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Five things to watch for from Burlington-are athletes Thursday at the state track meet

matt levins, the hawk eye
·4 min read
New London's Carter Allen competes in the discus throw, during the Drake Relays, on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at Drake Stadium, in Des Moines.
New London's Carter Allen competes in the discus throw, during the Drake Relays, on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at Drake Stadium, in Des Moines.

DES MOINES — The New London High School boys track and field team has its eyes set on the big prize, bringing home the Class 1A state team championship.

With 15 event qualified for the coed state track and field meet, which gets under way Thursday and wraps up Saturday at Drake Stadium, the Tigers certainly have the capability to racked up points in a big hurry.

In order to accomplish their goal, the Tigers will need to perform at a high level, both individually and as a team, from start to finish.

Here are five things to watch from from Burlington-area athletes and teams on opening day Thursday.

Tigers on the prowl

New London begins its quest for a state championship bright and early when senior Alexander Julian. Julian comes in with the second-fastest qualifying time of 10 minutes, 19.37 seconds and looks to get the Tigers off on the right foot.

At 11:30 a.m., senior Carter Allen will look to win the first of what he hopes will be two state championships in the throwing events. Allen comes in with the best qualifying throw in the shot put at 53 feet. He has the third-best throw overall in Class 1A at 53-2.

At 12:20 p.m., the Tigers will wraps up their scoring events for the day with the 4x800 relay. The team of Kade Benjamin, Rylan Martin, Seth Bailey and Julian qualified in 8:33.07, the fourth-fastest qualifying time. They have the second-best overall time in 1A this season at 8:19.28.

Release the Hounds

Burlington will hit the blue oval with three events.

At 9 a.m., senior Kanyae Baker will compete in the high jump. He cleared 6-1 to qualify and has a personal best of 6-2. He will look to be the first BHS boys high jumper to medal in that event since Justin Randall won back-to-back state championships in 2012 and 2013.

Shariah Hart and Christella Boyer will compete in the preliminaries of the Class 4A girls 100 at 12:50 p.m..

Then at 1:20 p.m., freshman Sophie Brown will compete in the 400. She has the 23rd-best qualifying time at 1:02.36. Boyer then will hop in the the BHS van and hightail it back to Burlington to play in the Grayhounds' Class 2A regional quarterfinal girls soccer match against Clinton at 6 p.m. at Bracewell Stadium.

Brumbaugh poised to go back-to-back

Brumbaugh, a senior at Mount Pleasant High School, could be going for her third state championship in the shot put this week if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. Brumbaugh opens the weekend with the Class 3A discus competition at 2 p.m. today. She will be joined by West Burlington-Notre Dame senior Maisey Belger, who is making her second appearance at state.

Brumbaugh qualified in the discus with the third-best throw of 134-1. That broke the Panthers' school record by nearly two feel and shattered Brumbaugh's previous career best by 15 feet.

Brumbaugh is capable of winning the event and certainly bringing home a medal to start her final weekend of high school track and field before heading to Iowa State.

The more, the merrier

There will be plenty of action to watch in the Class 3A girls high jump pit at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

West Burlington-Notre Dame seniors Katy Stephens and Josie Bentz will be in the field, as will Fort Madison sophomore Aija Jenkins and Mount Pleasant sophomore Josie Gilmore.

Stephens, who placed sixth in the high jump as a freshmen, is among the favorites after clearing 5-4 at the state qualifying meet. Bentz, who has been hobbled by a sprained ankle, tied for ninth last year at 5-2, while Jenkins tied for 19th at 4-10. Gilmore will be making her first appearance at state.

London Warmuth of ADM and Thea Banning of Winterset each cleared 5-5 at state qualifying meets to lead the pack.

Motivated Mediapolis ready to run

Shaken by the tragic news of the sudden passing of 2005 Mediapolis graduate Miah Keller, the Bulldogs will try to ease their pain and provide some much-needed distraction for the rest of the community.

The girls will be in action at 5 p.m. for the Class 2A 4x800, with the boys 4x800 set to compete at 5:50 p.m.

At 7:20 p.m., Kadin Salek will wrap up the day's action when he competes in the Class 2A boys 400-m

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: New London, Brumbaugh among those in action on opening day