C-M’s Lester ends career with state medal

DES MOINES — Colfax-Mingo senior Kyra Lester knew what to do when she stepped into the discus ring at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships on Friday.

Lester capped her junior season in the same place last spring and this time around she wanted to bring home a state medal in her final season.

“Knowing this was my last year and I only had three for-sure throws left of my career, I was like ‘don’t freak out Kyra,’” Lester said. “I have been here before. I just went in there focused with a good mindset and pictured success in that ring.”

Lester’s success was a sixth-place finish in the Class 2A girls discus competition at Drake Stadium. She exits her prep career with a state medal and will take with her the school record she’s been chasing down the past two seasons.

“It’s a culmination of all my hard work,” Lester said. “I started throwing in seventh grade. I got connected with Dave (Kalkhoff) my freshman year but lost my sophomore year. I came back last year and got to state and then I got back here and wanted it and went and got it this year.”

It was the only state medal for the Tigerhawks this spring, but Colfax-Mingo’s girls finished inside the top 18 in every state event they were in.

After Lester, Carley Underwood led the way with an 11th-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. She posted a time of 16.27 seconds but needed a 16.11 to advance to the finals.

“I came in 12th. I was hoping to get a PR. I didn’t the PR but I finished higher than I came in. That was nice,” Underwood said. “I ran a 16.2 and the last finalist was a 16.1. If I wouldn’t have clipped the second hurdle, I think I would have made finals. That’s frustrating.”

The key to Lester’s medal-winning performance in the discus was getting in a few big marks early. Her first throw went 110 feet, 9 inches and then she marked her best toss of 115-11 on her next throw.

She scratched her final throw but the other marks were 111-5, 108-8 and 108-6. West Lyon’s Jana Ter Wee won the event with a throw of 131-0.

“I started out how I wanted to. I got a good, solid fundamental throw that I marked on,” Lester said. “That second throw I let it go a little more. Getting that first one in allowed me to just go for it on the second one. It’s a mental thing. Getting that first one in is big for me.

“I convinced myself it wasn’t that scary and that I can compete with the best of the best in 2A. I knew I had the ability and potential to do so. I wanted to just get it done. Mr. Jones was very helpful.”

McKayla Smith joined Lester in the discus on Friday and made her state meet debut in the shot put on Thursday.

Smith placed 18th in the shot put with a toss 33-9 1/4. She scratched her third attempt but posted a 33-4 3/4 on her second toss. Denver’s Sydney Eggena won the shot put with a throw of 44-0 1/2.

In the discus, Smith finished 14th with a throw of 106. She opened with a 94-1 and scratched on her final attempt.

Underwood was part of the Tigerhawks’ other two events. She competed in the 400 hurdles and anchored the shuttle hurdle relay team.

In the shuttle hurdle relay, the foursome of Melany Vry, Kylie Doty, McKenna Pleima and Underwood collected an 18th place finish with a time of 1:12.93. It took a 1:09.83 to advance to finals.

“I’m super proud of them. It was a close race between all the girls who were in the mix for the team,” Underwood said. “They all worked their butts off. We had a lot of fun. We don’t have a chance to work on them that much so for us to make it to state is a huge success.”

Underwood posted a career-best time of 1:10.24 in the 400 hurdles and placed 15th overall. Northeast’s Ellie Rickertsen won the race in 1:03.44.

Underwood chose to not dual sport with golf this spring and felt like it was beneficial to her success on the track.

“I think it helped keep my focus on track,” Underwood said. “I wanted to test it out my freshman year but I didn’t get a freshman year. I enjoyed golf a lot, but I think it did help focusing on one sport.”