The Tulip City high schools will be sending a busload of athletes to this week’s State Track and Field meet in Des Moines, but one athlete wasn’t sure if he’d even compete this spring, but now, will have a chance at earning multiple relay titles and to help his team win a championship.

Reece Thoreson is a junior with the Pella Dutch, and after tearing his ACL last fall, had no clue if he could run in any events, let alone if he’d be ready by the late summer to rejoin the football team. Thoreson was a 2019 state qualifier as a freshman in the shuttle hurdle relay.

Thoreson is now a member of the top seeded 4×400 and 4×110 hurdle relays, as well as the distance medley relay.

“It’s been a journey, I just remember when I tore my ACL, I was thinking of track this spring and wondering if I could get back to it, but my teammates have really helped me through that, and I’m really excited for state.”

Hear more from the state qualifiers at Pella High School on today’s Let’s Talk Pella, and more from Thoreson as well as the rest of the area’s track and field state competitors heading to the famous Blue Oval at Drake Stadium on this week’s KNIA/KRLS Radio Sports Page.

Twice-an-hour updates, including interviews with local high school track and field athletes from Des Moines, can be heard this Thursday through Saturday, with Pella, Pella Christian, PCM, Pleasantville, and Knoxville on 92.1 KRLS from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Indianola, Norwalk, Melcher-Dallas, and Twin Cedars from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. all three days on 94.3 and 95.3 KNIA.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, and Drake University announced there will no longer be attendance restrictions as well. Tickets can be purchased at the IHSAA website.