At least five events for girls and four for boys from Greene County High School have qualified for the Coed State Track & Field Championships May 17-18-19 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. That list could grow once the at-large qualifiers haaas been determined by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

The Rams were in Manson on Thursday for a Class 2A State Qualifying Meet. Coach Derek Merk’s girls were fourth and Coach Chad Morton’s boys were seventh among 12 different programs. First and Second place finishers automatically qualify for State, and those placing lower than second are waiting to find out if their performances were good enough to earn one or more of the eight at-large berths to round out the field of 24 in each event at Drake Stadium next week.

The Rams won four girls’ events and were second once. Senior Megan Durbin won the high jump at 5′ 5″ and placed first in the 200 meter dash at 26.89 seconds. Senior Laurin Lyons entered the shot put with the twelfth best regular season throw and surprised the field by winning the event with a best toss of 35′ 9-1/2″, a new personal record (PR). Freshman long jumper Brianna Osterson won that event with a career best leap of 16′ 2″, and the 4 x 400 meter relay of Osterson, junior Melanie Doran, freshman Lilly Muir, and Durbin came from well back on Durbin’s anchor leg to place second in a season best time of 4:22.78.

The Greene County girls were also third four times and fourth twice more.

Alta-Aurelia won the team title for girls with 121 points, followed by 111 from Emmetsburg. Southeast Valley (Cowrie) had 90 with 87 from Greene County, 68 for Pocahontas Area, 50 from Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, 49 by Manson-Northwest Webster, 41 for Ogden and Roland-Story (Story City), 35 for both South Hamilton (Jewell) and South Central Calhoun (Lake City), with Eagle Grove scoring 13 points.

The boys’ team champion was SCC at 134. A/A had 93, followed by R-S 87, E’burg 76, PAC 64, SEV 63, Greene County 59, SH and M-NWW 55 each, Ogden 30, C-G-D 19, and six points from Eagle Grove.

The Greene County boys had two first place events and two others that finished second. Sophomore Carter Morton won both the high jump at 6′ 2″, and the 400 meter low hurdles in :57.42. Sophomore Colby Kafer was second in the long jump at 20′ 3/4″, and the 200 meter dash in :23.73.

The Rams also had one third place finish and another event that was fourth.