Marley Guthmiller was the pole vault champion at the State B Track & Field Meet in Rapid City.
One of the annual goals of Ipswich's storied high school girls and boys track and field program under head coach Todd Thorson would be the combined girls and boys championship at the state meet. And even with the new State B participation limits, the 2021 Tigers certainly did not disappoint.
The girls were seventh in their team standings with 23 points and the IHS boys were ninth in theirs with 27 points. (Colman-Egan easily won the girls' team title 116 to 66 over runners-up Dell Rapids St. Mary and Hanson claimed the boys team crown 79 to 78 over Viborg-Hurley in a much closer race that actually went down to the final event.)
Eighteen of the IHS girls' team points occurred in an event that has traditionally done quite well at the B - the pole vault! Ten of them were obtained by Marley Guthmiller in first at 9-06 and teammate Kaitlyn Williams placed second with a 9-03 vault. Believe it or not that IHS seventh grader Guthmiller was only seeded 14th, but defied those odds with that nine ft. six-inch personal best height. And Guthmiller would indeed become the Lady Tigers' fourth-ever State B pole vault champion.
The rest of the IHS girls' points were also recorded in field events. Kaitlyn Geditz was sixth in the discus with her 111-04 throw. And Gracie Lange placed seventh in the high jump measured at 4-11.
Meanwhile a majority of the first through eighth-placing boys' events were accomplished on the track, but the Tigers did come away with a third-place discus spin by Eric Severson at 144-08 and a seventh-place discus effort by Zach Geditz at 132-07.
They were indeed second in the 4x200 meter relay that was ran by Dylan Owens, Carson Gohl, Matthew Hettich and Ty Kadlec in 1:33.03. They added a third-place effort in the 4x100 at :44.37 (Dylan Owens, Carson Gohl, Tyler Hettich, Ty Kadlec). Josh McQuarie provided five more points with his fourth-place 110-meter hurdles finish at :15.52.
The IHS girls' seniors alphabetically were Hailey Bierman, Katelyn Geditz, Lindsey Grabowska, Halle Heinz, Paige Mehlberg and Bailey Pitz. The boys were Matthew Hettich, Josh McQuarie, Dylan Owens, Eric Severson and Tyler Tran.
Reader Comments(0)