Crazy 8’s. Tigers send eight events to state, most since 2008

  TIPTON — Eight is enough for the Tipton girl’s track team after last week’s state qualifying meet on their home track. There, the Tigers had three automatic state qualifying events and five other events to send eight events to the state meet this week in Des Moines. It is the most events since the 2008 season when THS also sent eight events and placed third in the team race. Though the 2008 team had higher ranked events, for this year’s group to send eight events is remarkable.

  “We are very happy with what we have going to state,” said Tipton girls track coach Jill Engels. “We had some events last year, and this year we are sending even more. We are building things back up and this is a good step in that process,” she said.

  Tipton had three events qualify automatically for the state meet after finishing in the top-2 of their respective events. Tipton junior Jamie Kofron won both the shot put and the discus events at the meet to qualify for state. Kofron won both events at last months Drake Relays meet and captured the two event titles at the River Valley Conference meet on May 4. Kofron will throw the shot put Thursday at 2 in the second flight and the discus on Friday at 2 in the second flight.

  Tipton’s other automatic qualifier came from their 4X200-meter relay team. The team of Emily Hermsen, Rachel Bierman, Karlee Kamberling and Sommer Daniel were the runner-up in the event in a time of 1:51.72. The Tigers ran to a season-best time in the event. North Cedar did not run their ‘A’ team in the event, opting to use Cassie Cox, Darby Hawtrey, Lexi Crist and Grace Proesch in other events. That opened the Tigers to have the second best time at the meet behind Cascade. The Cougars won the event in 1:50.15. The Tigers edged out West Branch for a second. The Bears finished in 1:51.94 or .22 behind the Tigers. The Bears did not qualify in the event at state.

  Tipton got a boost last Friday when they learned that five other events qualified for the state meet after having one of the next best 8-times or throws statewide in class 2A. Also qualifying for the state meet for Tipton were three relays - Shuttle Hurdle, 4X4 and 4X8, and individuals Amanda Smith in the 1,500-meter run and Allie Ryan in the shot put.

  Ryan threw a season-best 36-10.25 and placed fourth in the event. Her throw was good enough to reach the state meet. The shot put event would send seven qualifiers to state including five of the eight best throws statewide in one of the strongest events at the Tipton state qualifying meet. Smith placed fourth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:26.47 and had one of the best 8-times statewide after the automatic qualifiers.

  In relay events, Tipton’s 4X800-meter relay team of Amanda Smith, Zoe Stonebraker, Kallie Wallick, and Tiffany Schott ran to a third-place finish in 10:30.74. That time was 20 seconds better than the previous high for a Tipton 4X800-meter relay team this season. It was the first time this season that the quartet ran the event in a meet. The time was one of the next best 8-times in the state. The 4X8 team was joined by the Tigers 4X400-meter relay and Shuttle Hurdle Relay teams who also were in the next best 8-times of their respective events. The Tipton shuttle hurdle relay team of Blake Ehler, Ashlyn Curry, Liz Bierman and Tiffany Schott placed fourth in 1:10.81, a season-best time. The Tipton 4X400-meter relay team of Emily Hermsen, Rachel Bierman, Karlee Kamberling and Sommer Daniel placed third in 4:17.04. Hermsen led off the relay after senior Alyssa Elijah fell ill and had to withdraw.

  The Tigers also had some top-5 finishes that missed state. Kelly Lieser was fifth in the 400-meter dash in 1:06.71 and Amanda Smith was fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:38.13. Tipton’s sprint medley relay team also placed 5th.

  North Cedar won the meet with a team-best 133 team points. The Knights won the state qualifying meet for the second year in a row. Cascade was second with 126 points and Northeast was third with 94 points. The Tigers scored 70 team points at the meet and placed fourth in the team scores.

Class 2A State Qualifying Meet
At Tipton
Thursday, May 10
Team Scores: 1. North Cedar 133, 2. Cascade 126, 3. Northeast 94, 4. Tipton 70, 5. Bellevue 53, 6. West Branch 47, 7. Louisa-Muscatine 43, 7. Camanche 43, 9. Wilton 39, 10. Wapello 33, 11. West Liberty 28, 11. Durant 28.

Tipton Results Only:
Field Event Results:
Discus: 1. Jamie Kofron 136-06, 11. Liz Bierman 94-06.
Long Jump: 11. Sara Webb 13-04.25.
Shot Put: 1. Jamie Kofron 43-04.75, 4. Allie Ryan 36-10.25.

Individual Event Results:
100-meter dash: 14. Sara Webb 15.00.
200-meter dash: 15. Jaydon Bierman 30.04.
400-meter dash: 5. Kelly Lieser 1:06.71, 12. Alyssa Elijah 1:11.42.
800-meter run: 5. Amanda Smith 2:38.13, 13. Tiffany Schott 2:58.98.
100-meter hurdles: 8. Ashlyn Curry 17.35, 10. Blake Ehler 17.79.
1500-meter run: 4. Amanda Smith 5:26.47, 7. Kallie Wallick 5:33.16.

Relay Event Results:
4X100-meter relay: 11. Tipton (Hailey Stewart, Zoe Rezac, Kelly Lieser, Jaydon Bierman) 57.35.
4X200-meter relay: 2. Tipton (Emily Hermsen, Rachel Bierman, Karlee Kamberling, Sommer Daniel) 1:51.72.
4X400-meter relay: 3. Tipton (Emily Hermsen, Rachel Bierman, Karlee Kamberling, Sommer Daniel) 4:17.04.
4X800-meter relay: 3. Tipton (Amanda Smith, Zoe Stonebraker, Kallie Wallick, Tiffany Schott) 10:30.74.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay: 4. Tipton (Blake Ehler, Ashlyn Curry, Liz Bierman, Tiffany Schott) 1:10.81.
Sprint Medley Relay: 5. Tipton (Emily Hermsen, Karlee Kamberling, Rachel Bierman, Sommer Daniel) 1:57.25.