How Collins-Maxwell defied expectations to place seventh in girls distance medley at state meet
DES MOINES — The Collins-Maxwell girls distance medley team was not expected to place entering the Iowa high school state track and field meet.
The Spartans entered the meet seeded 14th in Class 1A. Their qualifying time of 4:29.97 was over three seconds outside of the top eight teams.
But they pulled off a shocker Friday at Drake Stadium. They shaved over eight seconds off their qualifying time, running a 4:21.78, to earn a couple of team points by placing seventh.
“Coming in with these people, we’ve never run this before,” said Collins-Maxwell's Chloe Wierson. “Our two underclassmen with us two seniors, it feels so much better to go out that way. Have them step up for us, fill big shoes and know what they need to do.”
Wierson, a state meet veteran as a sprinter and high jumper, and Hannah Kimberley were the two seniors on the team. They ran the middle two legs, with freshmen Cypress Erickson and Jayden Peters running the other two.
"Knowing we had Cypress and Jayden coming up was really fun," Kimberley said. "We never thought we'd get here or place seventh."
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Erickson started the race strong and Wierson and Kimberly got the Spartans out in front during the second heat.
"I knew as long I got out fast and completed my part, I could put all my trust in them," Erickson said. "Especially handing it off to Chloe. The second I give it to her, she goes and then to have Hannah, who can maintain and push and eat away at girls, and then Jayden, she just finishes the whole thing for us."
Peters, who placed ninth in the 3,000 on Thursday, got caught by Saint Ansgar's Lila Powers and Maquoketa's Taryn Burbridge early in the first 400.
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Powers ended up pulling away to win the heat and help Saint Ansgar place fourth overall. But Peters managed to regroup and pass Burbridge to help Collins-Maxwell take second in the heat.
"When those two girls passed me, I was like 'OK, I've got to hammer down and try my best to stick with them or get past them,'" Peters said. "I saw (Burbridge) start to die at the end and I was like 'You know, I've got to get past them.' It was a great day. Set a PR, and trusting these girls was really cool."
Nashua-Plainfield won the girls distance medley in 4:09.07.
Hannah Kimberley places seventh in the 1A girls 400 hurdles
The distance medley was not the only big surprise from the Collins-Maxwell girls at the state track and field meet.
Kimberley took seventh in the 1A girls 400 hurdles on Friday after qualifying 19th. She cut her time down from 1:10.33 to 1:08.07 during the opening heat of Friday's state finals.
That was good enough to win her heat and eventually get Kimberley seventh place overall.
"That was an amazing surprise," Kimberley said. "Me and my coach (Jordan Coughenour) worked really hard and I'm always having that Eric Liddell quote in my mind, 'God made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.' I really felt that today."
Red Oak's Carly Henderson won the 1A girls 400 hurdles in 1:04.58.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Collins-Maxwell girls distance medley team takes seventh in at state
