April 25, 2025

C-M’s Lester, Underwood punch tickets to state track meet

Tigerhawks face tough field at West Marshall state qualifier

By Troy Hyde

Colfax-Mingo's Kyra Lester will compete in the girls Class 2A discus competition at the state track and field meet on Friday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. (Troy Hyde/Newton News file photo)

STATE CENTER — Colfax-Mingo junior Kyra Lester and sophomore Carley Underwood took care of business on Thursday during a Class 2A state qualifier hosted by West Marshall.

The Tigerhawk duo didn’t have to wait until the official state qualifiers list came out on Friday because Lester and Underwood locked up runner-up finishes in their respective individual events.

The top two finishers in each event at each 2A site earned automatic berths into next week’s state meet. The next best eight times or distances were given at-large berths into state, but Colfax-Mingo did not do enough to secure one of those.

The C-M girls scored 39 points on the night and finished ninth in the 12-team standings. Underwood and Lester led the way, but the Tigerhawks also scored three other top-five finishes.

Colfax-Mingo sophomore Carley qualified for the 100-meter hurdles in Class 2A and will compete in the state meet at 10 a.m. on Friday in Des Moines. (Troy Hyde/Newton News file photo)

The C-M boys were 10th in the 12-team field with 29.5 points. The Tigerhawks’ best finishes came from Grant Alexander in the discus and the shuttle hurdle relay team.

Lester’s second-place toss covered 114 feet, 9 inches. It was the 12th best qualifying distance in 2A.

McKayla Smith was fifth in the discus. Her season-best toss of 105-0 was a personal-best by eight inches.

Underwood’s state-qualifying run in the 100 hurdles was clocked at 17.19 seconds. She was the runner-up behind PCM’s Margo Chipps.

Underwood also was part of a pair of fifth-place finishes for C-M. She was fifth in the long jump with a leap of 15-4 and was on the shuttle hurdle relay team which placed fifth.

The shuttle hurdle team of Melany Vry, Underwood, Morgan Van Dyke and Kylie Doty finished in 1 minute, 16.05 seconds, which was a season-best by 2 seconds.

Alexander’s third-place finish in the discus was the C-M boys’ top individual placing. His best toss was a season-best 129-3.

The C-M boys shuttle hurdle relay team also was third. The team of Josh Kite, Tanner Gorman, Colton Hernandez and Justin Myers finished in a season-best 1:06.84.

Myers and Kite had the other top individual placings. Myers was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 59.39 and Kite took fifth in the 110 hurdles in a season-best 16.68.

The 4x800 relay team had a season-best time. The group of Noah Strohmeyer, Jared Lewis, Cael Bracewell and Zach Steenhoek finished fifth in 9:21.35.

The Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Underwood and Lester both compete on Friday. Lester competes in the discus at 9 a.m. and Underwood runs in the 100 hurdles preliminaries at 10 a.m.