Holden Girls Track And Field Team Places Runner-Up At District Meet

The Holden Lady Eagles track and field team recorded the runner-up finish at the Class 3, District 7 Track and Field Meet held at Holden High School Saturday, May 10.

Lady Eagle athletes Kia Harmon, Brionna Johnson, and Addi Wooster claimed district titles in events as a total of seven team members in individual events and one relay team recorded top-four all-district finishes to qualify for the Class 3, Sectional 4 Meet.

“Our girls had a great day,” said Holden track and field coach David Diener. “It was a loaded competition, and we had to perform well to get second as a team and hang a runner-up plaque in our hallways. We had a great day with lots of points coming from our field events. Then, the circle came through getting some much needed back end points and some tough-fought top-four finishes.”

In one of Holden’s top field event performances, Harmon recorded her district title in high jump as she displayed a repeat performance from last season when she also recorded a first-place finish in the district meet held at Holden. On Saturday, Harmon turned in a height of 1.65m as the senior took back-to-back high jump district titles.

Harmon also earned sectional meet qualifications by placing third in both triple jump and in long jump at the district meet. Harmon recorded a distance of 10.27m in triple jump and went 4.8m in the long jump pit.

“Kia continued to show up big in her three jumping events,” said coach Diener. “She is peaking at the right time of the year for those events.”

Lady Eagle sophomore thrower Brionna Johnson left the shot put circle with the district title in hand by turning a winning distance of 11.71m. Johnson will compete in two events at the sectional meet after also recording an all-district finish in discus in a second-place finish. Johnson recorded a discus toss of 33.24m to take the runner-up finish.

Holden’s field event success continued as Lady Eagle junior Addi Wooster repeated as district champion in pole vault by recording a first-place height of 3.23m at Saturday’s district meet.

On the track, Lady Eagle runner Addy Campbell finished the district meet with two individual all-district showings by placing third in the 400m dash with a time of 59.84 seconds, and third in the 800m run with a time of 2:26.

Campbell and Wooster joined teammates Abby Miller and Callie Irr on the Holden girls 4x400m relay team for an all-district third-place finish. The relay team clocked a time of 4:15 to earn its sectional meet qualification.

“Adalyn Campbell and Rett Hankins qualifying in three events was also a great day for them on the track on one of the first hot competition days,” said coach Diener in reference to both Campbell and boys team member Rett Hankins.

Senior Lilee Keller earned an all-district medal in field events by placing second in triple jump with a distance of 10.3m. Keller took an all-district finish on the track as well by placing third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 16.62 seconds. Keller contributed team points by placing fifth in long jump with a distance of 4.7m, and sixth in high jump with a height of 1.5m.

Sophomore Arionna Johnson also recorded an all-district finish in the 100m hurdles by placing second in the race with a time of 16.37 seconds. Johnson scored team points in the 300m hurdles by placing sixth in a time of 52.68 seconds.
Sophomore Macie McDaniel placed third in pole vault with a height of 2.74m to earn an all-district finish and sectional meet qualification.

Junior Olivia Wooster placed sixth in javelin with a distance of 29.59m to score points for the Lady Eagles team.
Also adding a top-eight finish was the Lady Eagle 4x800m relay team of senior Ava Young, sophomore Madi Talley, freshman Jessy Stringer, and junior K’Lea Westover as that group timed out at 11:12.

Harmon, Campbell, Keller, Wooster, Brionna Johnson, Arionna Johnson, Macie McDaniel, and the Holden girls 4x400m relay team now move onto compete in the sectional round of the state track and field postseason series with top-four finishers at the sectional meet moving onto the state championships.

“We obviously want to place as high as we can, but the main thing is we have to get top four and our group of qualifiers handled that pressure and put some great performances on the track,” said coach Diener in reference to the Holden girls results at the district meet. “Looking at this group we have some seniors, but also lots of underclassman that are getting a great experience to compete for a chance at state so we’re looking forward to how this season finishes for them and how it will help them in the future.”

The Holden girls all-district performers earning sectional meet qualifications will compete at the Class 3, Sectional 4 Track and Field Meet at Archie High School this Saturday, May 17.