Gehrke breezes, so does West

MARION — She has been asked by many. Her fans. Her family.

How does Jessica Gehrke make it look so easy?

“They say I make it look effortless,” said the star from Iowa City West. “They ask me if I’m running hard.

“Yes, I’m running hard.”

Such is the life of the gifted.

Jessice Gehrke

Gehrke competed in three events at the J-Hawk Relays girls’ track meet Saturday afternoon at Armstrong Field, winning all of them.

The junior captured the long jump (18 feet, 1/2 inch) and the 100-meter dash (12.77 seconds) before anchoring West’s sprint medley relay to gold with a sub-60 split.

West Coach Mike Parker said Gehrke makes it look easy because of her form.

“She doesn’t have the high knee drive. She’s very efficient,” Parker said. “The stopwatch proves she’s running as fast as anybody.”

West won its 38th straight meet — the Women of Troy haven’t been outscored since the 2005 state meet — in convincing fashion. Parker is more eager to talk about the number of days (1,421) it has been since the last defeat.

West won 12 of 19 events and compiled 190 points. Cedar Rapids Washington was second with 100.

“You come to a nine-team meet — and these are decent teams — and win 12 events, that’s a good day for us,” Parker said. “We take a lot of pride in our depth. Our success later this season will ride with our depth.”

In addition to Gehrke’s triple, the Women of Troy got titles from Rachel Hegeman (3,000), Courtney Fritz (discus), Micaela Haight (shot put), Morgan Roskas (200), Nichole Engelhardt (1,500) and from its shuttle hurdle, distance medley, 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays.

Washington’s runner-up effort was highlighted by Layloni Beard, who overcame some lower-back pain to claim titles in the high jump (clearing 5 feet) and the 100-meter hurdles (16.51 seconds).

“It’s a muscle strain,” said Beard, a sophomore. “I’ve put some heat and ice on it. It affected me a little bit.

“I could have been a little faster. I want to qualify for (the) Drake (Relays).”

Other Metro winners were Brooke Foreman of Washington in the 400 hurdles, Megan Titler of Prairie in the 400, and Jefferson’s 800-meter relay.

The meet was originally scheduled for Kingston Stadium, but moved to Armstrong Field because of the Field Turf issue at Kingston.

Team scoring

1. Iowa City West 190, 2. C.R. Washington 100, 3. Cedar Falls 68, 4. Linn-Mar 62, 5. C.R. Kennedy 43, 6. C.R. Prairie 38, 7. Marshalltown 36, 8. C.R. Jefferson 32, 9. Waterloo West 20.

Results

Long jump — 1. Jessica Gehrke (ICW), 18-1/2; 2. Shahana Williams (ICW), 15-10; 3. Chelsea Herkelman (CF), 15-9 3/4; High jump — 1. Layloni Beard (CRW), 5-0; 2. Kristin Huebsch (CRK), 5-0; 3. Rachel Peters (CRP), 5-0; Discus — 1. Courtney Fritz (ICW), 128-7; 2. Amanda Pesche (LM), 118-11; 3. Micaela Haight (ICW), 114-5; Shot put — 1. Micaela Haight (ICW), 42-1; 2. Jadyn Spencer (WW), 38-2 1/2; 3. Courtney Fritz (ICW), 36-5.

3,000 — 1. Rachel Hegeman (ICW), 10:40.35; 2. Carolyn Newhouse (LM), 10:43.52; 3. Maddy Becker (CRW), 10:48.71; 3,200 relay — 1. Cedar Falls, 9:56.80; 2. Iowa City West, 10:04.67; 3. Linn-Mar, 10:34.62; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Iowa City West, 1:10.42; 2. C.R. Washington, 1:12.59; 3. Cedar Falls, 1:13.29; 100 — 1. Jessica Gehrke (ICW), 12.77; 2. Maddy Halyard (CRW), 13.10; 3. Jordan Loney (Marsh), 13.16; Distance medley relay — 1. Iowa City West, 4:25.41; 2. Linn-Mar, 4:31.84; 3. Cedar Falls, 4:35.28; 400 — 1. Megan Titler (CRP), 1:02.87; 2. Mariah Steinburg-Garner (CRW), 1:03.41; 3. Whitnie Schulte (ICW), 1:03.49; 800 relay — 1. C.R. Jefferson, 1:49.23; 2. Cedar Falls, 1:50.34; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:50.55; 100 hurdles — 1. Layloni Beard (CRW), 16.51; 2. Liza Minor (ICW), 17.04; 3. Amanda Hosper (CF), 17.05; 800 — 1. Lydia Martin (Marsh), 2:25.52; 2. Taylor Fehlberg (ICW), 2:27.12; 3. Abby Coselman (WW), 2:27.46; 200 — 1. Morgan Roskas (ICW), 27.18; 2. Ashley Heffernen (CRK), 27.32; 3. Monique Davisson (CRW), 27.34; 400 hurdles — 1. Brooke Foreman (CRW), 1:09.63; 2. Megan Titler (CRP), 1:11.41; 3. Megan Holdgrafer (LM), 1:12.16; Sprint medley relay — 1. Iowa City West, 1:51.77; 2. Linn-Mar, 1:54.59; 3. Marshalltown, 1:55.48; 1,500 — 1. Nichole Engelhardt (ICW), 4:54.05; 2. Rachel Hegeman (ICW), 5:01.30; 3. Carolyn Newhouse (LM), 5:05.55; 400 relay — 1. Iowa City West, 51.83; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 51.86; 3. C.R. Washington, 51.96; 1,600 relay — 1. Iowa City West, 4:09.44; 2. C.R. Jefferson, 4:10.64; 3. Cedar Falls, 4:18.40.

Tags: girls' track, J-Hawk Relays, Jessica Gehrke, Layloni Beard, Mike Parker