DES MOINES — Brookelyn Jondle, Maddi Lucas, Taylor Rechkemmer and Selah Helgeson trained all season for a race that came down to 65.88 seconds.
The Roland-Story quartet placed second in the Class 2A girls shuttle hurdle relay at the 2025 Iowa high school state track and field championships.
With everyone returning for another year of action, the Norse hurdlers had their sights set on a state championship. They ran a time of one minute, 5.48 seconds during the season to put themselves in position as the top team in 2A.
But during the 2026 state prelims on May 21, the Norse had to settle for the second-fastest time at 1:07.14. Treynor, the team that defeated Roland-Story for the 2025 title, ran the fastest qualifying time at 1:06.62.
That did not faze the Norse.
They stayed calm and confident heading into the May 23 finals at Drake Stadium. Once the gun sounded to start the second heat of the finals, Jondle and Lucas got the Norse off to a great start, but Treynor had built a slight lead.
Then Rechkemmer started the third leg with a huge surge. She powered past Treynor’s Grace Mentzer to put Roland-Story in front heading into the final leg.
Helgeson then gave all she had to hold off Treynor anchor Rylee Hemmingsen, the eventual 100 hurdles champion. Helgeson held a slight edge as she cleared the final hurdle, and she had just enough in her to power across the finish line in first place.
Roland-Story won its coveted state title in 1:05.88. Treynor finished in 1:06.06.
“I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in first…I gotta go!” Helgeson said. “I know the Treynor girl is so good — she’s amazing. Our competition was great, so I knew I needed to book it as hard as I could. It was a lot of adrenaline, but it felt great.”
The Roland-Story runners immediately ran to each other after the race and embraced in celebration.
“This is our biggest goal,” Lucas said. “We’ve been preparing for this all year. This is amazing.”
The Norse were helped by their passion for the color pink.
“It’s motivation,” Jondle said. “We had the pink hair, the pink glitter…we wanted that pink flag.”
Ballard places third in 3A boys shuttle hurdle
The Ballard boys shuttle hurdle team was also using a runner-up performance at last year’s state meet as a driving force to get first in 2026.
Ballard returned three runners from that team —Chase Ihle, Curtis Hinzman and Stetson Kane. Aidan Wilson stepped up to fill the other spot.
The Bombers put together a strong race, but they fell a tad short in their goal, placing third with a time of 58.48 seconds.
The time was nearly identical to their 2025 state time of 58.45.
“It wasn’t the cleanest race, but it could’ve been a lot worse,” Kane said. “We still got on that podium.”
Pella won the race in a 3A-record time of 57.17. Waverly-Shell Rock finished one second behind the Dutch for second in 58.17.
Lead runner Ihle was thankful to be competing with his teammates. He suffered a broken leg at the start of the 2025 high school football season, and he was not sure he would be able to recover in time to help his team qualify for state.
“The leg…it’s getting there,” he said. “I clipped the first and last hurdles…it felt like I let my team down. But at the end of the day, we got third place (and) on the podium.”
Gilbert placed sixth in the boys 100 hurdles. The Tiger team of Aidan Rash, Cael O’Brien, Reggie Chittenden and Ethan Rash clocked in at 59.32.
Ames took fifth in the girls shuttle hurdle relay. The Little Cyclone team of Angelica Attinger, Elia Varghese, Brenna Van Cleave and Sophia Hatcher finished in a season-best time of 1:03.22.
Waukee Northwest won the 4A girls title in a state-record time of 58.61.
Sophia Hatcher places third in 4A girls 100
Hatcher continued a remarkable three days at the state track and field meet with a surprise third-place effort in the 100 hurdles.
She qualified for state sixth in 4A with a time of 14.83. She made it to the finals with a prelim time of 14.59.
Her time plummeted once again in the finals. Hatcher ran a 14.17 to place third behind state record setter Morgan Karr of Valley (13.53) and Waukee Northwest great Kate Willits (13.70).
Gilbert’s Aubrey Johnson continued her excellent freshman run at state in the 100 hurdles. Johnson placed second in the long jump on May 22, and in the 100 hurdle finals, she ran a 14.86 to place fourth.
In the boys 110 high hurdle finals, Roland-Story’s Jayden Strum turned in a great time of 14.67 to place fifth in 2A. Gilbert’s Aidan Rash placed eighth in 3A with a time of 15.04.
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: Roland-Story girls win shuttle hurdle relay title at Iowa state track
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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