Connell conference champ in 3 races; Comet boys and girls both take 3rd

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — If Kiki Connell and Emma Hoins ran on half-mile tracks rather than quarter-mile tracks, they would likely take the form of legendary thoroughbreds Affirmed and Alydar.

Affirmed won the 1978 Triple Crown while edging Alydar at the finish in all three of the coveted jewels.

During Thursday’s Northeast Iowa Conference Track and Field Meet, respective Charles City and Waverly-Shell Rock seniors Connell and Hoins battled neck-and-neck in three different races during the backstretch of their friendly prep-career rivalry.

Connell — like Affirmed — got the Triple Crown; Hoins — like Alydar — got Triple Runner-Up.

In the first race, the 3000-meters, Connell won the near-photo finish with a personal-record time of 10 minutes, 18.95 seconds — nearly matching Cherrie Fisher’s school-record 10:18.70 set in 1985.

In the subsequent 800 run, Hoins was leading after the third turn of the second lap, but Connell caught her about 60 yards from the finish line and won with a PR time of 2:20.84.

In the third race featuring the two standouts — the 1500 — Connell led throughout the whole race with Hoins breathing down her back before gaining a little distance at the end for a first-place time of 4:56.14.

UNI-bound Connell, who has proven to be a versatile runner in a variety of distances, also ran a PR record time of 13.16 seconds in the 100 dash only to be nipped by Decorah sophomore Lani Hubka, who was a Triple Crown gold medalist for the Vikings with other wins in the 200 and the 4-by-200 relay.

Though Charles City was tied with Decorah’s girls beyond the midway point of the meet, the Vikings managed to pull away with 128 team points for their 16th NEIC title in a row. With 110 team points, the Comet girls finished third behind New Hampton (116).

The Comet boys also finished third as their 99 points was bettered by Waverly-Shell Rock (136) and Decorah (179), which won its fifth-straight NEIC boys title.

The Comet boys almost had a Triple Crown winner themselves in junior Ian Collins.

In the long jump, Collins broke the school record he set at the start of the season with a leap of 23 feet, 1 ½ inch — an inch better than his previous school record which had him ranked third in the state in all classes going into Thursday’s meet.

Collins won the high jump with a clear of 6 feet, 6 inches. When Waukon junior Braxton Stewart struck out on his attempts at 6-6, Collins took the win and didn’t try to better his school record (6-7) in favor of preparing himself for other events.

One of the events was the 100 dash where he placed second with a PR time of 11.36 seconds — Decorah’s Haywood Stowe placed first (11.17).

Comet senior Jeremiah Chapman defended his 2019 110-hurdles conference title with a PR time of 15.75 seconds.

Chapman also was the opening leg of the Comets 800 medley relay team, also consisting of Mario Hoefer, Owen Weber and Zach Graeser, whose runner-up time of 1:37.94 was nearly 3 seconds better than the school record set by Hakeem Shareef, John Sibuma, Marcus Cranshaw and Mason Deeter in 2018.

Waverly-Shell Rock won the 800 medley with a time of 1:37.07.

Chapman, Hoefer, Weber and Collins later placed second in the 4-by-100 relay (44.85) while being edged by Decorah (44.26).

Drake Relays qualifier Carly Stevenson placed second in the girls discus (37 feet, 2 ½ inches); and Lydia Staudt placed second in the long jump (16 feet, 9 ¼ inches) and second in the 400 (1:01.72) while setting PRs in both events for the Comets.

Graeser placed second in the 400 low hurdles with a time of 57.61 seconds.

During a break in the action, former Charles City activities director Todd Forsyth and current Waverly-Shell Rock athletic director Dave Litterer were honored for their long service in light of their recent and pending retirements.

Next up for Charles City’s boys and girls is the Class 3A State Qualifiers, Thursday (May 13) at Independence High School.