Notes from Day 1 of the Iowa state track meet

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Staff report | Friday, May 16, 2008 1:17 AM CDT | () comments

DES MOINES — With the race ended, Tipton junior Eric Thien had one thought on his mind.

“I’m going to stuff my face at the continental breakfast,” he said.

A feast is well deserved after Thien mustered a final burst of energy in the last 100 meters of the Class 2A 3,200.

He busted past Columbus senior Casey Robinson to finish third in 9:41.97. That time topped Thien’s personal best by more than 13 seconds and left him searching for words.

“Jeez,” he said. “I can’t believe it. It was Casey at the end. We were battling.

“I was slowing up a little, but I thought, ‘No. This is state.’”

Thien might want to hold off on the gut-busting meal for a couple days, though. He runs the 1,600 on Saturday afternoon.

Meyers OK with opening day at state

West Liberty junior Justin Meyers couldn’t complain.

Two of his three events at state were Thursday, and he made the most of his time in the long jump.

He finished fifth with a personal record of 20-feet-10¾.

“I just wanted to make the finals,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”

He was a little less happy later in the day.

Despite running a 22.98 in the 200 preliminaries, Meyers missed out on the finals by 0.07 seconds.

Muscatine’s Frere takes 2nd in discus, eager for shot

Danielle Frere of Muscatine was close in the standings but not in distance.

Frere, the favorite in Friday’s Class 4A shot put final, had some of the best throws of her career and all of her throws were farther than the third-place finisher, but she still finished almost 22 feet behind Iowa City West’s Taylor Freeman. That was no shame, though, since Freeman broke the state-meet record by 2-feet-2 with a heave of 156-4.

“Everybody knows she’s the one to beat,” Frere said. “I was trying to do my best and, hopefully, get a PR. I was really close, but I was consistent.“

Frere, whose all-time best is 135-4, had throws of 127-4, 133-9, 128-8, 128-9 and 134-9 before fouling on her final attempt.

Freeman hit 154-0 on her first throw in the finals, got the record on her next try and tossed a final 155-2. She had no trouble focusing, even though she came into the meet with the best regional throw by almost 20 feet.

“You have your own kind of goal I want to meet,” she said. “I’ve learned to understand that and how to motivate myself.”

Frere is hoping to be just as dominant today in the shot put, an event she won at the Drake Relays.

“I’m pumped for tomorrow,” she said. “I want to have some fun with it.”

Preston/East Central thrower breaks school record, takes 3rd

Preston/East Central’s Lauren Camp made her day with her first toss in the Class 1A shot put, and it just got better as she finished in third place.

“I broke the school record with my first throw; that was really a relief,” she said of her toss of 36-2, which surpassed the old mark by an inch. Then, she threw 36-8.50 on her second attempt and added a 36-4.5 later.

“My previous best was 35-9 last week at the district meet, so I picked up almost a foot,” she said.

She had one throw that was better yet, but she fouled after letting it go.

“I saw it, and I knew it was the farthest, but sometimes you can’t get enough weight back in the ring,” Camp said.

Dike-New Hartford sophomore breaks own state record

After qualifying for the 200 finals with the fastest time, Hannah Willms of Dike-New Hartford showed she had even more left in her. And track might not even be her best sport.

Willms, an elite all-state outside hitter for the Class 2A state championship volleyball team, broke her own 2A record in winning the 400 in 54.70 seconds. She set the record of 56.49 a year ago.

“I was really shocked,” she said. “My goal was 55.”

Her time was an all-time record in the state meet, something she didn’t realize.

“Usually I don’t sprint the first 100 (meters), but that’s what we’ve worked on a lot this year,” Willms said.