Woodward-Granger track breaks school record, Chambers wins WCAC golf crown

As the end of the regular season is right around the corner, Woodward-Granger made some memories at the last home meets of the season. (Note: Events covered April 23-30)

Boys Golf

Taking on the WCAC on Tuesday in Panora, the Hawks placed fifth overall with a score of 355 among the 10 teams in the league. But at the top, Landon Chambers earned the solo championship as he won with a score of 77 after a playoff hole over Des Moines Christian’s Will Latham who placed 17th at last year’s state meet. Chambers was also named to the first-team all-conference roster.

Girls Golf

The Hawks walked out of the this year’s conference meet with a third place tag, scoring 395 on a full 18 at Pleasantville on Monday. Not only did that knock three strokes off their previous low on a full round this season, the Hawks moved up from a fourth place finish last year where they shot 456 even with the benefit of playing on their home green.

With Van Meter’s team taking up three of the top solo scores as the Bulldogs continue their rampage, the Hawks were led by McKenna Carroll in fourth place with a score of 91. Molly Cue earned sixth place at 95 strokes while Karissa Walker operated in 11th place with 100.

Carroll earned a first-team all-conference spot while Cue and Walker were second-team honorees.

Girls Track

Woodward walked out of Hawk Stadium celebrating the team’s highest score of the season, winning the Hawks’ senior night with 182 points on April 23. The next-closest score was the equivalent of seven first-place finishes behind Woodward, as the Hawks took first or second place in 10 solo events and six relays.

Co-leading the team in solo scoring, freshman Hayden Thomas won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes with new personal records of 12.89 and 27.82 seconds, respectively. She was multiple strides ahead of the silver medalist in the 100, winning by nearly a full second.

Also winning two events, Kiki Gregory won both the discus and shot put as the only girl of the day to hit 80 feet and 30 feet, respectively, for the day. Also in the field hitting a milestone, Alaysia McCord cleared five feet. That is one inch away from her state-qualifying height jump last season.

Boys Track

The Hawks wound up in second place at the April 23 senior night in Woodward. That was propelled the most by Chandler Drake and Cooper Thielen on the solo circuit. While the points count all the same in first place, they won with style.

With almost three second of clearance, Drake won the 400-meter hurdles with a new personal record of 58.63 seconds. Thielen put the officials to extra work in the high jump, clearing 5-feet-10 for eight inches of advantage. Last year’s state meet had a floor of 5-foot-11.

The sprint medley relay team of Thielen, Talan Fuson, Owen Dunlavey and Cael Leighton booked a win at 1:39.68 — milliseconds from the school record. Two days later in Boone, they broke the record at 1:38.58.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Woodward-Granger track breaks school record, Chambers wins WCAC golf crown