Grounded flyer Liz Fiser hopes to spread wings again this spring

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
The coronavirus pandemic has grounded plenty of flights.

One of them was the flight of Liz Fiser.

The Charles City senior had gotten off to a — figuratively as well as literally — flying start this track and field season.

During the Wartburg College High School Indoor Invitational way back in February during a time (seems like ancient history now) when athletes, coaches and fans gathered in one place, Fiser matched a personal-best leap of 17 feet, 1 inch on her first attempt of the season while winning the long jump with that effort at a meet featuring some of the top T&F athletes in the state.

At last year’s State Track and Field Championships, Fiser placed runner-up among Class 3A girls.

Though the Drake Relays’ “Blue Standard” — the automatic qualifying mark for the prestigious spring meet — has 17-10 in the LJ for high school girls, Fiser’s coach Amanda Rahmiller was confident that her athlete’s first small-orbit of the season had a good chance at remaining as one of the top qualifying leaps in the state when the Relays’ original qualifying deadline of April 16 rolled around. (The event was due to take place April 22-25 before being indefinitely postponed.)

Fizer was ranked in the Top 3 among all classes in the girls long jump before the suspension of all school activities.

“Hopefully, the season will start again,” said Fiser, who is “trying to be creative” while staying in condition at hold.

“I’ve been working a lot on my form,” Fiser said, “and running when I can. It’s hard to not know what’s going to happen, but I want to be prepared if we do start again.”

Also a sprinter and a returning state-qualifying hurdler and relay participant, it would be ashamed if Fiser doesn’t get another chance to perform on or adjacent to Drake Stadium’s “Blue Oval” for the State Championships and/or Drake Relays. But it would also be disheartening if the subsequent softball season were to become an added casualty.

Fiser is due to be a returning first-team all-stater in softball. Last year as the Comets’ leadoff hitter, Fiser led the team in hits, batting average, runs scored and stolen bases.

Sustained success is surefire motivation for an athlete to stay with a sport, but last fall Fiser was willing to take up a sport where she would be a novice senior at — cross country.

Fiser didn’t ascend to make Charles City’s state-bound varsity lineup, but by the end of the season she was among the top finishers in the junior varsity races.

The rigors of cross country paid dividends during the subsequent girls basketball season — Fiser made All-Northeast Iowa Conference honorable mention while helping the Comets win five games this season after winning a grand total of one from the previous three.

The tenuous track and softball seasons are due to be the final acts of Fiser’s athletic career — though she plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa to study communication disorders, Fiser will focus on scholastics only.

“I know it (is bad) but you have to deal with it,” Fiser said. “I feel very fortunate for my time at Charles City, and I am very grateful that my family and I are still healthy.”