The field has been set for the 2026 Iowa high school girls and boys state track and field championships.
The tentative qualifiers list was released by the IGHSAU and IHSAA on May 15. A total of 122 Ames-area athletes in 92 events qualified for the meet. The state track and field championships take place from May 21-23 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
Ames will have 34 athletes competing in 25 events.
The Ames girls will have a busy three days as 20 individuals will be competing in 16 events.
The Little Cyclone girls qualified in all seven relays. They also had 11 different athletes qualify in nine individual events.
The top relays for the Ames girls will be the shuttle hurdle, 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800. Some of the lineups that qualified are likely to change by the state meet as the Little Cyclones moved things around at the 4A qualifying meet in Indianola in order to qualify in as many events as possible.
Angelica Attinger, Shelby Esslinger, Elia Varghese and Sophia Hatcher ran the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the shuttle hurdle at 1:04.90. Three of the four ran on last year’s sixth-place team at state.
Attinger, Edyn Cowles, Peruth Negrete and Brenna Van Cleave qualified 12th in the 4×200. Attinger and Cowles ran on the Ames 4×200 teams that placed third in 2024 and fourth a year ago.
The Little Cyclone 4×400 team qualified with all seniors as Attinger, Meredith Frandsen, Hatcher and Natalya Deardorff enter the state meet with the sixth-best qualifying time at 3:58.45. Ames finished fifth in this event at state in 2025.
The Ames 4×800 team of Leah Kincaid, Van Cleave, Frandsen and Naya Nakama ran the sixth-fastest qualifying time at 9:36.63.
Individually, Attinger will be going for a state title in the 4A girls 400 hurdles after placing third as a sophomore and second as a junior, along with a runner-up performance at the 2026 Drake Relays. She qualified sixth in 1:03.12.
Van Cleave is also running in the 400 hurdles, and she has the potential to place after
Hatcher has a chance to place high in both the long jump, where she came in third a year ago, and 100 hurdles. She qualified seventh in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 7.25 inches, and her 100 hurdles time of 14.83 ranks sixth.
Emma Stanley will run in both the 1,500 and 3,000. She goes into state with the fifth-best qualifying time in the 1,500 and seventh-best in the 3,000 with respective times of 4:43.50 and 10:27.61.
Ayak Akol and Elodie Biggs have big potential in the 4A girls high jump. Akol heads to state with the fourth-best qualifying jump at 5-4 and Biggs is 10th at 5-3.
The Little Cyclone boys will have 14 individuals competing in nine events.
Drew Vander Wilt and Brandon Johnson highlight the Ames boys qualifiers.
Vander Wilt qualified seventh in the open 400 with a time of 49.07 and he is also running in the 2000. Johnson is ranked 11th in the shot put with a qualifying throw of 53-6.25.
The Ames boys qualified in the 4×400, 4×200, distance medley, 4×800, sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays.
The 4×400 team of Vander Wilt, Peyton Johnson Dau Lual and Hezekiah Johnson ranks 11th in 4A and the Little Cyclone sprint medley quartet of Kayden Willoughby-Wright, Luke Simmons, Vander Wilt and Peyton Johnson ranks 12th.
Gilbert leads a productive field of 3A Ames-area qualifiers
The Gilbert girls and boys qualified 28 individuals for state in 22 events.
The Gilbert girls had 12 individuals make it in 10 events.
Freshman Aubrey Johnson, juniors Kayla Rash and Allie Grandganett and seniors Keira Andersen and Keaton Hanson will lead the way for the Tigers.
Andersen is the defending 3A state champion in the girls 800 and she ranks 20th going into state with a qualifying time of 2:24.0. Anderson teamed up with Rash, Hanson and freshman Madeline Olswing to run the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the distance medley at 4:13.15.
Johnson heads into her first state meet ranked second in the long jump (18-4.25), and she anchors a Tiger girls shuttle hurdle team that is 12th. Rash and Hanson are returning members of Gilbert’s defending 4×100 state champions, and they joined forces with Olswing and Johnson to run the ninth-fastest qualifying time at 49.30.
Grandganett gives Gilbert a second big weapon in jumping events. She has the fifth-best qualifying jump in the 3A girls high jump at 5-4.
The Gilbert boys are loaded once again. The Tigers qualified 16 individuals in 12 events.
Gilbert’s boys 4×100 team of Aidan Rash, Paul Marpe, Gabe Fierce and Tanner Twedt ran the sixth-best qualifying time in 3A at 42.51, but the Tigers know they can do much better after placing third at the Drake Relays last month with a 41.46 showing. Reggie Chittenden joined Marpe, Fierce and Twedt to run the second-fastest qualifying time in the 4×200 behind Clear Lake’s 1:28.09 with a 1:28.46.
Individually, Logan Bleich ran the fastest qualifying time in the 1,600 at 4:20.34, though Western Dubuque sensation Quentin Nauman is the clear favorite in the event after going under four minutes last year. Bleich also ran the sixth-best 800 qualifying time.
Carson Squiers and Jacob Tallman will also be threats in distance events for the Gilbert boys. Aidan Rash also has the potential to do damage in the 110 high hurdles after qualifying third with a time of 14.60.
Ballard has big potential in 3A as well. The Bomber boys and girls combined to qualify 23 athletes for state in 18 events.
The Bomber boys are sending 12 individuals in 10 events.
Chase Ihle, Aidan Wilson, Curtis Hinzman and Stetson Kane qualified seventh in the shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 59.78. Ihle, Hinzman and Kane all ran on the Bombers’ 3A runner-up team last year.
Tate Leland, Axton Campbell, Graden Hermann and Jace Ortner qualified eighth in the 4×400.
Ortner and Kane are the top individual qualifiers for the Ballard boys.
Ortner qualified fifth in the open 400 at 49.55 and Kane sixth in the 110 high hurdles with a 14.85 qualifying effort.
After having only one girl compete at state in 2025, the Ballard girls are sending 11 girls to state in eight events in 2026.
The Bomber girls 4×400 team of Kaitlynn Dunn, Alea Kinzenbaw, Honor Jorgensen and Brooklyn Shoen set the school record in the event during the season and they qualified 19th in 3A. Freshman Avilee Miller qualified 12th in the 1,500.
The Nevada boys will be without defending 3A 100 champion and Iowa State recruit Connor Kunze, who is out with a hamstring injury. But the Cubs still qualified eight individuals for state after making it in the 4×800 and distance medley relays.
Roland-Story girls shuttle hurdle team favored to win in 2A
The Roland-Story boys are sending 10 individuals to state in nine events.
Seniors Jayden Strum and Cody Long are Roland-Story’s best bet to place in 2A competition.
Strum has the sixth-fastest qualifying time in the 110 highs at 15.02. Long ranks seventh in the long jump going into state with a qualifying jump of 21-10.
Both individuals are part of a Norse boys shuttle hurdle team that qualified 10th in 1:01.75. Gabe Jonas and Brady Long will run the other two legs.
Sprinter Tristan Crabbs will compete in four events for the Roland-Story boys (100, 200, 4×100, 4×200) and the Norsemen will have one individual compete in the boys 100 wheelchair race in Braden Byersdorfer.
The Norse girls are headed to state in five events.
The shuttle hurdle team of Taylor Rechkemmer, Maddi Lucas, Brookelyn Jondle and Selah Helgeson is favored to win a 2A state title. The Norse team returns all four runners from last year’s 2A state runner-up, and they ran the fastest qualifying time in 2A at 1:05.48.
Lucas (400 hurdles), Rechkemmer (100 hurdles) and Miley Geise (discus) qualified individually. Roland-Story will also be sending its 4×800 team to the Blue Oval.
Collins-Maxwell and Colo-NESCO total eight 1A qualifiers
The Collins-Maxwell and Colo-NESCO girls and boys track and field programs combined to qualify eight individuals in 14 1A events.
Collins-Maxwell’s Jayden Peters and Colo-NESCO’s Elizabeth Erickson both qualified in the 1A girls 800, 1,500 and 3,000. Erickson qualified fifth in both the 800 and 1,500 and eighth in the 3,000 and Peters ranks 20th, 18th and 16th, respectively.
Colo-NESCO’s Jack Angell is headed to state in the 110 high hurdles, 400 hurdles and shuttle hurdle relay. Angell qualified seventh in the 110 highs and fifth the 400 hurdles, and he joined up with Reece Fulton, Preston Voelker and Kooper Spalding to qualify 23rd in the 4×100.
Collins-Maxwell’s Reed Oswalt qualified in the 1A boys open 100 and 400 events. The Spartans’ Malcom Toornstra will compete in the 3,200.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames-area schools send 122 athletes to the state track and field meet
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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