Union freshman Hinley Mast anchors the girls shuttle hurdle relay team at the Class 2A state qualifying meet in Dike last Thursday. Mast and her teammates Ava Mills, Reagan Sorensen, and Jailyn Petersen took silver in the event with a time of 1:08.15 thereby automatically qualifying for the state track meet in Des Moines this week. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

DIKE – It was a very, very good night to be a Knight last week Thursday in Dike.

Despite several heavy, cold downpours, Union’s girls track and field team mopped up the competition to take the district crown at a Class 2A state qualifying meet by a margin of more than 40 points over Aplington-Parkersburg, while the Knights boys team captured runner-up and vastly improving over last season’s district performance.

Lady Knights rack up District points

For the second year in a row, Union’s girls earned the title of district champions at Dike, recording multiple automatic state qualifying finishes including senior Ava Mills’ gold in the high jump, senior Brigitte Rohrer’s gold in shot put, first place in the 4×800 relay (Brynn Albertsen, Kate Carlson, Lily Lorenzen, Lauren Youngblut), Mills’ silver finish in long jump, Rohrer’s silver finish in discus, and second place in the 4×100 shuttle hurdle relay (Ava Mills, Reagan Sorensen, Jailyn Petersen, Hinley Mast).

Union’s at-large qualifiers who learned on Saturday they would also be heading to the state track and field meet include Brynn Albertsen in the 800-meter run, Amilia Condon in the 1,500- and 3,000-meter runs, Lauren Youngblut in the 3,000-meter run, and Jailyn Petersen in the 100-meter hurdles.

The Union girls track and field team claimed the District championship title for a second year running in Dike on May 9. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

For the district title, Union girls competed against 11 other teams, scoring 133 points total and beating runner-up Aplington-Parkersburg by a whopping 42 points.

Other top finishes at the District meet by the Knights included a fourth-place finish in the 4×400 (Kate Carlson, Ruby Parson, Brynn Albertsen, Lauren Youngblut), sixth place in both the 4×100 and the 4×200, Jailyn Petersen’s third-place finish and Ava Mills’ fifth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, Katie Jackson’s fifth and Hinley Mast’s sixth in the 400-meter hurdles, Kate Carlson’s third and Ruby Parson’s sixth in the 400-meter dash, Brynn Albertsen’s third in the 800-meter run, Amilia Condon’s third in the 1,500-meter run, Condon’s third and Lauren Youngblut’s fourth in the 3,000-meter run, a fourth-place finish in the distance medley (Bianca Grimm, Anabelle Siech, Brynn Albertsen, Amilia Condon), and Taylen Smith’s fourth-place finish in the long jump.

The girls’ 4×800 district gold performance was particularly noteworthy. After having just finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run amid a miserable downpour, Lauren Youngblut went on to anchor Union’s winning 4×800, crossing the finish line with a time of 10:05.21 and just edging out A-P in the final lap.

At the 2A state track and field meet, Union athletes are seeded as follows:

*Ava Mills 15th in high jump; 17th in long jump

Kate Carlson races toward the handoff to Lily Lorenzen during the girls 4x800 race last Thursday in Dike. The Knights took gold in the event and are headed to the state meet this week. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

*Brigitte Roher 6th in shot put; 14th in discus

*4×100 shuttle hurdle relay 6th

*4×800 relay 11th

*Brynn Albertsen 20th in 800-meter

*Amilia Condon 21st in 1,500-meter; 17th in 3,000-meter

Knights distance runners Lauren Youngblut, left, and Amilia Condon, center, run in a downpour during the 3,000-meter run last Thursday in Dike. Both are heading to the state meet this week in the event after qualifying at large over the weekend. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

*Lauren Youngblut 20th in 3,000-meter

*Jailyn Petersen 19th in 100-meter hurdles

Knights boys take silver, vanquish last year’s District performance

Last year at Dike, Union’s boys finished in eighth place out of a dozen teams by scoring 46 points. This year the gentlemen Knights pulverized that 2023 performance by taking second with 96.5 points behind the champions Oelwein with 127 points.

“Overall our 2nd place team finish was great for our team. It’s been a ton of fun watching our kids battle through a tough season,” boys head coach Scott Denner told the Telegraph in an email over the weekend. “Losing six meets to weather could have really hampered our growth, but I’m very proud of how we finished!”

Senior Brock Ruzicka, right, tears toward the finish line as the anchor for Union’s 4x800 relay team last Thursday during the Class 2A state qualifier held in Dike. Thanks to Ruzicka’s incredible finish, the team including Sawyer Spence, Cameron Mullen, and Brayden Bohnsack automatically qualified for state in the event with a time of 8:20.42, finishing less than a second behind champions Aplington-Parkersburg. Prior to this season, Ruzicka had not run track since middle school. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Five of Union’s relay teams will be heading to the state meet this year including the sprint medley (Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Levi Hadachek, Mason Mullen), 4×800 (Sawyer Spence, Cameron Mullen, Brayden Bohnsack, Brock Ruzicka), shuttle hurdle (Briar Mast, Justice Luke, Andrew Sadler, Logan Rosauer), 4×100 (Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Logan Rosauer, Garrett Kaalberg), and the 4×200 (Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Luke Winkelpleck, Mason Mullen).

Individual athletes also headed to State include Eric Neipert in discus, Logan Rosauer in long jump, and Justice Luke in 110 high hurdles.

Coach Denner provided comments regarding each of his qualifying teams/individuals which are printed below.

The Iowa girls and boys high school state track and field meet is set to take place this week May 16-18 in Des Moines on the storied Drake Stadium Blue Oval.

Sprint medley

Senior hurdler Logan Rosauer anchors the Knights boys shuttle hurdle relay team at the Class 2A state qualifying meet in Dike last Thursday. Rosauer and his teammates Briar Mast, Justice Luke, Andrew Sadler took silver in the event with a time of 1:03.29 – less than a second off Oelwein’s first-place finish – thereby automatically qualifying for the state track meet in Des Moines this week. Rosauer also qualified for state this season as a member of Union’s 4x100 boys relay team and in the long jump. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Our sprint medley team set the school record last week at Conference and still got 4th. Two of the teams that beat us were at our District (in Dike). We ran great, and were able to get a second place automatic bid due to a DQ by Dike.”

4×800 relay

“This team had a goal of running with Alburnette and AP. We knew on paper each kid could match the counterpart they were racing against, and it simply came down to heart. It was was a true TEAM effort. Two basketball players, two wrestlers, all came together to run PRs on their individual legs to cut 15 seconds off of our previous best!”

Shuttle hurdle

“Our shuttle team was 2nd place coming in, and came out 2nd place. We had some heartache last year on this same track, so I was extremely proud of this team shaking off last year’s performance and redeeming themselves with a PR!”

4×200 relay

“With Levi (Hadachek), we thought we had a chance to place at state. Without Levi, we knew we all had to step up and run our best to qualify for State. I was so proud of Luke Winkelpleck for stepping up. Each runner had incredible splits and great handoffs. The desire that our senior, Mason Mullen, showed at the end was inspiring. We got edged out for 2nd place, but ran a good enough time to still qualify!”

Telegraph note: Earlier in the meet, sprinter Levi Hadacheck suffered a hamstring injury during the 100-meter dash and was unable to compete following the event. Per Coach Denner, “[I]t was absolutely devastating to see Levi pull up with a hamstring in his 100. He cares and prepares for track like few I have ever seen. My heart hurt for him so much.”

4×100 relay

“Again, without Levi, we knew we would have to run a perfect race to qualify for state. The first three legs were perfect, and I can’t express how excited I was for our Freshman, Garrett Kaalberg, when he got the baton in second place and blazed his last 100 to anchor the team to a second-place finish and punch the ticket!”

110-meter hurdles

“Justice Luke and Logan Rosauer were 2nd and 3rd coming into the meet. They had an amazing battle, and Justice ended up 2nd place – he has really improved steadily all season, it was well deserved. Logan narrowly missed qualifying on time, which was really hard as he qualified last year, but illness and a hamstring injury prevented him from making the progress we wanted throughout the season.”

Long jump

“It was great to see Logan (Rosauer) qualify in this event. Again, he hasn’t been able to jump much this year due to injury and illness, but he was super consistent all year, and I really think he can do well at state!”

Discus

“Eric Neipert was probably the biggest surprise of the night. His throw of just over 138 feet got him 2nd place on a rainy night to qualify automatically. He was ranked 5th coming into the night, so to come out 2nd place was a testament to his preparation and mental fortitude.”

Union sprinter Levi Hadacheck, fourth from right, pictured moments before suffering a hamstring injury in the boys 100-meter dash last Thursday in Dike. Knights boys head coach Scott Denner said of Hadacheck's injury: [I]t was absolutely devastating to see Levi pull up with a hamstring in his 100. He cares and prepares for track like few I have ever seen. My heart hurt for him so much.” Hadacheck will still make an appearance at the state meet this week as a member of the boys sprint medley team. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Junior hurdler Justice Luke competes in the second leg of the Knights boys shuttle hurdle relay team at the Class 2A state qualifying meet in Dike last Thursday. Luke and his teammates Briar Mast, Andrew Sadler, and Logan Rosauer took silver in the event with a time of 1:03.29 – less than a second off Oelwein’s first-place finish – thereby automatically qualifying for the state track meet in Des Moines this week. Luke also qualified for state this season in the boys 110 high hurdles. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER