N-P Husky girls make history with first State Track and Field title

Press Staff Report

DES MOINES — Nashua-Plainfield made history during the first day of the State Track and Field Championships.

And then on the two days after, history just kept repeating itself.

It all started when Husky freshman Kadence Huck won the Class 1A Girls 400-Meter Dash on Thursday with a time of 57.35 seconds. It was the first time a Nashua-Plainfield girl won a state title.

But that was just a harbinger of things to come.

The following morning, Huck — serving as the anchor — teamed up with Makenzie Foelske, Jennah Carpenter and Abbie Hyde to win the Class 1A Girls 1600-Meter Distance Medley with a time of 4 minutes, 13.08 seconds.

Meanwhile, Husky senior Breanna Hackman was throwing her way to a third-place showing in the Class 1A Girls Discus (128 feet, 1 inch) after taking third in the shot put (38 feet, 7 ¾ inches) the day before.

For a team that didn’t boast a single state track and field champion until last Thursday, the Huskies were suddenly in the hunt for a state championship — especially with Foelske advancing to the Saturday finals of the Class 1A Girls 100 and 200 dashes, as well as N-P being represented in the Class 1A Girls 4-by-400 Relay finals as well as one of the top qualifiers for the Class 1A Girls 800-Meter Sprint Relay.

With the Sprint Relay squad of Hyde, Rylee Weiss, Foelske and Huck winning their race (1:51.44), the 4-by-400 team of Hyde, Carpenter, Jordyn Frost and Huck placing third in its final (4:09.54), Foelske placing third in the 100 finals (12.59) and fourth in the 200 finals (26.56) while setting personal-records in both events, the Huskies won the Class 1A Girls State T&F title with 59 team points — 5 better than runner-up Madrid.

Though Nashua-Plainfield’s girls team may have seemed like an upstart that came out of nowhere to win a state championship, they came into this season with plenty of experienced firepower as they sent seven individuals and four relays down to last year’s state meet.

“The team came together to highlight their vision and motto for this year and they came up with ‘Back for more -#Unsatisfied’,” N-P’s first-year coach Jessi Mahnesmith told Kelly Terpstra of the Nashua Reporter before the start of this season.

Nashua-Plainfield was also represented in Class 1A Boys events during the State T&F Championships.

Senior Drew Wilken placed 20th in the Boys 400 with a personal-best time of 53.68 seconds.

Wilken was part of N-P’s Boys 4-by-400 Relay team with Sam Fundermann, Bo Harrington and McKade Munn, which placed 13th (3:35.80) in the prelims.

Junior Aiden Lamborn qualified for the Boys High Jump but scratched three times on the opening height of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Lamborn was part of the N-P Boys Shuttle Hurdle Relay with Titus Evans, Joel Winters and Kaden Wilken, which placed 22nd (1:05.66) in the prelims.

* Nashua-Plainfield’s girls weren’t the only local state champions in Class 1A competition.

North Butler junior Kiya Johnson won the Girls 400 Hurdles with a first-place time of 1:04.90. Last year at state, Johnson placed third in the Girls 400 Hurdles.