Angelica Attinger is the Ames High record holder and both a Drake Relays and Class 4A state runner-up in the high school girls track and field 400-meter hurdles race.
She also shares the school record in the 4×200 relay with three teammates, and she can speak four languages — English, Mandarin, French and Spanish.
Sophia Hatcher holds the Ames school record in the girls long jump, and she is part of record relay teams in the sprint medley and 4×200. She also bedazzled assistant coach Tony Douglas’ bald head this season after winning a bet that she and other teammates would hit certain marks in track and field.
Natalya Deardorff anchored the Little Cyclone girls to a surprise fifth-place finish in last year’s 4A 4×400 relay. She had never broken 60 seconds in the open 400 and then she did it at the 2025 state meet before doing it again in both the 4×400 prelims and finals.
The senior trio has made quite an impact on the Ames girls track and field program over the past four years.
They have collectively qualified for the Drake Relays in 19 events. They have totaled 19 top-10 all-time performances in school history.
Following the 4A state qualifying track and field meet in Indianola on May 14, they now have combined to qualify for state in more than 30 events.
All three are going on to compete at the collegiate level in women’s track and field. Attinger is attending the University of Chicago while Deardorff and Hatcher are headed to Minnesota to run for Concordia University in St. Paul.
But it will not be easy for them to say goodbye following the 2026 Iowa girls and boys state track and field championships on May 21-23 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
“This is my second family, basically,” said Hatcher. “I’m with them all the time. They mean so much to me. I care for them just as much as I care for my actual family.”
They love attending team meals and get-togethers. They enjoy doing silly things at practice such as the “anything but a baton relay,” or decorating Douglas’ head.
But most of all they enjoy what the sport of track and field and Ames coach Erica Lynn Douglas have done for them as people.
“It’s been really special,” said Attinger. “I could go on and on, but I think that it’s taught me a lot about who I am as a person. It’s made me a resilient and supportive person.”
When they were freshmen they joined a loaded Ames girls track and field program that went on to place second at state in 4A. That 2023 team featured current Division I track and field standouts Ali Frandsen (Iowa), Cameron Moon (Iowa State) and Katie Strotman (Iowa State); Iowa State softball player Ireland Buss and standout sprinter Ellie Lynch among other star athletes.
But they still managed to leave their own mark.
Attinger helped Ames take second in the 4A girls shuttle hurdles and Hatcher contributed to the Little Cyclones earning a bronze medal in the 4×100.
“As three tiny freshmen, these three came into our program aligning with a strong senior class to earn a state runner-up trophy,” said Lynn Douglas. “From that incredible start, they have actively worked to build upon that legacy while making a culture with traits that matter to them.”
Deardorff saw her first state action in 2024, competing in the sprint medley relay. Attinger took third in the 400 hurdles and Hatcher was seventh in the long jump that year.
Attinger and Hatcher also contributed to Ames placing third in the 4×200 during their sophomore year.
Last season Attinger placed second in the 400 hurdles, Hatcher third in the long jump, and they both helped Ames take fourth in the 4×200 and sixth in the shuttle hurdle.
Deardorff earned a spot on the podium for the first time in 2025. She and Attinger both helped Ames place fifth in the 4×400, moving up three spots from where the Little Cyclones finished in the prelims.
Deardorff said that 4×400 race has been her favorite memory so far. She is looking forward to more with Attinger and Hatcher next week.
“At state we’ll run 4×200 and 4×400 together,” said Deardorff. “That’s just really special to be able to do that with teammates you have been friends with for such a long time.”
Douglas said the three seniors will run together in either the 4×200 or 4×400 after both relay teams qualified state once again.
Attinger and Hatcher are both headed back to state in the shuttle hurdle. Individually, Attinger will attempt to win her first state title in the 400 hurdles, Hatcher has a chance to medal in the 100 hurdles and again in the long jump, and Deardorff will run in the open 400.
Defending champion Waukee Northwest is loaded and heavily favored to repeat in Class 4A. But the Little Cyclones should place in the top 10 for the second year in a row, and they have a shot at a top-five finish.
After going through two years of rebuilding, Attinger, Deardorff and Hatcher are going to leave the program in about as good of shape as it was when they arrived.
Coach Lynn Douglas cannot give them enough praise for what they have done for the program, school and community over the past four years.
“Sophia has no clue how good she really is nor how good she really can be,” Lynn Douglas said. “Natalya is gritty; she does not quit and she shows up in big ways for her family. Angelica has stretched me as a coach. She expects excellence in herself, and I’ve had to raise my game to keep up.”
The three seniors all say they owe a great debt of gratitude to their coach.
“She’s been everything,” Deardorff said. “She always knows what to say. Even outside of track she’s that person I could definitely go to if something big happened.”
Now they want to go out and make her proud one last time and perhaps make some history in the process.
“Our goal is to PR and be at the best of our abilities,” Attinger said. “It’s really nice when we all run our best races and we know we want to chase that high again.”
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: How an Ames girls track trio is preparing for a grand exit
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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