The 2025 Iowa Girls and Boys State Track Meet is underway from Drake Stadium in Des Moines, as day one is in the books after Thursday’s session.
In the morning class 2A/3A session, Algona junior Max Nevitt proved that third time is the charm, earning a state medal in the boys class 3A discus in his third career state appearance in the event. Nevitt eclipsed 161 feet for the first time in his career, as his throw of 161-02 was good for sixth place. Nevitt was sitting in the ninth and final qualifying spot for finals heading into his third throw, but was able to easily secure three more throws by improving on his 151-11 from his first throw of the meet, as his mark would stand through the finals and keep him in sixth place. Nevitt had previously finished 20th and 14th in class 3A in his other two state appearances in the discus.
Algona sophomore Will Limbaugh would take 22nd in the discus throw in his first state appearance with a mark of 133-08 after fouling on his first two attempts.
On the track, the Algona boys sprint crew put two athletes through to Saturday’s finals. In the 100 meter preliminary round, Will Weichert placed 7th in a personal best time of 10.82 seconds to move through to the next round, using a strong start out of the blocks to establish himself as one of the frontrunners in his heat. After running in the second of three heats, Weichert had to sweat through the final heat, as his time was ranked 6th after two heats, with the top eight advancing to the final. Only one athlete from heat three would better the Algona junior’s time however, moving him onto Saturday.
In the 200 meter preliminaries, it would be junior Evan Allie punching his ticket to the final for the second straight year. After placing 8th in the 200 meters in class 3A last season, Allie would record the 4th best mark of the prelims and finish second in heat two in 21.78 seconds.
Running just one lane to the inside of Allie in lane two was sophomore Tate Garman, who clocked a time of 22.69 seconds, which would land him in 12th place overall.
In the girls 100 meter preliminaries, Natalie Johnson made a strong bid to qualify for finals, but came up just short. The Algona school record holder recorded her 2nd best time of the season in 12.45, but would finish in 10th place, with the top eight times moving to finals. The eighth place time in the prelims was 12.42 seconds, leaving Johnson just .03 seconds out of Saturday’s 100 meter final.
The Algona girls team also had the 4×800 meter relay of Charli Dodds, Andi Jensen, Mara Davis, and Macy Knapp competing in the timed finals. The Bulldogs placed 24th in 10 minutes and 9 seconds. Dodds would lead off the relay with a 2:26 split, followed by Jensen with a 2:36, Davis with a 2:38, and Knapp with a 2:27. The race marked Algona’s 4th straight state appearance the 4×800 meters, with Jensen taking part in the relay at state all four years of her high school career and Knapp being on the relay for the last three.
Another final on the track would be the 400 meter dash, contested in three heats against time. Algona senior Ashton Moreno made his second straight state appearance in the event, finishing 21st in 52.82 seconds.
In the field, Algona sophomore Reagan Haynes placed 19th in the girls discus with a throw of 107-07. Bulldog sophomore Maya Lentz competed in the girls high jump, but did not clear the opening bar of 4-10.
Moving into the afternoon class 1A/4A session, West Bend-Mallard junior Tyra Schupbach would continue to re-write the school record book.
Schupbach earned her third career medal in the 3000 meters after finishing 6th and 5th the previous two years, doing it with a third place finish that earned her a spot on the podium. The final time of 10:27 broke her own school record of 10:40. The Wolverine junior executed the race in her typical fashion, positioning herself in the main chase pack of the race with a blistering pace early, then withstanding a big move at the mile mark that broke apart the pack and separated the second and third place runners from the rest of the race. After running in third place for most of the second half of the race and opening up a 15 second gap to fourth place with two laps left, Schupbach began to feel the effects of the early pace. Starmont’s Lauren Krogmann closed the 15 second gap down to 13 on the second to last lap, and nearly erased all 13 seconds on the final lap, coming within .06 of a second of knocking Schupbach off the podium. However, the fast early pace paid off, as Schupbach held on for third place, earning a spot on the state podium.
In the very same 3000 meter race, Bishop Garrigan freshman Julia Swift took a different approach. Swift started off at a more conservative pace that had her near the back of the 24 runner field for the early stages of the race. Swift would gradually pick off runners throughout the ensuing laps, and unleased a finishing kick of 82 seconds over the final lap, her fastest 400 meter split of the race. By the end of the race, Swift found herself in 13th place with a new personal best time of 11:14.
Bishop Garrigan also had freshman Madelyn Tigges racing in the timed final of the 400 meters. Tigges cruised to victory in the first heat in 1:00.20 seconds, maintaining a strong pace in the late stages of the race to pull away from the competition. After that, Tigges would have to play the waiting game, watching the final two heats to see if her time was enough to place within the top eight and earn a state medal. Ultimately, Tigges had to settle for ninth place, as one runner in the second heat and seven in the first heat would cross the line underneath 60 seconds to move ahead of the Golden Bear freshman on the leaderboard.
West Bend-Mallard sophomore Maddie Fehr began a busy meet with the 100 and 200 meter dash preliminary rounds. In the 200 meters, Fehr narrowly missed out on qualifying for Saturday’s final, clocking a season best of 26.33 second that left her in 9th place, one spot out of moving on, and just .06 second behind the eighth place time. Approximately two hours later, Fehr reversed her fortunes in the 100 meter dash, finishing in 12.72 seconds to take the eighth and final qualifying spot, just one-hundredth of a second ahead of the ninth place finisher.
The Bishop Garrigan boys track and field team had their first event of the meet with the 4×800 meter relay. The team of Thadd Kollasch, Carter McGregor, CJ McGregor, and Andrew Lichter ran one second faster than their previous best time of the season, finishing 14th in 8:36 in the timed finals. Kollasch opened up the Golden Bear relay team with a 2 minute 10 second split, CJ McGregor followed with his relay leg in 2:12, Carter McGregor’s carry on the third leg took 2 minutes and 8 seconds, while Lichter capped off the relay with a 2:04 split. The Golden Bears were 14th place after having the 24th fastest qualifying time from last weeks 1A state qualifying meets.
The West Bend-Mallard girls 4×800 meter relay continued what has nearly become an annual tradition of competing in the class 1A state meet. The team of Addie Montag, Lilly Morey, Tyra Schupbach, and Allie Fehr clocked a new season best of 10:20 to place 17th. Montag led the relay off in 2 minutes 40 seconds on the opening leg, Morey followed with a 2:37 split, Schupbach ran her leg in 2:33 under two hours after racing the 3000 meters, and Fehr anchored with a 2:29 split.
Day two of state track and field will pick back up on Friday morning at 9 from Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Updates from the meet and interviews with the athletes can be heard on KLGA 92.7 FM.
Athlete Interviews
Max Nevitt – Algona – Boys Class 3A Discus
Will Limbaugh – Algona – Boys Class 3A Discus
Will Weichert – Algona – Boys Class 3A 100 Meter Preliminaries
Natalie Johnson – Algona – Girls Class 3A 100 Meter Preliminaries
Ashton Moreno – Algona – Boys Class 3A 400 Meter Final
Evan Allie & Tate Garman – Algona – Boys Class 3A 200 Meter Preliminaries
Algona Girls Class 3A 4×800 Meter Relay (Charli Dodds, Andi Jensen, Mara Davis, Macy Knapp)
Tyra Schupbach – West Bend-Mallard – Girls Class 1A 3000 Meter Run
Julia Swift – Bishop Garrigan – Girls Class 1A 3000 Meter Run
Madelyn Tigges – Bishop Garrigan – Girls Class 1A 400 Meter Final
Bishop Garrigan Boys Class 1A 4×800 Meter Relay (Thadd Kollasch, CJ McGregor, Carter McGregor, Andrew Lichter)
West Bend-Mallard Girls Class 1A 4×800 Meter Relay (Addie Montag, Lilly Morey, Tyra Schupbach, Allie Fehr)
Maddie Fehr – West Bend-Mallard – Girls Class 1A 200 Meter Dash Preliminaries
Maddie Fehr – West Bend-Mallard – Girls Class 1A 100 Meter Dash Preliminaries
