Iowa high school track & field State Qualifying meets are just two days away and Greene County is gearing up for the Class 3A meet in Winterset on May 12 starting at 4 p.m. The first and second place finishers in each event are automatically qualified for the State Coed Meet May 19-20-21 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, but events placing third or lower also have a chance to qualify on an at-large basis. Greene County is hoping to qualify multiple events for State.

The Rams have one girls’ event that was leading all of Iowa heading into this week and that was sophomore Megan Durbin in  the high jump. Her winning leap of 5′ 8″ at the Drake Relays remains the top height cleared by anyone in any of the four classes. Kenna Marquardt was second among the eight teams at Winterset in the discus throw and the sprint medley relay of Melanie Doran, Laurin Lyons, Durbin, and Olivia Hansen also ranked second.

On the boys’ side, Matthew Gordon was ranked first in the shot put, Max Neese was ranked first among the eight schools at Winterset in the 200 meter dash and Daric Whipple first in the 400 meter low hurdles. The 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 meter relays ranked second, and Neese was third in the 100, but he was just .06 one-hundredths from having the fastest qualifying time.

Other teams at Winterset include the host Huskies, ADM, Carlisle, Chariton, Dallas Center-Grimes, Perry, and Saydel (Des Moines).