Sports

Local thinclads shine Saturday at state track meet

May 23, 2015

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musser100h — Woodward-Granger senior Abby Musser, right, is stride-for-stride with Davis County's Hayleigh Sharp Saturday during the finals of the Class 2A hurdles at the state track meeet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Musser earned her 11th career state meet medal by crossing sixth in 15.95 seconds. Sharp placed seventh in 15.99 ticks. Photo courtesy of Matt Gengler, Missouri Valley Times.

DES MOINES — New year, same old result.

That was the case for Woodward-Granger senior standout Abby Musser Saturday at the state track meet. Musser left Drake Stadium as a junior with a third-place medal in the Class 1A 400 hurdles and a sixth-place medal in the 100 hurdles.

Abby Musser of W-G (green) and Hayleigh Sharp (white) of Davis County were separated by .05 seconds in the 100 hurdle preliminaries Friday and by just .04 in the 100 hurdles Saturday, with Musser nipping Sharp for second in their prelim heat and for sixth in the finals.

This year W-G is a 2A school, but no matter — one day after repeating her third-place effort in the 400 hurdles race, Musser finished sixth, again, in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.95 seconds. She finishes her career with medals in 11 of the 13 state events in which she competed along a ninth-place effort in the 100 dash and a 16th place spot as a part of the 4×800 relay, both coming last season.

Aleenah Marcucci of Northeast/Goose Lake won the race in 14.97; Marcucci was also champion of the 400 hurdles.

Also finding success in their final appearance on the famed blue oval was Perry senior Keegan Pfau, who dropped seven seconds off his previous personal best to finish sixth in the Class 3A 1600 with a 4 minute, 30.9 second clocking.

Keegan Pfau tries to hold off a competitor as they enter the homestretch of the 4x400 Friday. Pfau finished sixth in the 1600 Saturday with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 30.9 seconds. — Keegan Pfau tries to hold off a competitor as they enter the homestretch of the 4×400 Friday. Pfau finished sixth in the 1600 Saturday with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 30.9 seconds.

“He went out and had a real strong first 400, which put him in a good spot,” Perry head coach Ben Coy said. “He has been running smarter and smarter as the season went along and understands how to position himself and when to push himself.

“Keegan has come a long way from where he was last year,” Coy added. “He worked in the off-season to be stronger, but just as important was his mental toughness and his belief in himself. I think those things made the difference between his junior and senior years.”

Pfau will attend Morningside College, where he will compete in both cross country and track.

Gilbert’s Thomas Pollard won the 1600 in a new class record of 4:09.67, erasing the 2013 mark of 4:15.65 set by Chandler Austin of Boone.

Asani Abdullah fires out of the blocks at the start of the 4x100. Abdullah led off the 4x100 in Saturday's finals as well, as he and teammates Terence Lewis, Antoine Scoggins and Rashawn Porter finished third in 43.83 seconds. — Asani Abdullah fires out of the blocks at the start of the 4×100. Abdullah led off the 4×100 in Saturday’s finals as well, as he and teammates Terence Lewis, Antoine Scoggins and Rashawn Porter finished third in 43.83 seconds.

The Woodward Academy was not without success on Saturday as well, as the 4×100 team of Asani Abdullah, Terence Lewis, Antoine Scoggins and Rashawn Porter sped to third place in 43.83 seconds.

West Burlington Notre Dame claimed the victory in 42.56.

Lewis earned an individual medal after placing sixth in the 200 in 22.54, with WBND’s Isaiah Trousil winning in 21.9.

Both the Woodward-Granger girls and the Woodward Academy finished with nine team points in their respective team standings, with the Perry boys earning 7.5 team points.