Thursday was a day area track and field fans will not soon forget. Three individual state championships, a handful of personal bests, and memories made on the blue oval at Drake Stadium in Des Moines — day one of the Iowa State Track and Field Championships delivered in a big way for several Southeast Iowa programs on Thursday, May 21st.
Pekin
The Panthers arrived in Des Moines with high expectations and met every one of them on Thursday, with seniors Chloe Glosser and Anna Hadley combining to give Pekin the Class 1A girls team lead with 20 points after five events. Madrid and Mt. Ayr sit tied for second with 14.
Glosser delivered what may have been the performance of the day across all classifications, winning the 3000 meter run in 9:37.39 — a personal best, a new school record, and a new state meet record for Class 1A runners. It was the first state championship of her career and she earned it in a way that left no doubt.
“I still can’t really believe it,” Glosser said. “All this hard work — I knew coming in today I was fully capable, but just how far I’ve come the last year or two, it seriously blows my mind. I’m just so thankful. All those hard times were for a reason, and now I know that.”
Getting to this point was not a straight line for Glosser. She described a difficult cross country season where she was not listening to her body properly, and said finding the right mindset and seeking the right help made all the difference heading into the state meet. “I ended up not feeling my body properly, so I just learned that, got the help I needed,” she said. “In the end, it’s up to me to make the change. I just prayed to God about it and asked for guidance going through my journey, and he brought me here.”
Glosser is not done. She will return to the track Friday for the 800 meter run and the distance medley relay, and again Saturday for the 1500 meter run — three more chances to add to her hardware.
While Glosser was still catching her breath from her 3000 victory, she was already redirecting her energy toward her teammate and close friend Anna Hadley, who was still competing in the shot put competition. The two seniors have pushed each other throughout their Pekin careers, and the bond showed Thursday. Glosser was cheering loudly from the stands during Hadley’s final throws, and the two shared a hug after the victory was secured.
“Chloe — she is the hardest working person I know,” Hadley said. “She deserved this so much. I was so proud.”
Hadley then went out and took care of her own business, winning the shot put at 43-09.75 to claim her fourth state championship. The win also served as redemption — she had finished sixth in the shot put at last year’s state meet, a result that clearly left her motivated heading into this season. Her winning throw came by more than three feet over the rest of the field, and she said the timing of Glosser’s win right before her final throw gave her an extra jolt of energy.
Hadley’s four titles tell the story of one of the most decorated careers in Pekin history: discus as a freshman, shot put as a sophomore, discus again as a junior, and now shot put as a senior. Through it all, she said the growth she has seen in the shot put specifically is what stands out most. “Last year, I only broke 40 feet once,” she said. “So it’s insane to see the growth I’ve made from my first ever throw in high school being a 31-foot to my last throw being a 43-foot.”
With the shot put title in hand, Hadley said she can now channel everything into Friday’s discus competition, where she enters as the top seed after her 153-foot throw at the state qualifying meet. “Now I can just mainly focus on disc and I don’t have to worry about, oh, I could have done so much better at shot,” she said. “Now I can focus on disc solely.”
Elsewhere for Pekin on Thursday, Kendra Schultz finished 24th in the shot put at 30-06.25. The boys 4×800 relay of Mason Dahlstrom, Cody Silvers, Cole Millikin, and Lane Fariss ran a season best of 8:21.38 to finish 11th, and the girls shuttle hurdle relay of Reece Brisby, Abby Guise, Aleigha Sieren, and Paislee Coleman finished 22nd in 1:14.82. Carlie Gambell recently suffered an injury, so Sieren filled in as an alternate, running the shuttle hurdle relay race for just her second time.
Coach Davis Eidahl reflected on what his two seniors accomplished and what drove them to get there. “The two girls, Anna and Chloe, showed what happens when you have a goal and work to achieve it,” Eidahl said. “Both had goals after last season.”
Van Buren County
Lincoln Bainbridge has had state championship aspirations for as long as he can remember. Thursday at Drake Stadium, he finally got there — and he made it look easy.
Bainbridge ran a personal best of 48.08 seconds in the 400 meter dash — the sixth fastest time in the state this year — to win the Class 1A title by well over a full second over English Valleys’ Braydon Anderson at 49.55. From the moment he hit the final straightaway, there was no doubt.
“It feels — I can’t even describe it,” Bainbridge said. “I’ve put my mind on this goal for years on years, even before high school started. I’ve seen other guys do it, and how bad I wanted to get it was indescribable. To cross that line first and to get handed the flag was something I’ll remember for the rest of my entire life.”
The performance was the product of years of dedicated work and a race plan executed to perfection. Bainbridge said the key was keeping it simple and trusting everything he had put into the season. “In the end, it was just trusting my fitness and trusting my game plan,” he said. “To just go out there and run my race, and to run the race I’ve run all year.”
Bainbridge’s win helped Van Buren County finish in a four-way tie for third place in the Class 1A boys team standings after day one — and he has three more events ahead of him. He returns Friday for the distance medley relay and 4×400 prelims before lining up in the 800 meter run on Saturday.
Head coach Mike Bainbridge could not have asked for a better opening day. “I don’t think the day could have been much better,” he said. “Landry ran a 12-second PR in the 3200 and got to experience running on the blue oval for the first time. Lincoln then runs a PR in the 400 to claim his first state title. I’m really proud of both of those guys. They have both put in a lot of work this year and seeing it pay off is awesome. We did what we needed to do today to have a chance of bringing home some hardware this year. Tomorrow is a big day for the boys and I think they will be up for the challenge.”
Landry Loeffler was the other headline performer for the Warriors, finishing 16th in the 3200 meter run in 10:02.25 — a personal best by a remarkable 12 seconds in his first-ever state meet appearance on the blue oval. The girls 4×800 relay of Rory Philips, Rylee Philips, Gabby Titus, and Kayley Snowgren finished 10th in a new season best of 10:10.63.
Van Buren County girls head coach Lucinda DeHart said, “The girls ran strong. They PR’d and placed 10th, moving up in the rankings. All their hard work paid off. It was also great to see the boys compete. It was a great day of running for VBC.”
Fairfield
Eli Zillman opened his defense of the Class 3A high jump title with a runner-up finish, clearing 6-07 to finish second behind Eli Patterson of Benton. Elyse Setterstrom competed in the discus, throwing a personal best of 113-09 to finish 18th.
Zillman said he gave everything he had on his final attempt. “In my final attempt it was just — get up — I didn’t want to let everyone down,” he said. “Then with it unfolding different, I had all the confidence that I was winning and it didn’t come out to what I wanted it to be. We fought hard, and if I didn’t miss at those lower heights then I win that, but those little misses cost you.”
Despite the runner-up finish, Zillman said the experience reinforced lessons that will stay with him long after his high school career ends. “The biggest thing I have learned is not to be too high on your good moments and not to be too low on your bad, and no matter what, have your faith in God — he will always have your back and will make sure you do the best that you can.”
To younger athletes coming up behind him, Zillman had practical advice about preparation. “I would tell the younger kids — just try to do some AAU, get to the bigger meets, so when you go to the state meet or Drake, it’s not as scary,” he said. “I was in that stadium I think eight to ten times through my high school career and I got the blessed opportunity to go to some bigger meets like Adidas and AAU Nationals, so being at Drake Stadium felt like just another meet — and that’s what it should feel like. There shouldn’t be any pressure.”
He also said one of the things he hopes people remember about his career is the time he spent helping others along the way. “Every meet I went to, there would be someone who would come up to me and ask how to just get to that next bar, so I tried to help them,” he said. “I like being able to help the younger kids, even if they weren’t from my school — just to be a little bit better.”
Zillman acknowledged the sting of finishing second but found perspective in how far he had come. “Finishing second hurts a little bit — it’s not what we were looking for,” he said. “But the improvement is we were a lot more consistent at the higher heights, and our mental mindset was 1,000 times better than it ever had been.”
Sigourney
Troy Klett turned in one of the most impressive individual improvements of the entire meet on Thursday, finishing eighth in the 3200 meter run in 9:52.24 — a personal best by more than 20 seconds — to earn a medal and a point for the Savages in his first event of the state meet. He returns Friday for the distance medley relay and again Saturday for the 1600 and 800 meter runs.
Addison Yates finished 17th in the 3000 meter run in 11:17.66, while her sister Ellie Yates was right behind in 18th place at 11:22.68 — a strong showing for both on the biggest stage of their careers.
Competition continues Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium, with area athletes still in the hunt for additional medals and team points across multiple events.
