RD Keep/North Mahaska Communications
North Mahaska’s 400-meter relay team punched its ticket to next week’s state meet with a win Thursday in 51.45 seconds.
North Mahaska’s Nataliya Linder had a lot of pressure on her entering Thursday’s state track qualifier. She was one of the top Class 1A performers in the long jump, 400-meter hurdles, and 400 meters entering the meet. She won all three events and ran in the 400-meter relay to qualify for next week’s state meet.
North Mahaska tied for third in the team race with Baxter. They each scored 81 points. Host Lynnville-Sully won with 106 and BCLUW was second with 98 points.
Seven events qualified for state with Linder in four of them. Kieren Perez qualified in two events.
Linder broke her own record and school record with a leap of 17-10.5 in the long jump. She added a win in the 400 meters in 1 minute 2.81 seconds and another top finish in the 400 hurdles in 1:08.69.
The long jump is Linder’s prize event. She is undefeated on the season and enters state with the second-best jump in Class 1A. She has gone over 17-0 feet several times and broke her school record several times. Her jump Thursday pits her behind Wayne Community’s Ella Whitmer, who jumped 18-0.75. Linder said she had been getting extra work in preparation for the state qualifier.
Nataliya Linder broke her record again Thursday going 17-10.5 and enters the state meet with the second-best jump in the Class 1A field.
“I spent some time working on my approach, takeoff and landing and it really helped today,” said Linder. “I jumped 16-8 and 16-10 then the rest was over 17. I have to keep working, keeping myself wide and work on the approach and landing.”
After winning the 400 meters in 1 minute 2.21 seconds, came the 400-meter hurdle event. North Mahaska coach Amy Griffin, who is somewhat superstitious, was not willing to watch to see if Linder could score the trifecta.
“I really wanted to watch her jump but I’m kind of superstitious, so I stayed away,” said Griffin. “I’m not saying she whether she can score the trifecta.”
Once Linder cleared the finish line, Griffin was one of the first to greet her after she came off the track. The hug and smile showed the elation and excitement between the two. Linder won the event in 1:08.69,
The next to last event, the 400-relay, saw Addison Terpstra, Linder, Olivia Ridgeway and Perez clocked a 51.45 second time to punch their ticket to state.
Perez ran second in the 100 hurdles in 16.73 and was fourth in the 100 in 12.82 but qualified for state in both. Perez was also the second leg of the winning 400 relay team.
Emmerson Jedlicka, battling a hip injury placed fourth in the 3,000 meters but her time qualified for state in 11:57.69.
The sprint medley team of Terpstra, Perez, Alivia Schock and Aly Steil ran fourth in 1:59.33. Amber Knockel, Allie Veiseth, Abby Van Weelden and Schock was fourth in the 1,600-meter relay in 4:40.80.
Ava Huffman, Knockel, Van Weelden and Veiseth placed fifth in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 11:06.04.
The Warhawks posted three sixth place finishes. Jayden Hiner closed out her season with a jump of 4-8 in the high jump. Huffman ran the 800 in 2:40.89 and the 800-relay team of Ridgeway, Schock, Macie Little and Van Weelden finished in 1:58.15.