for the Royals.

“Next year, I want to get a little higher, even 5-6,” Hill said.

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KALB-KOENIGSFELD

Other area action

The Grundy Center boys’ 4×400-meter relay team set a new school record Friday, running a 3 minute, 30.17 second-race, qualifying them in the fifth spot for Saturday’s final.

The crew led off with Will Grames, then off to Adam Kaufman, Jensen Clapp and finally Caleb Kuiper.

The Spartans were plenty busy throughout the day with six different entries going in the morning. One athlete who managed to stay more than busy was Drew Rathe. The senior athlete was involved in the high jump with teammate Sawyer Bowen, ran leadoff on the distance medley and ran the grueling 400 hurdles event.

A great portion of his success, he said, came from head coach Chris Conger, who’s helped guide Rathe through multiple sports, including his senior seasons of football and track.

“To me, we have the best coach in the state,” Rathe said. “He’s been pushing me since football season, all the way until now, to get down here. He has a great relationship with us. He pushes us to become better than what we can be. And that’s why we have 12 events coming down here.”

Rathe helped the Spartans distance medley relay to an 18th-place finish, running a 3:45.06. He was 19th in the 400 hurdles (59.15) and 15th in the high jump, clearing 5-9. Bowen was 17th, who also only cleared the opening height at 5-9.

The Grundy Center girls’ 4×400 relay also qualified for Saturday’s final, running a 4:11.27. The squad of Kyah Luhring, Brooke Flater, Landry Luhring and Hailey Wallis were able to clock the qualifying time, place second in their heat and move on to the final day.

Colo-NESCO also sent Matthew Hill to the high jump Friday morning. Matthew bowed out at 5-11, which earned him 10th place. A bit of hesitation costed him a few inches, and ultimately the podium.

“My steps were off today,” Hill said. “I just stuttered a little bit today and just couldn’t get enough speed to get over it.”

Matthew said working with some younger high jumpers was one of the highlights of his season, and pondered getting into coaching after seeing success in some of the younger Royal high jumpers.

Finals for events begin at 9 a.m. with the girls’ sprint medley for all classes.

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