Little Hawks take first place at Sherwood Relays
Make that 11 in a row.
For the 11th straight season, the City High girls' track team began their outdoor season with a bang. The Little Hawks took first place in the Sherwood Relays Wednesday night at Raffensperger Track in Iowa City. The home school has won all 11 years of the event's existence.
Multiple returning starters helped lead City to the victory, including key first place finishes in three of the four main relays.
"Last year, Mount Pleasant gave us a big push and it came down to the 4x400, so we figured they would be in the race as well," City coach Joe Graf said. "First and foremost, we wanted to win the meet and we were focused on Mount Pleasant. With it being so cold we knew we weren't going to get strong times for possible Drake (Relays) qualifying, but we thought we could at least get some good quality races in."
The Little Hawks posted wins in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays. They were second in the 4x800.
Sarah Plock continued her prep success with wins in the 100-yard dash and 400 hurdles. Plock won the state championship last year in the 400 hurdles.
Mary Arch won the 800, while Molly Shepherd crossed the finish line first in the 1500. Rose Gamamou was victorious in the high jump.
City accumulated 120 points on the night as a team. Bettendorf was second with 109, and Mount Pleasant was third with 96.
"Going into the meet, we really, really wanted to win," Plock said. "We've won so many years in a row, so there was a lot of pressure to win. Coming in, we knew Bettendorf and Mount Pleasant were going to be really strong teams. We knew it would be neck and neck the whole time. Every point counted."
Despite the results Wednesday, Graf noted there are some adjustments to be made.
"There's definitely some work to do," Graf said. "We need to tighten up some handoffs, clean up the exchanges between some girls. We're playing with some order of relays to see what works well with what girls. Our field events weren't the strongest tonight because of the weather, but I think there's potential there, too."
Class 4A will be a competitive landscape again this year.
Five teams finished within 22 points of each other for the top five spots at the state meet in 2014. Urbandale won state. City finished eighth.
But there is depth on the score sheet for Graf's club.
This could be an exciting spring for the Little Hawks.
"Our team has really good potential this year," Plock said. "I'm excited to get going in the outdoor meets. We just got a taste of it tonight. We need everyone to work together."
Reach Matt Cozzi at mcozzi@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5409, and follow him on Twitter at @matt_cozzi.
SHERWOOD RELAYS
• Team rankings – 1. City 120; 2. Bettendorf 109; Mount Pleasant 96; 4. Davenport Central 46.5; 5. Burlington 17.5.
• 3000 – 1. Haley Humphrey (B) 10:40.92; 3. Mary Arch (C) 11:06.86; 4. Celeste Chadwick (C) 12:07.77.
• 4x800 – 1. Bettendorf 10:27.33; 2. City (Fanta Traore, Addy Smith, Mollie Hansen, Kinsee Brands).
• 4x100 shuttle hurdle – 1. Mount Pleasant 1:07.77; 3. City (Anna Roemerman, Stella Thompson, Sara Blowers, Elke Windschitl) 1:13.30.
• 100 – 1. Sarah Plock (C) 12.73; 4. Delaney Johnson (C) 13.60.
• Distance medley – 1. City (Grace Brown, Sydney DePrenger, Bryn Hanrahan, Molly Shepherd) 4:33.74.
• 400 – 1. Taylor Mitchell (B) 1:02.31; 3. Sara Blowers (C) 1:07.50; 4. Marleigh Flanagan (C) 1:09.56.
• 4x200 – 1. City (Rose Gamamou, Delaney Johnson, Maddie DePrenger, Sarah Plock) 1:48.00.
• 100 hurdles – 1. Kelsi Phipps (MP) 15.70; 7. Anna Roemerman (C) 18.19; 8. Elke Windschitl (C) 18.25.
• 800 – 1. Mary Arch (C) 2:31.85; 6. Emily Bywater (C) 2:45.77.
• 200 – 1. Taylor Mitchell (B) 27.35; 2. Maddie DePrenger (C) 28.16; 6. Grace Brown (C) 29.32.
• 400 hurdles – 1. Sarah Plock (C) 1:06.67; 7. Stella Thompson (C) 1:19.26.
• 800 sprint medley – 1. Bettendorf 1:55.14; 2. City (Delaney Johnson, Bryn Hanrahan, Sara Blowers, Fanta Traore) 2:00.75.
• 1500 – 1. Molly Shepherd (C) 5:10.38; 4. Mollie Hansen (C) 5:24.02.
• 4x100 – 1. City (Delaney Johnson, Rose Gamamou, Bryn Hanrahan, Maddie DePrenger) 52.35.
• 4x400 – 1. City (Grace Brown, Maddie DePrenger, Sydney DePrenger, Sarah Plock) 4:15.60.
• Long jump – 1. Kelsi Phipps (MP) 16-03.50; 3. Anna Roemerman (C) 15-01.25; 5. Malika Franklin (C) 13-09.25.
• High jump – 1. Rose Gamamou (C) 5-00.00; 4. Cyan Vanderhoef (C) 4-08.00.
• Shot put – 1. Mary Wester (MP) 40-10.00; 5. Shannon Stamp (C) 28-01.50; 7. Luci Murphy (C) 26-05.00.
• Discus – 1. Maddie Schmidt (B) 87-11; 5. Michelle Jennings (C) 71-08; 11. Paige Kuepker (C) 51-10.