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Christensen climbs to 4th in high jump

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - West Marshall senior Kinnick Christensen competes in the Class 2A high jump during Friday’s state track and field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Christensen cleared his personal-best height of 6 feet, 4 inches, and tied for fourth place.

DES MOINES — Surprise medalists provide some of the best stories annually at the state co-ed track meet.

West Marshall senior Kinnick Christensen provided a textbook example on Friday, when the high jumper cleared 6 feet, 4 inches and leaped from the 24th and final qualifying seed to a tie for fourth place, clinching a medal in the process.

Christensen cleared the first two jumps with ease and passed 6-2 after two jumps before clearing 6-4 on the first try, putting himself in position to pick up a medal in his first appearance at the state meet.

It was a personal best for Christensen, who was pleased to show out in front of an atmosphere like that seen at Drake Stadium.

“It’s a great feeling, it’s a great atmosphere to compete at,” Christensen said. “It was a happy moment for myself, and I just kept on competing to get better.

“It gives you a lot of adrenaline and a big boost to go out and perform in front of everyone.”

He did so well, in fact, he had to rush back to State Center in an effort to play in at least part of the West Marshall baseball team’s Friday night doubleheader against Denver.

The boys’ distance medley relay of Seth Larsen, Parker Reese, Caden Vellinga and Nick Thompson had a close call with the medal stand, coming from heat two to finish ninth with a time of 3:40.09, coming less than two-tenths of a second from eighth place and outperforming their qualifying seed of 16th — as well as cutting three seconds off the time that got them to state.

In the first track event of the afternoon, West Marshall’s distance medley relay of Adisyn Young, Audrey Girard, Lilly Buck and Emelia Hauser finished 13th with a time of 4:24.79. The Trojans outperformed their seeding of 17th in the process.

In the girls’ high jump, freshman Kylee Schuler cleared 4-10 but was unable to clear 5 feet, finishing in a tie for 17th at her maiden state track and field voyage.

Hauser ran in the finals of the girls’ 400 hurdles and finished in 21st with a time of 1:11.48.

West Marshall’s last event of the day was the 4×400 girls’ relay, and finished in a tie for 21st with a 4:16.93. The Trojans came into the event with the ninth-best qualifying time.

West Marshall does not have any events on the schedule for Saturday.

The one East Marshall event of Friday was in the girls’ 400 hurdles finals, with Morgan Neuroth finishing 22nd thanks to a time of 1:12.42.

Ellie Hull runs in the 800 finals and the 1,500 finals on Saturday.

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