The race of the meet came down to the wire between the old guard and the new among elite Eastern Iowa female hurdlers.

And on this night, anyway, freshman phenom Sarah Plock of Iowa City High edged senior Brooke Foreman of Cedar Rapids Washington by an eyelash Friday in the 400 meter hurdles in the Mississippi Valley Conference division meet at Linn-Mar.

Foreman hates to lose, and it’s not often that she does.

“But,” she said after the showdown with Plock, “I really don’t mind getting beat by somebody that good. She’s way ahead of what I was as a freshman.”

It’s the third time the pair has squared off this season. The Little Hawk rookie won the first time out. Foreman, the defending Class 4A state champion, avenged the loss to Plock in a still disappointing second-place finish to Pleasant Valley’s Ann Leners last week at the Drake Relays.

Foreman led comfortably through the last hurdle in their grudge match, but a last-gasp surge gave Plock the victory in 1:04.49, just .04 ahead of Foreman and far removed from the rest of the pack.

The Washington senior, who will run next year at Drake University, ran in five events last weekend in Des Moines and three more events Tuesday at Prairie.

“My legs felt a little tired tonight,” she said. “I told Sarah before the race, 'Let’s not kill ourselves.'” Plock responded by running her fastest time of the year.

“Her kick was great,” said Foreman. “She definitely got me with that burst at the end. I get my speed from attacking the hurdles. My weakness has been that last 50 meters when I don’t have a hurdle in front of me.”

She and her new nemesis will compete in different regionals next week but are bound to meet again at state. “It’s nice to have someone pushing me,” Foreman said.

The hurdles victory was one of six for the City High girls Friday that propelled them to the team title with 156 points in a seven-team MVC Mississippi Division field. Dubuque Wahlert was runnerup with 120.

Despite no first-place finishes, a deep Kennedy squad came in third with 113, followed by Linn-Mar (67), Washington (61), Dubuque Senior (51) and Waterloo West (21).

Though she lost the long-distance hurdles, Foreman did take some consolation by setting a meet record Friday in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 15.41. “That was a very good race,” she said. “But the City High girl (Caitlin Ward) almost caught me at the finish.”

Ward was a close second at 15.72.

Washington sophomore Shannon Gorman picked up a pair of firsts, easily winning both the 1500 and 3000 meter runs. She won the longer of the two races by 15 seconds over Alyssa Averhoff of Kennedy.

“It was really hot the first race, and I wasn’t used to it with the cool spring we’ve had,” Gorman said. “I knew the 3000 would start out fast. So I just tried to hold back and stay close to the leaders. When I started passing people I got a surge of energy. I didn’t feel tired at all.”

Linn-Mar owned the mid-distance sprints, with Courtney Major claiming the 200 meter dash and Rachel Perry the 400. Major said she was pleased with her race. “But I still have some improving to do before state,” she said.

Perry wasn’t happy with her 58.27, despite a convincing win. “I wanted to go into the low 57's,” she said.

She was even more displeased that the Lions' crackerjack 4x400 relay team had to settle for third place behind Wahlert and in a photo-finish with Kennedy. “The conditions were perfect tonight,” she said. “We should have run better.”

GIRLS MVC MISSISSIPPI DIVISION MEET
At Linn-Mar

Teams -- 1. Iowa City High 156, 2. Dubuque Wahlert 120, 3. Kennedy 113, 4. Linn-Mar 67, 5. CR Washington 61, 6. Dubuque Senior 51, 7. Waterloo West 21

100 Meters
1. Nicole Kuddes (ICH) 13.48, 2. Jasmine Raue (CRK) 13.54, 3. Jasmyne Jones (CRW) 13.60, 4. Blaire Thomas (WW) 13.71, 4. Shelby Ham (LM) 13.71. 6. Ieashia Moore (WW) 13.81

200 Meters
1. Courtney Major (LM) 26.65, 2. Aarionna Craig-Dothard (CRK) 27.27, 3. Jordan Sullivan (ICH) 27.36, 4. Haley Puk (WW) 27.44, 5. Claire Crew (ICH) 27.54, 6. Halley Morgan (LM) 27.65

400 Meters
1. Rachel Perry (LM) 58.27, 2. Laura Stenzel (DW) 59.03, 3. Betsy Duehr (DW) 59.69, 4. Claire Crew (ICH) 1:01.38, 5. Jordan Sullivan (ICH) 1:01.53, 6. Taylor Vogel (CRW) 1:01.57

800 Meters
1. Tessa Leytem (DW) 2:24.46, 2. Kathia Wampole (CRK) 2:25.42, 3. Morgan Sammons (ICH) 2:28.48, 4. Lauren Meyer (CRK) 2:29.85, 5. Katie Langenfeld (ICH) 2:30.41, 6. Hannah Timmerman (DS) 2:30.42

1500 Meters
1. Shannon Gorman (CRW) 4:53.69, 2. Lauren Rusch (DW) 4:58.73, 3. Meg Richardson (ICH) 5:02.61, 4. Allison Culver (CRK) 5:03.44, 5. Alyssa Averhoff (CRK) 5:03.95, 6. Anna Herber (DW) 5:13.10

3000 Meters
1. Shannon Gorman (CRW) 10:40.86, 2. Alyssa Averhoff (CRK) 10:55.87, 3. Allison Culver (CRK) 11:01.93, 4. Harper Beasley (ICH) 11:07.57, 5. Brooklyn Kascel (LM) 11:14.82, 6. Molly Shepherd (ICH) 11:21.00

100 Hurdles
1. Brooke Foreman (CRW) 15.41 (meet record), 2. Caitlin Ward (ICH) 15.72, 3. Marisa Estelle (CRK) 16.06, 4. Allie Osterberger (DS) 16.28, 5. Ashley Jones (LM) 16.86, 6. Terra Perez (ICH) 16.87

400 Hurdles
1. Sarah Plock (ICH) 1:04.49, 2. Brooke Foreman (CRW) 1:04.53, 3. Sammie Osterberger (DS) 1:06.90, 4. Maddie Heiar (DW) 1:08.30, 5. Kelsie Coates (CRK) 1:08.65, 6. Taylor Vogel (CRW) 1:08.91

4x100 Relay
1. Iowa City High 49.83, 2. CR Washington (Foreman, Jones, Muller, Vogel) 50.48, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 50.79, 4. Kennedy (Raue, Terukina, Drahn, Estelle) 52.12, 5. Waterloo West 52.34, 6. Linn-Mar (Ham, Rizor, Jones, Einck) 52.70

4x200 Relay
1. Dubuque Senior 1:45.69, 2. Kennedy (Davis, Terukina, Raue, Craig-Dothard) 1:46.72, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 1:46.91, 4. Iowa City High 1:47.29, 5. Linn-Mar (Ham, Rizor, Renner, Robertson) 1:50.84, 6. CR Washington (Muller, Jones, Tackaberry, Marner) 1:53.69

4x400 Relay
1. Dubuque Wahlert 4:02.32, 2. Kennedy (Davis, Wampole, Raue, Craig-Dothard) 4:04.80, 3. Linn-Mar (Saville, Schminke, Major, Perry) 4:04.84, 4. Iowa City High 4:08.03, 5. Dubuque Senior 4:10.26, 6. Waterloo West 4:19.07

4x800 Relay
1. Dubuque Wahlert 9:42.33, 2. Iowa City High 9:43.66, 3. Kennedy (Terukina, Meyer, Rodman, Wampole) 9:50.28, 4. Linn-Mar (Uridil, Johnston, Miller, Sublett) 10:04.86, 5. Dubuque Senior 10:06.43, 6. CR Washington (Witt, Stuer, Stuckenschneider, Kline) 10:24.95

Sprint Medley
1. Dubuque Wahlert 1:52.05, 2. Dubuque Senior 1:53.78, 3. Linn-Mar (Morgan, Dalecky, Major, Japenga) 1:55.22, 4. Iowa City High 1:56.11, 5. Kennedy (Davis, Estelle, Drahn, Terukina) 1:56.40, 6. CR Washington (Marner, Stone, Muller, Jones) 1:57.58

Distance Medley
1. Dubuque Wahlert 4:17.85, 2. Dubuque Senior 4:22.74, 3. Linn-Mar (Morgan, Dalecky, Schminke, Japenga) 4:22.97, 4. Iowa City High 4:23.74, 5. Kennedy (Coates, Drahn, Erbes, Meyer) 4:40.28, 6. CR Washington (Marner, Tackaberry, Coutentos, Stuckenschneider) 4:53.18

Shuttle Hurdle Relay
1. Dubuque Senior 1:06.69 (meet record), 2. Kennedy (Coates, Moss, Rogers, Estelle) 1:08.50, 3. Linn-Mar (Holdgrafer, Montague, Jones, Strauel) 1:09.34, 4. Dubuque Wahlert 1:09.46, 5. Iowa City High 1:09.92, 6. CR Washington (Vogel, Stone, Burke, Foreman) 1:11.78

High Jump
1. Abby Saehler (ICH) 5-2, 2. Courtney Strait (CRK) 5-0, 3. Sara Strauel (LM) 4-10, 4. Marissa Moore (CRK) 4-8, 5. Annie Hartley (ICH) 4-8, 6. Meghan Payne (WW) 4-6

Long Jump
1. Kiera Washpun (CRW) 17-5.5, 2. Caitlin Ward (ICH) 16-2.25, 3. Meghan Payne (WW) 16-0.25, 3. McKenzie Drahn (CRK) 16-0.25, 5. Callie Stone (CRW) 15-11.5, 6. Elizabeth Welu (DW) 15-9.25

Shot Put
1. Aliyah Gustafson (ICH) 40-3.5, 2. Katelyn Weimerskirch (DW) 37-7, 3. Amara Lehman (ICH) 37-2, 4. Blaire Thomas (WW) 35-11, 5. Maddie Nilles (DW) 34-9.5, 6. Lannie Neitert (LM) 33-8

Discus
1. Katelyn Weimerskirch (DW) 141-8, 2. Aliyah Gustafson (ICH) 118-4, 3. Maddie Nilles (DW) 107-0, 4. Amaa Lehman (ICH) 105-8, 5. Ashlyn Milbath (CRK) 99-4.5, 6. Lannie Neitert (LM) 97-6

Athlete of the Year -- Katelyn Weimerskirch (DW)

Coach of the Year -- Tim Berning (DW)

Academic All-Conference
Kennedy -- Emily O'Brien, Courtney Strait
Washington -- Anna Kline, Channing Tackaberry
Dubuque Wahlert -- Tessa Leytem, Rachel Olk
Dubuque Senior -- Katie Evans, Jacqueline Piper
Iowa City High -- Harper Beasley, Katie Langenfeld, Elizabeth Larsen
Linn-Mar -- Madison Esker, Meghan Holdgrafer
Waterloo West -- Alix Risse, Haley Waschkat