Day one of the State Co-Ed Track and Field Meet was a success for Marion County athletes as 34 events were in action and 13 of those earned medals, including one state championship.

Highlighting the day was Twin Cedars Lindsay Hoehns who repeated as the Class 1A Girls Long Jump State Champion with a jump of 18 feet, 3 ¼ inches, then finished third in the Class 1A Girls 400 meter dash an hour later with a new school record time of 58.13.

Pella’s Nadine Van Zomeren finished third in the Class 3A 400 Meter Dash, as did the Knoxville boys 4×800 relay team of Jamie Vanderveer, Blake Washington, Blake Wyatt and Alex Edwards.

Pella’s 4×800 boys team of Grant Gustafson, Todd Wegter, Zach Wittenberg and Richie Bales , Knoxville’s Harlan Sytsma in the Class 3A boys 400 meter dash, and PCM’s Jordan Wood in the Class 2A girls Long Jump all finished fifth, and Pella’s Zach Wittenberg finished sixth in the 3A boys 3200 meter run.

The Pella Christian boys earned two medals as the 4×800 relay team of Zach Vos, Josh Meyer, Devin Veenstra and Skyler Giddings finished seventh, and Vos was seventh in the Class 2A boys 400 meter dash.

Three other events guaranteed themselves of medals on Saturday by qualifying for finals in their respective events through preliminary races . Pella’s Brett Bogaard ran the fastest time in the Class 3A boys 200 meter dash prelims and the second fastest time in the 100 prelims and proved himself as a definite contender for a state championship in both events and PCM’s Shuttle Hurdle Relay team of Tyler Norwood, Cole Reese, Rand Hazelton and Joe Gilson ran the fifth fastest time in the Class 2A prelims advancing to the finals.

There were several other great performances that just missed out on earning medals including Chase Carlson of Pella Christian who finished 9th in the Class 2A 100 meter dash prelims and missed qualifying for the finals by .02, Austin King of Pella and Jasmin Schelhaas each missed a medal by one spot finishing ninth in their 400 meter dash races and the PCM girls Shuttle Hurdle Relay team missed qualifying for the finals by just .13.

After day one..the Knoxville boys are in a three way tie for fifth in the Class 3A team standings with 10 points while Pella is 12th with seven points. On the girls side Pella is tied for 14th with six points. In Class 2A the PCM girls are in a four way tie for 19th with four points, while the Pella Christian boys are in a foiur way tie for 20th with four points and in Class 1A the Twin Cedars girls are tied for 10th with six points.

Another full day of competition is scheduled for today at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. For results check kniakrls.com or tune to 92.1 FM KRLS for updates throughout the day.

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