Greene County automatically qualified six events for girls and two for boys for the May 18-19-20 Coed State Track & Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The Rams could be adding to the list of State Qualifiers once the list of At-Large Qualifiers is released. The Rams competed at Thursday night’s Class 2A number 4 track & field State Qualifying meet hosted by OABCIG in Ida Grove. There were 12 teams in the field with Ridge View (Holstein) winning the team title for girls and Southeast Valley (Gowrie) taking home the boys’ crown. As a team, Greene County’s girls were fourth with 86 points and the boys placed ninth with 53.
In 2A, first and second place finishers in all events automatically qualify for State competition. For the Greene County girls, first place events were senior Natalie Heupel in a personal best time in the 400 meter dash of 1:00.10; 4 x 200 meter relay in a school record for the years as Greene County in 1:48.74 with seniors Olivia Shannon, Kamryn Sanders, Natalie Heupel, Katrina Heupel; 4 x 100 meter relay in 50.94 seconds with Shannon, Sanders, and the Heupel twins; Shannon in the 200 meter dash in :26.81.
Second place girls’ events by the Rams were Kaycee Pittman in the 800 meter run in 2:29.08, a Greene County School record, and the 4 x 400 meter relay in 4:11.49 with the Heupel twins, Pittman, and Shannon.
The Greene County boys had a first place finish from senior Jesse Miller in the discus throw at 156′ 3″ on his sixth and final throw of the competition. Miller’s final effort, a personal best and school record for the years competing as Greene County, took him from fourth place to winning the competition.
Second for the Rams on the boys’s side was the distance medley relay in 3:45.27 with sophomore Camden Strennen, senior Richard Daugherty, sophomore Nick Stream, and freshman Drew Wolterman.
At-large qualifiers should be known later today, or tomorrow at the latest. The Rams have several third place and lower finishes they’ll be anxious to find out if the performances were good enough to qualify.