Fairfield’s track and field programs competed at the Southeast Conference Meet in Keokuk Thursday, May 7th, with the boys turning in a strong runner-up finish and the girls placing sixth in a competitive six-team field.
Team Standings
Mount Pleasant won the girls title with 183 points, followed by Washington with 166, Burlington with 74, Fort Madison with 67, Keokuk with 63, and Fairfield with 29.
Washington won the boys title with 147 points, followed by Fairfield with 129, Keokuk with 103, Fort Madison with 92, Burlington with 57, and Mount Pleasant with 54.
Fairfield Girls
The Fairfield girls placed sixth with 29 points in a deep six-team field, with Elyse Setterstrom providing the day’s standout individual performance and several relay units contributing points throughout the afternoon.
Elyse Setterstrom placed second in the discus at 104-07 behind winner Kylee Hill of Burlington at 138-09, and fifth in the shot put at 33-02.50 behind winner Hill at 50-04. Nora McReynolds placed 10th in the discus at 61-01 and ninth in the shot put at 28-05.
Iris Lane placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 13.52 behind winner Mylee Stiefel of Burlington at 12.46, with Ryelan Schnoebelen 11th in 15.07. Schnoebelen placed ninth in the 200-meter dash in 31.30 and Aubrey Ryan 10th in 33.39, behind winner Stiefel at 25.52. Kensley Fligg placed sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1:09.66 behind winner Avery Fedler of Mount Pleasant at 59.70.
Alex Jo Steward placed sixth in the 800-meter run in 2:48.42 behind winner Fedler at 2:21.30, with Fatima Baez 10th in 3:16.48. Caroline Van Pelt placed seventh in the 1,500-meter run in 5:45.14 and Bailey Belzer eighth in 6:02.05, behind winner Fedler at 4:54.98. Steward also placed seventh in the 3,000-meter run in 12:31.86 behind winner Avery Rump of Fort Madison at 10:16.54.
Aislinn Wise placed 11th in the 100-meter hurdles in 22.17 and Olivia Manning 12th in 23.61, behind winner Delaney Anderson of Mount Pleasant at 16.32.
Lauren Martin, Maddy Martin, Iris Lane, and Allie Hammes served as the backbone of Fairfield’s sprint relay efforts, combining in various orders across three events. The group placed fifth in the 4×100 in 53.57 behind winner Mount Pleasant at 50.15, fifth in the 4×200 in 1:54.88 behind winner Mount Pleasant at 1:48.57, and fifth in the sprint medley in 2:00.68 behind winner Fort Madison at 1:53.41. The 4×400 crew of Kensley Fligg, Kate Brecount, Maddy Martin, and Caroline Van Pelt placed fifth in 5:00.39 behind winner Washington at 4:17.73. The 4×800 group of Kensley Fligg, Caroline Van Pelt, Bailey Belzer, and Kate Brecount placed fourth in 11:52.44 behind winner Fort Madison at 10:11.66. The distance medley unit of Olivia Manning, Aislinn Wise, Aubrey Ryan, and Fatima Baez placed sixth in 5:33.68 behind winner Washington at 4:28.37.
Kate Brecount placed seventh in the high jump clearing 4-06 behind winner Lilian Mennen of Burlington at 5-00. Kensley Fligg placed fourth in the long jump at 15-00.25 and Allie Hammes seventh at 14-05.25, behind winner Izzy Sloat of Mount Pleasant at 17-01.25.
Fairfield Boys
The Fairfield boys finished runner-up with 129 points, falling just short of Washington’s winning total of 147, with four conference titles and a strong showing across all disciplines. Spencer McCready and Eli Zillman led the way with multiple individual titles each.
Spencer McCready seized the 110-meter hurdles conference championship in 15.75, edging runner-up Isaac Medrano of Washington at 16.23. Eli Zillman swept both jumping events in dominant fashion, clearing 6-06 to claim the high jump conference title — nudging out runner-up Nolan Guzman of Fort Madison at 6-04 — then winning the long jump championship at 21-04, barely clearing runner-up Chayce Smith of Keokuk with a mark of 21-03.75. The 4×200 relay crew of Dayson Workman, Blake Burnett, Voss Richardson, and Eli Hoffman edged out the conference title in 1:33.33, holding off runner-up Mount Pleasant by less than a second at 1:34.25 in one of the closest relay finishes of the night.
Ethan Bisgard had an outstanding individual evening, placing fourth in the 100-meter dash in 11.40 behind winner Ryan Bair of Keokuk at 11.02, with Dayson Workman sixth in 11.47. Bisgard placed second in the 200-meter dash in 23.02 behind winner Bair at 22.10, with Eli Hoffman fifth in 24.22. Bisgard also placed second in the 400-meter dash in 51.52 behind winner Keshawn Wyldon of Burlington at 50.89, with Sam Nelson ninth in 1:00.34.
Spencer McCready was not done after his hurdles title, adding a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in 59.98 behind winner Lincoln Wray of Keokuk at 57.28, with Jacob Crew fourth in 1:00.49. Zillman’s dominance in the jumping events was reflected further down the results as well — Blake Burnett placed fourth in the high jump at 5-08 and Brady Wigle fifth in the long jump at 19-02, both chasing marks that Zillman had already put out of reach.
Parker Reid placed fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:06.03 behind winner Nolan Guzman of Fort Madison at 2:01.17, with River Fulton ninth in 2:15.13. John Miller placed fifth in the 1,600-meter run in 4:59.15 and Brice Boatright seventh in 5:05.00, behind winner Andrew Rees of Washington at 4:34.68. Boatright also placed fifth in the 3,200-meter run in 11:07.61 and Jordan Miller eighth in 12:50.76, behind winner Silas Hulett of Mount Pleasant at 9:53.48.
The shuttle hurdle relay foursome of Spencer McCready, Blake Burnett, Jacob Crew, and Eli Zillman came agonizingly close to another title, placing second in 1:04.16 — less than a second behind winner Burlington at 1:04.09. The 4×100 squad of Dayson Workman, Voss Richardson, Blake Burnett, and Eli Hoffman placed third in 44.80 behind winner Keokuk at 43.83. The sprint medley unit of Voss Richardson, Tucker Robertson, Dayson Workman, and Eli Hoffman placed second in 1:38.85 behind winner Keokuk at 1:34.72. The 4×400 crew of Tucker Robertson, Brock Atwood, Parker Reid, and Ethan Bisgard placed third in 3:43.24 behind winner Fort Madison at 3:33.84. The 4×800 foursome of Elijah Hamilton, Parker Reid, Clae Cass, and John Miller placed third in 8:45.00 behind winner Fort Madison at 8:17.24. The distance medley group of Tucker Robertson, Brady Wigle, Brock Atwood, and River Fulton placed fifth in 3:54.68 behind winner Washington at 3:42.31.
William Bryant placed seventh in the shot put at 38-07 and Broz Bowman 10th at 33-06.50, behind winner Greyson Hartman of Washington at 64-07.50. Aiden Mizelle placed fourth in the discus at 121-05 and Clayton Greiner eighth at 103-09, behind winner Hartman at 186-06.
Several Fairfield junior varsity athletes also turned in notable winning performances on the day. Sawyer McCready ran a 17.58 in the 110-meter hurdles, Elijah Hamilton clocked a 1:03.73 in the 400-meter hurdles, and the 4×400 squad of Maddox Rebling, Sam Nelson, Kris Powell, and Angel Quimby finished in 4:18.63.
Head coach Brian Dunlap was proud of the effort despite falling short of the title. “I was very pleased with the boys tonight. Had some great efforts and performances. We just couldn’t outscore a very solid Washington team. Our kids gave it all they had,” Dunlap said.
