T-R PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER - Grundy Center’s Emerson Vokes, left, pushes down the homestretch during the distance medley relay, bringing the Spartans home in a time of 3 minutes, 38.43 seconds at Thursday’s state-qualifyer meet in Grundy Center.

GRUNDY CENTER — A windy Thursday turned out well for many area athletes at one of eight state-qualifying sites in Class 2A.

Having the home-crowd advantage, the Spartans took full advantage by automatically qualifying seven girls events and 12 boys events at the meet.

Over hurdles, through wind, off to state

While jumping over hurdles may seem daunting in itself, the added layer of 35 mile-per-hour wind gusts added an extra challenge for the Spartan quartet of Tiernan Vokes, Devin Hinders, Jacob Hoy and Pete Lebo in the shuttle hurdle relay.

Qualifying in a time of 1 minute, 1.10 seconds, Grundy Center’s lineup narrowly avoided disaster on the second leg with junior Devin Hinder. Hinder clipped his previously injured ankle near the end of his bout over 10 hurdles.

“I haven’t gone against a bunch of wind this season,” Hinders said. “It was definitely a little different for me, it messed up my groove.”

Coming into the day, Grundy was seeded fifth in 2A. With qualifying out of the way, the upperclassman quartet turned their focus to breaking a minute at state.

“We hope to get under a minute,” Hinders aid. “We know we can, it just takes a big effort from all of us.”

Emerson Vokes trades with Torres

Junior Emerson Vokes had a busy night, qualifying in all three events he contested. The only thorn in the side for the reigning 2A cross country champion was fellow junior Alex Torres of Vinton-Shellsburg.

Vokes separated from Torres in the sixth lap of the 3,200-meter run and won in a time of 9:59.04 over Torres’ in 10:03.62.

In the distance medley, the two clashed over the final 800 leg with Vokes holding off his Viking rival by two seconds as Grundy won the race in 3:38.43. The win qualified Grant Newton, Brody Zinkula, Brayden Wallis and Emerson Vokes.

In the final distance showdown of the night, Vokes and Torres showcased a much more tactical affair in the 1,600. Coming through the halfway split in roughly 2:15, the duo were well within their means, both possessing times nearly 10 seconds faster than the pace they were running.

The pace lagged slightly in the third lap before becoming a foot race in the final quarter mile. With Vokes and Torres neck-and-neck down the home stretch, Torres mustered a touch more than Vokes, edging out Vokes before the line finishing in 4:30.39 and 4:30.66 respectively.

After the race Vokes told a coach, “I needed that”.

Shaking off the defeat Vokes reflected briefly before setting his sights to state.

“He got me in the kick in the last hundred but I don’t think that kick would be there if we didn’t take it out so slow,” he said. “I learned to run faster next Saturday”.

Storjohann sets sights on state title

With a win at Drake over defending 2A state champ Noelle Steines of Tipton, Grace Storjohann rode her momentum through districts and off to state. Qualifying earlier in the evening in both the sprint and distance medley relays, Storjohann cleaned up in her signature event, the 800-meter run.

Staying relaxed and “pretty in control”, Storjohann ran fast enough to win and also qualify for the fast heat at state, winning in a time of 2:23.27.

After the race, all questions turned towards the looming matchup of Storjohann versus Steines on the blue oval. Storjohann happily responded, showing her continued love for challenges.

“Track wouldn’t be fun if there wasn’t competition,” she said. “I do the same thing in wrestling, it’s just fun to compete.”

Steines qualified for the fast heat, guaranteeing the showdown of 2A’s two fastest 800 competitors.

Later in the evening Storjohann qualified in the 4×400, setting up 4-for-4 events next weekend.

Hull’ing off to state – East Marshall sophomore PRs

In arguably the grittiest race of the night, Sydney Hull of East Marshall pulled off a daring race plan to qualify herself in the 1,500. With a personal-record time of 5:09.55 coming into that race, Hull elapsed that by running 5:05.15.

Taking the race out from the gun, Hull went through the first 700 meters on 4:50 pace. With no one daring to follow the vicious pace, Hull ran solo and held on.

“It was planned out, I wanted to push myself to hit a PR and hopefully get that auto-spot,” she said. “The PR came with the job today.”

Another personal record “coming with the job” was Hull’s performance in the 800, where she shaved off two seconds to run 2:24.92 and qualify for the fast heat next Saturday.

Area Qualifiers

GIRLS

West Marshall

High jump – Kylee Schuler

3,000 – Addie Thompson

East Marshall

Shot put – Ashtyn Wheater

100 – Cora Talbert

800 – Sydney Hull

1,500 – Sydney Hull

Distance medley

Shuttle hurdle

Grundy Center

High jump – Allison Koch

100 – Ava Heeren

400 – Maddy Hendershot

800 – Grace Storjohann

400 hurdles – Evelyn Geerdes

4×100

4×400

Sprint medley

Distance medley

BOYS

West Marshall

400 – Jace Eich, Evan Siegert

Sprint medley

East Marshall

400 meter dash – Cael Curphy

Shuttle hurdle relay

Grundy Center

200 – Judd Jirovsky

400 – Brayden Davie

1,600 – Emerson Vokes

3,200 – Emerson Vokes

110 hurdles – Tiernan Vokes, Pete Lebo

400 hurdles – Tiernan Vokes

4×100

4×200

4×400

Distance medley

Sprint medley

Shuttle hurdle relay