Cadet athletes nab five medals at State Track Meet

 DES MOINES - Going face-to-face with the best athletes in Iowa at the Big Blue Oval last week at the Class 2A State Track Meet from May 21-23, the Crestwood boys’ and girls’ athletes proved they could excel as both teams combined to finish in the top eight in five events.

Girls’ highlights

In the girls’ meet, Crestwood senior Isabella Schlatter grabbed fifth place in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 0.75 inches. Cadet senior Rose Niewoehner took seventh place in the shot put with a toss of 39-0.75. Niewoehner also competed at State in 2025, placing 23rd in the shot put with a toss of 31-11.25.

“My throws in the shot put this year were OK,” Niewoeher said. “It’s more relaxing being down here at State a second time and it’s fun to be here.”

Cadet Girls’ Head Coach Karen Steffen noted that while Schlatter’s distance was not a personal best, she did save her best jump for her final attempt at the State Meet.

Crestwood’s girls’ distance medley relay team of Schlatter, Mea Shelton, Taylor Reis and Lexus Dohlman placed 19th in a time of 4:21.70. 

The 4x200 relay team of Charley Curtis, Ella Otters, Shelton and Schlatter placed 15th in a time of 1:48.04. Hadley Riehle finished 24th in the 400 meter dash in a time of 1:03.81, which was a personal best.

"On Thursday, Rose placed seventh in the shot put," Cadet Girls' Coach Karen Steffen said. "She has worked hard towards her goals all year to earn her spot in the top eight. Isabella placed fifth in the long jump. After placing 4th at a sophomore, she was pretty disappointed to not place last year as a junior. She came into her senior season with some pretty high goals and a work ethic to match. She has emerged as one of our best runners over the past 2 years.

"Hadley ran well in the 400 meters. Her time was comparable to the PR she ran at the State Qualifier. It was great for her to get some experience running at State.

"On Friday, the distance medley team of Isabella, Mea, Taylor and Lexus, which came in seeded No. 22, ran a second season best time by nearly 3 seconds, and ended up 19th overall. It is always a goal to improve your placement from where you were seeded.

In the 4x200 relay, Charley, Ella, Mea and Isabella ran a season best time by about half a second.

"The weather was nice and we were able to watch some pretty great track and field. It was also fun to watch our boys' team be so successful and have a great showing at State. Crestwood was well-represented!" Steffen said.

 

Boys’ highlights

Crestwood’s 4x100 meter relay team of Finn Donlan, Alex Loden, Ben Isaacson and Nate Mahr took second place in the preliminaries on Friday, May 21 in a new school record time of 42.40 seconds to qualify for the finals on Saturday.

Running in the 4x100 finals on May 22, the Cadets took second in a time of 42.54. Treynor narrowly edged Crestwood by taking first in 42.06.

Crestwood’s Reece Ollendieck performed well in the discus as he took third with a throw of 164 feet, 5 inches. Lincoln Schneiter of Monticello was first at 173-5.

The Cadets’ 4x200 meter relay team of Donlan, Loden, Luke Drtina and Mahr placed fourth in a new school record time of 1:29.33.

Finn Donlan finished 13th in the 100 meter preliminaries in a time of 11.23 seconds. In the 200 meter preliminaries, Donlan placed 12th in a personal best time of 22.34. Senior Luke Drtina placed 12th in the high jump at 5-11.

Crestwood’s 4x100 relay team members were excited to take home a second place medal at State this year.

“Our coaches made our relay teams work well this year,” Finn Donlan said. “All of our guys push each other. There’s no top dog on our team; we all push everyone in every single practice.”

“How much time we’ve spent together has made us a good team,” Alex Loden said. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we motivate one another, which makes us the best team we can be.”

Ben Isaacson agreed that teamwork made this group successful.

“Last night (Friday) and today (Saturday), we manifested that everything would go cleanly in the relay,” Ben Isaacson said. “We’ve built some good chemistry on this team, and chemistry always has good results. This was awesome! I’m glad they put me in the 4x100 and I give all the credit to our coaches for that.”

Nate Mahr gave a strong effort in the anchor leg, barely finishing behind Treynor.

“All I thought about during the race was  don’t let (the Treynor runner Konz) beat me,” Mahr said. “He was the runner up in the 100 dash and he won Drake earlier this year. I wanted to run by with him (side-by-side) or be in front of him. As long as he didn’t pull too far ahead of me, I’d be happy.”

Cadet Boys’ Head Coach Justin Denner was thrilled to see his squad compete well all three days at the State Meet in Des Moines.

“The State Meet was an outstanding meet for our program!” Denner said. “It was highlighted by three medal placing events in the 4x100, Reece Ollendieck in the discus, and our 4x200.  The 4x100’s time in the prelims broke the school record that was set last year by 0.54 seconds! The 4x200’s time in their finals broke the school record that was set last year by 1.07 seconds!

“We are very proud of our boys for the work they put in leading up to the State Meet both physically and mentally to put themselves in the position to be their best against the best.

“All six of our events placed higher than their seed placement coming into the meet, and we could not ask for anything more. Luke Drtina was seeded 18th and placed 12th. 

“Finn Donlan was seeded 15th in the 100 and 18th in the 200 and finished 13th and 12th respectively, with his 200 time setting a new PR for himself by 0.42 seconds! The 4x2 and 4x1 were both seeded 11th, and Reece was seeded 6th.