WAYLAND

Taking their talents to WACO for the third time in as many weeks, the Lady Lions battled it out with tickets for state on the line and they did not go home empty handed. 

Earning the right to compete at the Blue Oval in Des Moines, the Lady Lions qualified for state in six events, and earned a top five finish at the 1A state qualifier meet hosted by WACO last Thursday.

“Our team performed excellently at WACO,” Lone Tree coach Chad Shield said. “I am proud of the girls and the season they’ve had.  It has been so much fun watching them compete.”

As a team Lone Tree placed fourth with a score of 75. Taking the team title was HLV, Victor who ended with 102. Pekin was the runner-up with 98.

Lone Tree has excelled in relay races all season long and they continued this trend by placing first in the 4x100m (51.38) and in the 4x200 (1:48.89) with the same team of Addison McCullough, Vivian Zaruba, Ava Christofferson, and Rylee Shield to automatically qualify to state.

An already impressive achievement became even more notable as it was revealed the following day that the same quartet of McCullough, Zaruba, Christofferson, and Shield’s runner-up finish in the sprint medley (1:52.78) earned them their third ticket to state in a relay event.    

“I am really excited for our relay teams,” coach Shield said. “We won two of them with automatic qualifiers and the Sprint Medley we fell just short of winning but ended up with the fourth best sprint medley time in the state.”

When it came to individual events, Shield (re-breaking a Lone Tree school record she herself broke earlier this season) was the runner-up in the 400m in 59.48 (5th in 1A). Her new school record time also qualified her for the state meet.

“Rylee re-broke her own school record by going under a minute for the first time,” coach Shield said. “It was a goal of hers and it was great to see her achieve it.”

Christofferson was another Lady Lion to earn a state bid with a runner-up finish. The standout junior soared to second in the long jump with a leap of 16-06.75 (12th in 1A).

“Ava had a great first long jump that puts her in the top 12 overall in long jumpers,” coach Shield said. “ She has gotten better and more consistent all year long.”

Zaruba gave Lone Tree its final state bid by placing fourth in the 200m with a time of 27.02 (13th in 1A). This was a new PR time for Zaruba.

Up next for the Lady Lions is heading to Des Moines to compete in the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships taking place from May 22-24.

“The girls look forward to running in Des Moines,” coach Shield said. “They will go there with the mindset of being the best they can be and bringing home some medals will be a great exclamation point for the season.” 

Lone Tree boys results

The Lions saw its season end at state qualifiers in WACO. Lone Tree finished the meet with a score of 18 to place 12th. First place was won by Columbus with 123 and runner-up went to Pekin with 100.

Dom Garcia was the top performer for Lone Tree as the junior placed fourth in the 200m (23.56) and fifth in the 100m (11.78). 

Brock Nebergall also earned a top ten finish for the Lions. The sophomore raced to eighth in the 800m with a time of 2:12.91.

The best relay finish for Lone Tree came in the 4x100m as the quartet of Gray Spilman, Emmett Burke, Cade Willoz, and Garcia placed fifth in 45.63.

Girls 1A results

100m;

1, Ava Gehrking, English Valleys, 12.81; 22, Carlee Sexton, Lone Tree, 16.49

100m hurdles;

1, Josie Nelson, W-MU, 16.25; 16, Cate Sexton, Lone Tree, 20.65

200m;

1, Ava Gehrking, English Valleys, 25.91; 4, Vivian Zaruba [STATE QUALIFIER], Lone Tree, 27.02; 12, Lindsay Baltazar, Lone Tree, 29.77

400m;

1, Alaina Gourley, Danville, 58.87; 2, Rylee Shield [STATE QUALIFIER], Lone Tree, 59.48; 6, Addyson Eiben, Lone Tree, 1:06.59

800m;

1, Alaina Glourley, Danville, 2:24.31; 15, Dalanie Graap, Lone Tree, 2:57.94; 17, Carlee Sexton, Lone Tree, 3:02.79

1500m;

1, Chloe Glosser, Pekin, 4:50.90; 12, Jazmine Nino, Lone Tree, 6:11.99; 17, Evelyn Mueller, Lone Tree, 6:54.82

Discus;

1, Anna Hadley, Pekin, 129-09; 4, Hayden Yoder, Lone Tree, 101-10; 14, Sami Branson, Lone Tree, 70-08

Long jump;

1, Kynlee Buffington, W-MU, 17-08; 2, Ava Christoffereson [STATE QUALIFIER], Lone Tree, 16-06.75; 9, Cate Sexton, Lone Tree, 14-01.25

Shot put;

1, Anna Hadley, Pekin, 36-06.75; 6, Hayden Yoder, Lone Tree, 33-03.50; 12, Sami Branson, Lone Tree, 29-06.50

4x100m relay;

1, Lone Tree [STATE QUALIFIER] (Addison McCullough, Ava Christofferson, Vivian Zaruba, Rylee Shield), 51.38

4x200m relay;

1, Lone Tree [STATE QUALIFIER] (Addison McCullough, Rylee Shield, Vivian Zaruba, Ava Christofferson), 1:48.89

Sprint medley;

1, Danville, 1:52.02; 2, Lone Tree [STATE QUALIFIER] (Addison McCullough, Vivian Zaruba, Ava Christofferson, Rylee Shield), 1:52.78

4x400m relay;

1, HLV, 4:07.43; 4, Lone Tree (Olivia Magruder, Addyson Eiben, Lindsay Baltazar, Abby Zaruba), 4:38.21

4x800m relay;

1, HLV, 10:13.08; 4, Lone Tree (Addyson Eiben, Dalanie Graap, Abby Zaruba, Evelyn Mueller), 12:00.89

Distance medley;

1, HLV, 4:17.41; 4, Lone Tree (Cate Sexton, Olivia Magruder, Lindsay Baltazar, Jazmine Nino), 4:54.26

Boys 1A results

100m;

1, London Franklin, New London, 11.32; 5, Dom Garcia, Lone Tree, 11.78; 21, Tate Nelson, Lone Tree, 14.03

200m;

1, Alexander Rees, Columbus, 22.56; 4, Dom Garcia, Lone Tree, 23.56; 21, Jackson Lyon, Lone Tree, 27.92

400m;

1, Kohlby Newsom, W-MU, 50.27; 11, Jackson Lyon, Lone Tree, 1:01.93; 20, Trenton McKean, Lone Tree, 1:10.48

800m;

1, Kohlby Newsom, W-MU, 1:57.87; 8, Brock Nebergall, Lone Tree, 2:12.91

1600m;

1, Gage Heyne, English Valleys, 4:34.22; 17, Trenton McKean, Lone Tree, 6:16.12

Discus;

1, Kolton Small, Wapello, 140-07; 19, Tate Nelson, Lone Tree, 83-06

Shot put;

1, Kolton Small, Wapello, 49-05.75; 16, Tate Nelson, 28-08

Sprint medley;

1, Pekin, 1:36,11; 8, Lone Tree (Gray Spilman, Cade Willoz, Emmett Burke, Brock Nebergall), 1:46.59

4x100m relay;

1, New London, 43.26; 5, Lone Tree (Gray Spilman, Emmett Burke, Cade Willoz, Dom Garcia), 45.63

4x200m relay;

1, New London, 1:30.01; 6, Lone Tree (Gray Spilman, Cade Willoz, Emmett Burke, Dom Gracia), 1:34.55