Patton, Shepherd shine at state track

DES MOINES — Murray junior Kate Patton and Corning senior Tiffany Shepherd racked up the medals at the Coed State Track Meet here Friday and Saturday, finishing with a combined medal count of seven.

Patton became a breakout start at the state meet, winning a medal in each of the four events she in which she competed, finishing eighth in the long jump and fifth in the 400 meters on Thursday, and capping off her junior campaign with a silver medal in the 100 meter dash and third in the 200 meter dash on Saturday.

Patton and Manson Northwest Webster junior Ellie Herzberg had a showdown in the 100 meter dash finals, with Herzberg coming out on top with a 12.61 compared to Patton’s 12.74.

“I knew Ellie was going to be really good,” Patton said. “She’s going to beat me out of the blocks for sure, but I was just hoping my sprint at the end would beat hers. And I felt like I was gaining on her, she just had too big a lead.”

Herzberg became just the fourth girl in Iowa high school history to win the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters in the same state meet.

If there’s good news for Patton knowing that Herzberg will be standing in her path toward a state championship next year, it’s that Patton knows exactly what she needs to do in order to win a state championship.

“I definitely want to be a state champion,” Patton said. “I need to get stronger, get in the weight room and work on blocks. A lot of it is just repetition, trying to get better and improving my times. I just need to work on blocks, because if I work on them, then I’ll be really good next year.”

Patton ran 26.35 in the 200 meter dash finals to finish behind Herzberg and Belle Plaine senior Emily Toennies.

Shepherd consistent

Meanwhile, Corning senior Tiffany Shepherd capped off a stellar high school career by finishing fifth in the 800 meter run and sixth in the 1,500 meter run on Saturday, adding to her sixth-place finish in the 3,000 meters on Thursday.

Shepherd ran 2:23.08 in the 800 meters and 5:01.54 in the 1,500 meters. In the 1,500 meters, Shepherd was running 12th with one lap to go and passed six runners in the final 400 meters.

She will continue her career at Morningside College next year.

Mount Ayr senior Madison Hosfield finished her career with a seventh-place finish in the 400 meter hurdles.

Hosfield, who got out well in the fast heat, was battling for the lead early in the race with the runner to her outside.

But coming into the final 100 meters, Griswold standout Rebekah Topham overtook Hosfield, and she lost one more position, finishing fourth in her heat, running 1:07.55.

“I knew that girl in lane six, I saw her and tried keeping up with her,” Hosfield said. “She kind of started spacing out around the second to last hurdle and that’s when the Topham girl came out. I just tried to finish strong and came in fourth in my heat.”

Getting to compete in the hurdles at the state meet a year after not being able to run the event because a hip injury was a satisfying way to end her career, Hosfield said.

“It’s great. Hurdles are my favorite,” she said. “I was so happy to get back into it. Then, winning districts and coming up to state with a good time, it was a really good feeling to be up here and running hurdles again on the track.”

Corning senior Carly Pappas finished eighth in the Class 1A discus competition to end her career with a medal.

Pappas launched a throw of 109-0 on her first attempt, which was enough to qualify her for finals.

That throw ended up being the mark she kept throughout her final five throws.

Murray finished 15th in the team standings with 19 points, while Corning was 24th with 11 points and Mount Ayr finished 49th with two points.

Coed State Track Meet

(area events and results from Friday and Saturday)

GIRLS

Class 1A

Team standings — 1. Griswold 45, 15. Murray 19, 24. Corning 11, 49. Mount Ayr 2.

Discus — 8. Carly Pappas, Corning, 109-0.

High jump — 18. Andrea Boswell, Corning, 4-10; 18. Naomi Richards, Mount Ayr, 4-10.

Distance medley relay — 12. Corning (Ashtyn Grossnickle, Sydney Maynes, Steph Shuler, Tiffany Shepherd), 4:26.11; 15. Mount Ayr (Madison Hosfield, Paige Daughton, Leah Klejch, Adrian Richards), 4:26.94.

400 meter hurdles — 7. Madison Hosfield, Mount Ayr, 1:07.55; 13. Paige Daughton, Mount Ayr, 1:09.63.

4x100 relay — 20. East Union (Chay Blondowski, Rochelle Means, Kali Mertens, Brittany Malone), 53.13.

4x400 relay — 12. Mount Ayr (Paige Daughton, Leah Klejch, Adrian Richards, Madison Hosfield), 4:15.99.

800 meter run — 5. Tiffany Shepherd, Corning, 2:23.08; 22. Morgan James, Orient-Macksburg, 2:35.95.

100 meter dash — 2. Kate Patton, Murray, 12.74.

200 meter dash — 3. Kate Patton, Murray, 26.35.

1,500 meter run — 6. Tiffany Shepherd, Corning, 5:01.54.