Keokuk's Ailes will compete in three events Thursday at state meet

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Ten area athletes to compete in Thursday's opening session of the 2019 State Track Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

DES MOINES - Here's what on tap at Drake Stadium for Thursday's opening day of the 2019 Iowa State Track Meet

The first event of the day will feature the Central Lee girls shuttle hurdle relay team in the Class 2A girls preliminary heats beginning at 9 a.m.. The Lady Hawks made it to the 2018 State Track meet in the shuttle hurdle, but were disqualified by an early start. This year's squad of Hailey Tweedy, Abby Wellman, Sydney Jones and Zoe Eschman are looking to medal this year.

Also at 9 a.m. Keokuk's Tyjai Mueller will be on the field for the Class 3A high jump event. Mueller's has a leap this year of 6-2, which is the sixth best in the state.

Immediately following that at 9:20 a.m. will be the surprising Fort Madison girls shuttle hurdle relay team who knocked close to six seconds off their season's best time at the perfect time...the state qualifier Friday. Reyna Lampe, Taylor Barnes, Olivia Williams and newcomer Raquel Schneider will need to find another second or so to bring home hardware.

At approximately 10:25 a.m., Fort Madison's Matt Hellige, a runner from Holy Trinity Catholic, who runs in the shared program with Fort Madison, returns for his second straight state run in the 3200-meter. Hellige has broken the 10-minute mark two times this year and will need that kind of performance to break into the top tier this year.

At approximately 10:50, Keokuk's Miracle Ailes will run in the 2nd heat of the 200-meter dash preliminaries. Ailes currently has the sixth fastest time in Class 3A at 26.06 and will run in lane 5, right next to Davenport Assumption's Carly King, who has a 25.95 this year. Ailes will also be navigating a difficult schedule as she will also be called for the Class 3A girls' high jump beginning at 10:30. Ailes leap of 5-8 back in March at Central College is the best leap in Class 3A this year.

Ailes will then get a couple hour break before stepping on the blue oval again in the 100-meter preliminaries at just after 1 p.m. The sophomore, who will participate in four events this year, has Class 3A's second fastest time at 12.42 behind Wahlert Catholic's Libby Wedewer who has a 12.15 this year.

At 1:10 Keokuk will again put a speedster on the track when Braylon Martinez runs in the boys 100-meter preliminaries in Class 3A. Martinez has an 11.14 this year, which puts him in to top eight in the state.

Pen City Current and Radio Keokuk will be updating results from Thurday's events as they become available on our social media channels.


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