May 20, 2025
Drake Stadium in late May is any Iowa track athlete’s ultimate goal, but if they can’t get it done at the state qualifying meet (SQM), there will be no Blue Oval. The Earlham track teams’ accomplishments at SQMs over the years are the stuff of legend, and that tradition continued last Thursday in Corydon. The Cardinal boys’ and girls’ teams swept the meet. The boys crushed the field with 186.5 points, 80.5 ahead of 2nd-place Van Buren County. The battle for the top spot in the girls’ meet was a little more compelling, with the title coming down to the last few races. The Cards ended up with 128 points to edge Martensdale-St. Marys and Wayne, both with 118.
The Cardinal boys won seven events, and the girls won five.
Girls’ 4×200
When you think of sports that require a perfect mix of teamwork and emotion, perhaps track and field doesn’t always come to mind. But non-believers should have been trackside watching this race. Keeley Keller, Ava Harris, Amanda Smith, Avrie Fagan came in to this meet ranked 2nd in the district, but they were determined to run the race of their lives. They were fast and flawless. Keller led off, Harris gave the Cards a big lead in the 2nd leg, Smith kept it, and it was up to Fagan to hang on. She did, fighting off a furious challenge by the Van Buren County anchor. Fagan stumbled a bit as she leaned at the finish line, but the Cards won by 12/100ths of a second in a season-best time of 1:50:38.
Nobody wanted to cry—even tears of joy—but they couldn’t help it.
“Running the d-med before that, I was still a little tired,” said Fagan, “but I really wanted to win for my team. Everybody was cheering and…” She struggled to continue. She apologized, but that wasn’t necessary.
Like good teammates do, Harris picked her up—though she was choked up, also.
“At the end of the day it’s just doing something for your team,” said Harris. “So you want to push yourself as hard as you can. Not for yourself; for your teammates.”
Season-best times are always good. At the state qualifying meet, they are essential.
“I think we know our abilities,” said Keller. “We came in knowing that we had a really good chance, even if we didn’t get first. It was laying out what we’ve worked on all season.”
Boys 4×400
There were no tears after this race, but Blake Petersen, Carson Maly, Dallas Canoyer, and Caleb Smith were no less excited than 4×200 girls. The Cards came into this race as favorites—with their sights set on eventually winning at the state meet—but first they had to get by an excellent Van Buren County team. Smith’s teammates gave him a sizable lead as the anchor leg began, but talented Lincoln Bainbridge was running last for Van Buren. Bainbridge had already won the 200m and anchored 2 winning relays for the Warriors at the SQM. When he got close to Smith at the start of the home stretch in this race, it looked like he might win again. But Smith shut him down, and the Cards won by a little over a half second in a season-best time of 3:27.56.
“I’d already lost to him three times tonight,” said Smith. “So I had it in my head that I wasn’t going to lose this one. I didn’t want to let these guys down. We’ve been running together all year and only lost a couple races.”
The Cardinals had all but won the meet long before this race, but they really wanted this one.
“It’s a really fun race to run,” said Canoyer. “You and your teammates, you just go out here and give it all you got.”
Boys’ 1600m
Dawson Braet and David Nicholls were favored in this race, and the Cardinal pair showed everybody why. Nichols led for most of the race, with Braet lurking in 3rd. On the bell lap, Nichols took off. Braet answered, moving into 2nd place and easing closer to Nichols. Nichols probably has superior fitness between the two runners, while Braet’s finishing kick is a little better. Braet’s kick won out in the end. In a ferocious finish, Braet got by Nichols with a few meters to go and won by 33/100ths of a second. Braet’s time of 4:38.07 and Nichols’ 4:38.40 were PRs.
As training partners, the two are almost a perfect pair; similar abilities and the same will to win. They had a plan coming into the race, and it worked out pretty well.
“We were hoping we could get good times and both qualify,” said Braet. “In the back of my mind, I kind of figured I wanted to pass him at the end.”
Nichols qualified for state on his time.
Boys’ 400m
A runner has doubts at times; that’s just the way it is with this sport.
“With about 200 meters to go, I was just dead,” said senior Carson Maly. “I was thinking, honestly, ‘Why am I in this race?’”
But he stayed strong and slowly moved his way from the middle of the pack closer to the leaders. With about 20 meters to go, he pulled even, then closed out the win in a PR of 52.96.
The Earlham track program specializes in ‘800-meter training.’ That makes for a lot of good 800 runners, but it also improves the speed and endurance of runners in other distances. There might not be a better case study for this training than Maly. He has excelled at cross country (5K) since his freshman year and has more recently started running shorter distances.
“I’ve used that training towards these 400s,” he said. “Just pacing myself, learning how to run. Those aerobic runs I’ve been on with Mr. Dalton; those have helped me out a lot.”
Boys’ 4x800m
The 4×8 tradition in Earlham runs deep. The Cards won the state championship in this race 4 years in a row from 2019-23 (not counting the COVID year of 2020 when there was no state meet). Any Cardinal in this event knows what this race means and must embrace the challenge. After winning the SQM race easily, Petersen, Maly, Blake Tiemeyer, and Canoyer are poised to take a run at another state title.
“It’s expected every year. We know what we’re getting into,” said Tiemeyer, “And we have a lot of fun doing it.”
Running in a slow field, the Cardinals won the race in 8:28.73. They’ll be faster than that on Friday at the Blue Oval.
Girls 4x800m
The wind eventually died down in Corydon last Thursday, but it was still gusting pretty hard during the 4×800 races, whipping into the runner’s faces in the far turn. Amanda Smith, Mackenzie Harger, Hanna Frank, and Taylor Rodgers are seasoned runners, though, and they know how to deal with it.
“I like to make up for it in the other 300, because you’re only affected for about 100 meters,” said Frank. “So I focus on pushing as hard as I can with the 300 so that when the wind comes into play, it doesn’t affect the time as much.”
The Cards were about 50 meters behind when Frank got the baton on the third leg, but she forged to the lead by the middle of the backstretch on her first lap. She had the Cards well in front by the time she handed off to Rodgers. After a ‘normal’ first lap, Rodgers paced herself a little on the final lap, but the Cards still finished with their 2nd-best time of the year, 10:02.12, 2 seconds ahead of Martensdale-St. Marys. The Cards and the Blue Devils ran the fastest two times in all of the state qualifying meets and will be among the favorites to win the state title next week at Drake Stadium.
Boys’ 800m
Just like at the conference meet a week earlier, the 800m at the SQM ended up a match race featuring Petersen and Tiemeyer. The race ended similarly, with Petersen holding off Tiemeyer; though it was a bit slower. Petersen finished in 2:04.45 and Tiemeyer in 2:04.75. They will both run in the first heat of the race at state this week.
Boys’ 3200m
David Nichols cruised to victory in a time of 10:33.54, 26 seconds ahead of his teammate, Donovan Braet, who finished 2nd. If Nichols runs near his PR, he could place at state.
Boys’ High Jump
Senior Carter Hohertz hadn’t even been out for track the past few years. No matter. He high jumped well all year, PRed with a jump of 6 feet two weeks ago, then matched that last Thursday to win the SQM.
Girls 400m hurdles
Amanda Smith was involved in the nail-biter 4x200m race, and she had another one of in this race. She and Ellie Baker of Martensdale-St. Marys ran down the race leader on the home stretch, then Smith out-leaned Baker by 6/100th of a second to win with a season-best time of 1:08.02. She’ll have a chance to place at state.
Girls 4x100m
It had already been a good night for the Cardinal sprinters, and it got even better when Fagan, Ava Jenkins, Keller, and Harris won this race in a season-best 51.60. The 10 points helped keep the Cards ahead in the team standings. The Cards are seeded 8th at the state meet.
Girls distance medley relay
Fagan, Harris, Frank, and Taylor Rodgers held off Martensdale-St. Marys to win with a time of 4:26.92. That wasn’t a season best, but if the Cardinals can do it at the Blue Oval, they could place.
Other state qualifiers
Every event winner qualifies for state, of course, but then the next 14 best performances in each event from all of the SQMs around the state also qualify.
Girls
110m hurdles
Jenkins stumbled a bit in the 3rd and final heat and finished in the middle of the pack. However, track officials then realized that all three heats had been run with only 9 flights of hurdles—there should be 10. After a brief meeting, they decided that the three heats would be run again, after the 800m run. That worked out for Jenkins. She finished 2nd in 16.79. Not her best, but good enough to qualify for state.
1500m
The week after prom, Taylor Rodgers told Coach Petersen that her heels were hurting. Coach Petersen inquired if perhaps she had been dancing without any shoes on. Rodgers responded in the affirmative, and Coach Petersen said, “Well, that’s why your heels hurt.”
“I busted down on the dance floor a little bit too much,” Rodgers said after the 4x800m relay. “So my heels have been hurting. But it’s all good tonight. I have some silicone insoles.”
Rodgers danced into the Cardinal record book with her performance in the 1500. She finished 2nd, but broke the 10-year-old record in the race with a time of 4:59.48.
Shuttle hurdle relay
Jenkins, Kenna Harskamp, Ally Presler, and Darby Moore finished 2nd in a season-best time of 1:11.11.
4x400m relay
Frank, Harger, Taylor Rodgers, and Smith finished 3rd in 4:16.49, a season best.
Boys
Long jump
Lane finished 2nd with a PR of 21-02.
800m
Tiemeyer finished 2nd to Petersen.
Sprint medley relay
Lane, Josh Winey, Jackson Berkley, and Smith finished 2nd in 1:37.01
Distance medley relay
Lane, Berkley, Smith, and Canoyer finished 2nd in 3:39.72.
1600m
Nichols finished 2nd to Dawson Braet.
Earlham Echo 
Leave a comment