Marion High School - Marion, Iowa

Linn-Mar girls roar at state track

DES MOINES - Payton Wensel considers herself an awkward freshman in some respects, but she ran like a gazelle Thursday under blue skies in Des Moines.

Wensel captured the 400 meter dash and helped Linn-Mar win the 4x800 relay as the Lions roared into first place after the first day of the Class 4A state meet.

Linn-Mar junior Stephanie Jenks breezed to victory in the 3,000 meter run for the sixth state title of her record-setting career as the Lions got off to a fast start in the three-day meet.

Linn-Mar leads the pack with 30 points. Pleasant Valley is second with 24 points.

Wensel keeps surprising herself with her performances as a ninth grader.

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Rima claims state title in 400

DES MOINES - Jalen Rima scrunched his face and shook his head when former Cedar Rapids Prairie football coach Mike Morrissey told him to join the track team two years ago.

Rima did not want to run around in circles, but Morrissey made it perfectly clear: No track, no football.

"I wasn't going to go out my freshman year, but because of him I went out," Rima said Thursday, all smiles. "Thank god he made me."

Rima blazed to victory in the 400 meter dash in 48.85 seconds at the Class 4A state track meet in Des Moines and is now perfectly happy to run track instead of just running pass patterns.

In fact, the faster he runs in track, the more attention he gets from Division I college football teams. Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and others called Morrissey a few days after Rima ran an incredibly fast 400 meter split in a relay at the Drake Relays this year.

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Kennedy wins meet at Gardner

Kennedy's Siedrra Hargens shot a 5-over par 41 to take medalist honors and lead the Cougars to a narrow two-shot victory over Washington in a five-team meet Thursday at Gardner.

Prairie was a close third with a 197. The Hawks' Emily Machula took second with a 43.

Kandis O'Donnell and Grace Claassen each shot 47s to lead the way for Washington.

TEAM SCORING: Kennedy 194, Washington 196, Prairie 197, Linn-Mar 216, Marion 238.

KENNEDY: Sierra Hargens 41, Val Davidson 48, Nicole DeCoste 51, Avery Haefner 54, Annette Marsalli 55, Abbie Haller 57.

LINN-MAR: Kristen Harding 50, Alexa Mindrup 52, Hannah Westfall 57, Danielle Gerlach 57, Allie Cahill 62, Megan Murphy 63.

MARION: Carly Eichelberger 54, Skylar Dede 54, Anna Martinson 64, Erin Thomason 66, Isabelle Webber 71.

PRAIRIE: Emily Machula 43, Hannah Stebral 49, Peyton Staab 51, Lexi Poundstone 54, Amanda Happel 57, Milayla Winter 57.

WASHINGTON: Kandis O'Donnell 47, Grace Claassen 47, Mady Goodwin 49, Brett Visser 53, Devon O'Donnell 55, Riley DeWolf 55, Anna Rhode 57.

Marion girls trim Maquoketa, 3-2

MAQUOKETA - Liz Banning fired in two goals Tuesday as the Marion Indians edged Maquoketa, 3-2, in a Wamac Conference soccer match at Maquoketa.

Katie Banning and Erica Kelly collected assists for Marion. Tessa Jordan made four saves in goal.

Marion's third goal was scored on an "own-goal" by Maquoketa.