Roland-Story boys tie for eighth, girls 18th in 2A at state track: Norse girls golf returns to state

Roland-Story had a strong showing in Class 2A competition at the state co-ed track meet last Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

The Roland-Story boys tied South Hamilton for eighth place in the final 2A team standings with 23 points. Spirit Lake dominated the field with 92.5 points.

The Norse girls tied Dike-New Hartford for 18th place with 15 points. Mid-Prairie won the 2A girls team title with 65 points.

The boys placed in six events during the meet. The Norse picked up points in four relays and two individual events.

The Roland-Story girls earned a spot on the medal stand in three events.

Boys shine in relay events

The Norse boys placed second in the 4x100-meter relay, fourth in both the 4x400 and distance medley and seventh in the sprint medley during the meet. The only drawback in relays for Roland-Story was a disqualification in the 4x200 after initially coming in third Friday.

Will Bunn also finished fifth in the 2A boys long jump and Kale Lande took seventh in the open 400. Nate Johnson was 12th in the long jump and Eli Thorson was 14th in the 200 prelims and 18th in the 100.

"We pulled off a lot of PRs the last couple of days," Kale Lande said. "We've got to be happy with where we're at."

The Roland-Story boys lost to Williamsburg in a photo finish during the 2A boys 4x100. The Norse boys team of Johnson, Bunn, Gavin Carpenter and Thorson was just feet away from winning when a great final surge by Williamsburg's Owen Douglas on the anchor leg robbed them of a state championship.

"We PR'd which was good," Thorson said. "But that weight on our shoulders is going to be there for awhile."

Roland-Story ran a school-record time of 43.25 seconds. Williamsburg finished in 43.20.

Johnson said his team ran to its potential.

"We all got out as fast as we could and our handoffs were clean," Johnson said. "I don't think there was much more we could do. A PR and a new school record — we were all hoping to get first, but other than that there's not much more we could ask for."

It was the last race for every 4x100 runner except for Carpenter.

"I think going out like that is a heck of a job," Bunn said. "We worked all year for this. Closing out like this is good."

The 4x400 team, on the other hand, brings everyone back. Lande, Jonovan Wilkinson, Hesston Johnson and Carpenter ran a season-best time of 3:27.03.

"That race just brings a lot of energy," Carpenter said. "I think we all ran great."

The Roland-Story boys sprint medley team of Johnson, Bunn, Carpenter and Lande finished seventh Saturday in 1:36.31. On Thursday Lande and Johnson teamed with Cade Diehl and Ben Greenfield to run a season-best time of 8:26.71 in the 4x800 and place ninth — one spot away from a place on the stand.

The 4x200 team of Thorson, Wilkinson, Carpenter and Bunn were DQ'd after a lane line violation. They would have won a bronze medal.

Bunn placed in the top five of the 2A boys long jump for the second year in a row during Thursday's competition.

After placing third as a junior Bunn hit a peak jump of 22 feet, 0.75 inches Thursday. It was the best distance of his career.

“I jumped a PR, which is nice, but I wasn’t really hitting the board today,” Bunn said. “I knew I could’ve done a lot better. The guy that got first (Hinton's Beau DeRocher) – I knew I could’ve hit that. But I can’t complain. I’m just happy to be here.”

DeRocher took first and Clarinda's Isaac Jones came in second after they both jumped 22-4.75. DeRocher won after his second-best distance of 22-1 topped any of Jones' other throws.

West Sioux's Carter Bultman took third with a distance of 22-4.25. Anamosa's Jay Gatto jumped 22-3 to place fourth.

“The field this year was a little more balanced,” Bunn said. “They’re great athletes and jumpers and I was happy to be here with them.”

Johnson took 12th in the event with a jump of 20-4.

Lande ran the 400 race of his life during the final heat of the 2A boys finals Thursday. Lande clocked in with a PR time of 50.37 to place fifth.

"That's a big PR against a decent wind," Lande said. "I'm pretty happy with that."

Spirit Lake's Qai Hussey won the 2A boys 400 in 47.83.

Thorson ran the 200 prelims in 23.31 and the 100 prelims in 11.72.

Adalyn Sporleder delivers for Norse girls

Roland-Story freshman Adalyn Sporleder had quite the first experience at state. She obliterated her PR in the long jump to place fourth and helped the Norse girls take fourth in the distance medley and

Sporleder entered Thursday's 2A girls long jump competition ranked 13th with a distance of 16 feet, 6 inches. She ended up jumping 17-3.5.

“I was like, 'You’re not going to make the finals,' and surprisingly I did,” Sporleder said of the long jump. “Then I was like, 'OK ... we’re placing at state.'"

Sporleder's broke her old PR with a jump of 16-8 on her first attempt of the day. Two jumps later she hit the 17-3.5 mark to advance to the finals and end up fourth.

Clear Lake's Reese Brownlee won the 2A girls long jump with a distance of 18-7. West Liberty's Macy Daufeldt was second with a jump of 18-0.5 and New Hampton's Carlee Rochford edged out Sporleder for third with a distance of 17-6.75.

The Norse entered the meet with the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the distance medley. By the end of the race, they were the fourth-best team in 2A.

Sporleder teamed with Kennedy Petersen, Kamryn Lande and Lauryn Kilstofte to run a time of 4:17.31 in the distance medley Friday. Only Mid-Prairie (4:07.96), Van Meter (4:13.25) and Denver (4:14.64) were faster in 2A.

“Our goal was 4:20 and we beat that,” Petersen said. “I thought we did really good.”

Sporleder and Petersen got Roland-Story off to a great start after the two 200 legs. Lande kept the Norse in good position before handing off to Kilstofte, who ran the 800 split of her life to get the Norse in third behind Van Meter and Denver in the final heat — Mid-Prairie ran the winning time in the second heat.

“I got the baton in a really good spot,” Kilstofte said. “I was hoping we’d be there. That gave me a lot of confidence to perform well and I think I did.”

The Norse girls added a fifth-place finish in the 4x100 Saturday. Sporleder, Petersen, Reagan Faber and Lande ran a 51.23 to trail only Williamsburg's 49.91, Okoboji's 50.30, Underwood's 50.49 and Northeast Goose Lake's 51.07.

"I knew our team could do it," Petersen said. "To be in Lane 1 and seeded seventh in this race we didn't know what to expect. We did pretty good."

The Norse girls also earned points in the sprint medley Saturday by placing eighth. The team of Sporleder, Reagan Faber, Lande and Kilstofte finished in 1:53.53.

The girls 4x400 team of Madi Bauer, Mary Britten, Lande and Kilstofte ran a season-best time of 4:13.70 during Friday's prelims to place 15th.

Kilstofte also took 21st in the open 800 Friday with a PR time of 2:30.56. Freshman Claire Truesdell was 17th in the 2A 3,000 Thursday with a time of 11:59.23.

Madison Geise placed 11th in the 2A girls discus Friday. She had a throw of 111-6.

Roland-Story's Macy Friest took 15th in the 2A girls shot put with a throw of 34-9.75.

Norse return to state in girls golf

The Roland-Story girls golf team is headed back to state after winning the 2A regional final meet at the Nishna Hills Golf Club in Treynor May 18.

The Norse shot a 382 over 18 holes to edge Treynor's 385 for the championship. They punched their ticket to state for the second year in a row after placing second at last year's 2A meet in Marshalltown.

Roland-Story pulled off the feat despite losing Kate Rahfeldt, last year's individual medalist runner-up at state, to graduation.

Sophomore Makenna Carlson stepped up to win medalist at Treynor for Roland-Story. Carlson carded an 83 to top Treynor's Brooklyn Currin by three strokes for the top individual prize.

Ellie Erickson took fourth for Roland-Story with a 91. Mersadie Franklin tied for seventh with a 96 and Gabriella Wakefield rounded out the scoring with a 16th-place score of 112.

Courtney Schaiver tied for 17th with a round of 113 and Abby Cook tied for 20th with a 118 as the other varsity competitors for Roland-Story.

The 2A girls state meet takes place Thursday and Friday at the Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls.

R-S baseball team starts 1-2

The Roland-Story baseball team is off to a 1-2 start.

The Norsemen suffered a 1-0 loss at Gilbert May 16 and a 3-2 setback to Hampton-Dumont-CAL May 17 in Story City. They picked up their first victory May 18 by winning a 21-15 slugfest at East Marshall.

Alex Berends fired a two-hitter with 9 strikeouts and 2 walks going the distance in the loss to Gilbert. The only Tiger run came in the seventh inning.

Roland-Story was held to 2 hits by Gilbert's Eli Eldred and Coal Myers. Eldred got the win after striking out 10 in 5 innings.

Thomas Matthes doubled and Jackson Anthony singled for the only Roland-Story hits.

In the loss to HDC the Norsemen fell behind 3-0 and couldn't quite make up the difference. Matthes took the loss after giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks in 4 innings.

Anthony allowed 1 hit with 4 strikeouts in three scoreless innings of relief. Carter Loof doubled and scored, Matthew Phelan singled and scored and Brett Schmitz also had a single for Roland-Story at the plate.

In the victory over East Marshall the Norsemen broke a 15-15 tie with 6 runs in the top of the seventh. Dillon Lettow was 4-for-5 with a double, 2 runs and 3 RBIs and Matthes was 2-for-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs, Berends 3-for-5 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs and Phelan 1-for-2 with 3 walks and 4 runs to lead Roland-Story's explosive 16-hit attack.

Schmitz got the win against East Marshall after throwing 2 scoreless innings and giving up 2 hits and 3 walks with 6 strikeouts.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Roland-Story boys tie for eighth, girls 18th in 2A at state track