Comer, Portch place high for Lady Vikes at state meet

 DES MOINES (May 19) -- Jenny Hamilton’s first year as head coach of the AHSTW girls track team closed with two state medals, four near misses and a school record as the Lady Vikes capped a progressive season at the 2018 State Co-Ed Track and Field Championships this past weekend.
 Taking eight events to Des Moines - the program’s largest state meet contingent in years - AHSTW placed in the top 10 six times and scored 11 points to tie for 26th in the Class 2A team standings.
 Freshman Cora Comer and sophomore newcomer Ryann Portch led the charge by placing third in the 100-meter dash (Comer) and fourth in the 800. Portch’s 800 time of 2:19.60 broke her own school record set earlier this spring.
 The Lady Vikes had three events place ninth - missing a state medal by one spot - and another in 10th. Four out of eight state-qualified events notched a season or personal-best time.
 Lady Vike senior Heidi Hall, in her first year out for track following a state medal-winning cross country season last fall, placed ninth in Thursday’s 3,000-meter run (11:20.48) and was 13th in Saturday’s 1,500 with a new ‘PR’ of 5:07.05.
 Sophomore Kinsey Scheffler, who threw a ‘PR’ of 112 feet, 10 inches to qualify for state in the discus, placed 16th on Friday with a toss of 106-8 on her first attempt.
 The Lady Vikes clocked season-best times in two out of three state-qualified relay events. On Friday, the 4x200 squad (Konner Knop, Josie Denning, Portch, Comer) placed ninth in 1:48.22, missing a state medal by 0.26. A few hours later, the same four girls combined to place ninth in the 4x400 prelims in 4:08.9 - cutting nearly eight seconds off their time from the state qualifying meet. They missed out on making the final by a mere 0.02.
 Knop, Denning, Comer and Portch teamed up one more time for the sprint medley relay finals Saturday morning and placed 10th in 1:53.18 - just 0.14 away from a season-best time and once again knocking on the door for a state medal.