Roland-Story exceeds expectations in girls distance medley at Iowa state track meet
Roland-Story met its goals and then some in the Class 2A girls distance medley relay at the state track meet Friday in Des Moines.
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.
The Roland-Story quartet of Adalyn Sporleder, Kennedy Petersen, Kamryn Lande and Lauryn Kilstofte ran a time of 4:17.31. Only Mid-Prairie (4:07.96), Van Meter (4:13.25) and Denver (4:14.64) were faster.
“Our goal was 4:20 and we beat that,” Petersen said. “I thought we did really good.”
Sporleder, a fourth-place finisher in the 2A girls long jump Thursday, 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.
More: How Ames pulled off a thrilling win in the 4A girls 4x200 Friday at state track
“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.”
Sporleder might be a good luck charm for Roland-Story at state. She entered Thursday's 2A girls long jump competition ranked 13th with a distance of 16 feet, 6 inches, but ended up placing fourth with a personal-record jump of 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.'"
The Roland-Story boys were looking to follow up the girls with a strong showing in the 4x200. But the Norsemen caught a tough break and ended up one of two teams disqualified.
Madison Geise took 11th in the 2A girls discus for Roland-Story Friday. She had a throw of 111-6.
Nevada boys 4x200, Ballard girls distance medley place 14th in 3A
The Nevada boys 4x200 team finished 14th in Class 3A. The team of Billy Gibbons, Karter Beving, Caleb Kooiker and Caeden DaSilva ran a season-best time of 1:32.28.
"We threw this 4x200 team together late in the season," Beving said. "We were battling injuries. We just came out here, had fun and gave it our all."
DaSilva, a finalist in the 3A boys 200, was part of a third-place 4x200 team as a freshman and a seventh-place team his junior year at Nevada. He was happy to run the race one last time in a Cub uniform.
"I love coming here every year and running with the boys," DaSilva said. "We did what we could today."
More: No competition for Noe: How Ballard's Paityn Noe dominated the 3A field in the girls 3,000
The Ballard girls distance medley team also placed 14th Friday. The Bomber team of Kate Miller, Katie Tollefson, Kate Huisinga and Paityn Noe ran a time of 4:23.20.
The Nevada distance medley team of Kylie Taylor, Stefany Riera Ramones, Mady Gibson and Tori Meinecke would've moved up a spot or two after entering the race ranked 24th in 3A, but the Cubs were disqualified.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Roland-Story takes 4th in 2A girls distance medley at Iowa state track
