Waukon girls track team has several members compete at Dickinson Relays

Headington places third among Iowa’s shot put elite

The Waukon girls track team got its first taste of competition for the 2020 season, with just a handful of team members competing at the annual Dickinson Relays held at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. The high school girls competition took place Monday, March 9, with the Lady Indians competing among the state of Iowa elite in five different events that included four individual events and one relay effort.

Topping that list of event results for the Waukon girls was a top-three finish recorded by junior Annika Headington in the shot put. She launched the shot put 39’1.25” to finish third in the event, the top Class 2A finisher in the huge field of 180 competitors. The event was won by senior Grace Tobin of Class 4A Mason City with an effort of 41’8.5”, with junior Kendal Clark of Class 3A Humboldt finishing second with a heave of 40’3”.

Senior Ellec Armstead was also a top-15 finisher in this season-opening elite field, leaping 4’10” to finish 13th in the 52 jumpers competing at Dickinson in that event. Fellow senior Katelyn Benzing ran to a 29th-place finish in the 3000 meter run with a clocking of 12:07.20.

A trio of Lady Indians competed in the 800 meter run, led by junior Bailey Shafer and her 45th-place finish out of 166 runners in a time of 2:42.13. Fellow junior Maddy Waters came in 75th with a clocking of 2:47.53, with Armstead placing 95th in 2:52.90.

Shafer and Waters also joined forces with junior Regan Griffith and sophomore Meridian Snitker in the 4x800 relay that featured 63 teams of all class sizes. That foursome clocked in at 11:10.62 to finish 25th in that sizable all-class field.

The Indians were next scheduled to compete as an entire team at the annual Northeast Iowa Conference Indoor Meet hosted by Luther College in Decorah Tuesday, March 24, but that meet has been canceled due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. The track Tribe’s next scheduled meet is Tuesday, March 31 at the Sumner-Fredericksburg Frostbite Invitational but has also fallen victim to the pandemic.