Drake Relays-bound athletes lead CC at Comet Relays

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — The Comet Relays served as “Senior Night” for the Charles City girls track team, which hosted its final meet of the season on Friday.

Not only were the Comet seniors formally honored with their parents during a break in the action, but they were a major part of the action, compiling numerous individual and relay first-place finishes as the hosts won the meet with a dominating team score of 185.5 points — more than 80 points ahead of runner-up Saint Ansgar.

But it wasn’t all seniors all the time. Several Comet underclass athletes shined as well, particularly freshman Mackenzy Bilharz, who won both the 800 and 3,000 runs.

Yet the standout of the night was once again Comet senior Katie Foster.

Foster won the 100 with a time of 12.68 and the 200 with a time of 26.53.

She also anchored the 800 sprint medley relay also consisting of Brianna Carey, Tayler Schmidt and Alex Litterer, to cap a first-place time of 1 minute, 57.5 seconds; and teamed up with Sami Heyer, Bailey Mitchell and Lynn Hoeft to end the meet with a first-place time of 4:27.02 in the 4-by-400 relay.

This week, Foster will be competing at the Drake Relays — she formerly competed at the renowned event as a freshman on a 4-by-100 relay team.

Her personal-best time of 12.62 in the 100 made the cut as an individual, but Foster is not going there alone.

Earlier in the week at the New Hampton Invitational, Foster, Carey, Litterer and Sadie Ruzicka recorded a second-place time of 52.14 seconds in the 4-by-100, which also made the cut.

During the Comet Relays, Charles City’s 4-by-100 won with a time of 54.55 — but without Foster as Marissa Deeter was part of the foursome.

“We mixed up our relays a little bit tonight,” Charles City coach Darren Bohlen said. “We did a little experimenting with our lineups … see what works best while focusing on the conference and district meets coming up.”

In addition to the aforementioned relay wins, the Comets also won the 4-by-800 (Gillian King, Sarah Turpen, Whitney Martin and Alysha Bilharz — 10:51.44); the 1,600 distance medley (Litterer, Mitchell, Liz Fiser and Sami Heyer — 4:44.65) and the 4-by-100 shuttle hurdle (Carey, Schmidt, Hoeft and Ruzicka — 1:10.70).

Comet senior thrower Sara Martin also was a strong candidate to qualify for the Drake Relays. But her season-best throw of 38 feet, 11 inches in the shot put was 1 inch shy of the 39 feet cut-off.

The Comet Relays were her last “shot”, and though Martin placed first with a throw of 35-07, it fell short of what was needed.

Charles City junior Sydney Loeckle placed second in the shot put (34-07).

Martin and Loeckle finished two-three in the discus with Saint Ansgar’s Mariah Hulshizer winning the event with a throw of 118-02.

Turpen won the 1,500 with a time of 5:28.74; fellow Comet senior Alysha Bilharz was second (5:47.10).

Comet Relays

April 21

At Charles City

TEAM PLACING

1. Charles City 185.5, 2. Saint Ansgar 104, 3. Tripoli 71, 4. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 67, 5. Newman Catholic 66, 6. Jesup 42, 7. Clear Lake

EVENT POINT PLACERS

100 — 1. Katie Foster (CC) 12.68, 2. Jayden Hughes (GHV) 13.32, 3. Chelsey Huisman (SA) 13.56, 4. Ali Harms (T) 13.57, 5. Brianna Lobeck (T) 13.80, 6. Gabby Finberg (SA) 13.95.

200 — 1. Katie Foster (CC) 26.53, 2. Jayden Hughes (GHV) 27.91, 3. Elizabeth Mennen (NC) 28.32, 4. Ali Harms (T) 28.43, 5. Brianna Lobeck (T) 28.44, 6. Macy Mixdorf (CL) 29.27.

400 — 1. Ellie Steere (T) 1:06.93, 2. Madi Soltau (SA) 1:07.91, 3. Payton McHone (J) 1:08.31, 4. Kennedy Drewis (T) 1:11.10, 5. Hannah Patterson (SA) 1:11.47, 6. Jaime Tonne (J) 1:11.77.

800 — 1. Mackenzy Bilharz (CC) 2:38.91, 2. Kylie Wilberding (J) 2:40.07, 3. Alison Johnson (GHV) 2:41.79, 4. Meghan Sullivan (NC) 2:41.81, 5. Addy Carlson (SA) 2:45.84, 6. Shelby Heimer (SA) 2:47.17.

1500 — 1. Sarah Turpen (CC) 5:28.74, 2. Alysha Bilharz (CC) 5:47.10, 3. Gillian King (CC) 5:59.21, 4. Chloe Nelson (NC) 6:00.99, 5. Rebekah Larson (GHV) 6:05.61, 6. Alena Gabrielson (CL) 6:12.64.

3000 — 1. Mackenzy Bilharz (CC) 11:53.13, 2. Addy Carlson (SA) 12:18.43, 3. Chloe Nelson (NC) 12:34.78, 4. Alena Gabrielson (CL) 12:43.61, 5. Jenn Stumme (T) 12:44.45, 6. Rebekah Larson (GHV) 13:13.77.

100 HUR — 1. Olivia Miller (T) 16.62, 2. Sadie Ruzicka (CC) 16.77, 3. Brianna Carey (CC) 17.14, 4. Makia Fessler (CL) 17.53, 5. Jillian Heitland (GHV) 17.58, 6. Mara Anderson (GHV) 17.91.

400 HUR — 1. Annika Wall (J) 1:11.09, 2. Maria Determan (NC) 1:11.22, 3. Jillian Heitland (GHV) 1:13.36, 4. Caitlyn Juhl (SA) 1:15.16, 5. Tayler Schmidt (CC) 1:16.63, 6. Maddy Eibes (SA) 1:17.26.

4-by-100 RELAY — 1. Charles City (Brianna Carey, Marissa Deeter, Alex Litterer, Sadie Ruzicka) 54.55, 2. Saint Ansgar 54.89, 3. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 55.58, 4. Tripoli 55.81, 5. Jesup 56.87, 6. Clear Lake 57.86.

4-by-200 RELAY — 1. Saint Ansgar 1:56.80, 2. Jesup 1:58.20, 3. Tripoli 2:01.28, 4. Charles City 2:01.50, 5. Clear Lake 2:01.54, 6. Saint Ansgar 2:07.62.

4-by-400 RELAY — 1. Charles City (Sami Heyer, Katie Foster, Bailey Mitchell, Lynn Hoeft) 4:27.02, 2. Newman Catholic 4:34.66, 3. Charles City 4:37.16, 4. Tripoli 4:40.78, 5. Saint Ansgar 4:40.92, 6. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 4:51.93.

4-by-800 RELAY — 1. Charles City (Gillian King, Sarah Turpen, Whitney Martin, Alysha Bilharz) 10:51.44, 2. Newman Catholic 11:39.83, 3. Charles City 11:43.21, 4. Saint Ansgar 12:10.22, 5. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 12:12.77, 6. Tripoli 12:24.89.

800 SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Charles City (Brianna Carey, Tayler Schmidt, Alex Litterer, Katie Foster) 1:57.50, 2. Tripoli 2:01.47, 3. Clear Lake 2:08.33, 4. Charles City 2:08.79, 5. Jesup 2:09.05, 6. Saint Ansgar 2:09.07.

1600 DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY — 1. Charles City (Alex Litterer, Liz Fiser, Sami Heyer, Bailey Mitchell) 4:44.65, 2. Newman Catholic 4:50.36, 3. Clear Lake 5:10.56, 4. Saint Ansgar 5:40.10.

4-by-100 SHUTTLE HURDLE RELAY — 1. Charles City (Brianna Carey, Tayler Schmidt, Lynn Hoeft, Sadie Ruzicka) 1:10.70, 2. Clear Lake 1:13.60, 3. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 1:15.37, 4. Saint Ansgar 1:16.44, 5. Tripoli 1:17.18, 6. Charles City 1:17.75.

HJ — 1. Emma Whelan (GHV) 4-09, 2. Sierra Walker (CC) 4-06, 3. Sarah Phelps (SA) 4-02.

LJ — 1. Sierra Berding (NC) 14-11, 2. Ashley Archer (CL) 14-09.25, 3. Liz Fiser (CC) 14-01, 4. Gabby Finberg (SA) 13-11, 5. Sierra Walker (CC) 13-08.75, 5. Payton McHone (J) 13-08.75.

SP — 1. Sara Martin (CC) 35-03, 2. Sydney Loeckle (CC) 34-07, 3. Mariah Hulshizer (S) 34-01.5, 4. Grace Heimer (SA) 33-07.5, 5. Rachel Hejlik (GHV) 31-00, 6. Lily Vasquez (SA) 30-10.5.

DIS — 1. Mariah Hulshizer (SA) 118-02, 2. Sara Martin (CC) 113-01, 3. Sydney Loeckle (SS) 106-09.5, 4. Taylor Flaig (T) 101-09, 5. Cora Crooks (CC) 95-01, 6. Brittany Lingenfelter (J) 82-10.5.