Tigers jump from fifth place to first with final push Saturday
By Drew Herron - NT Sports Editor / May 18, 2013
DES MOINES – If success breeds more success, the Griswold girls might be getting used to prosperity.
On Saturday, the Tigers put the finishing touches on their third straight Class 1A State Track championship, hammering down a cap on an incredibly successful school year that began last fall with a trek to the community’s first-ever State title in Cross-Country.
Over the weekend in Des Moines, much of that same group of girls overcame a trove of adversity to fend off six other challengers and keep the 1A title in Griswold.
“Back-to-back-to-back, it’s pretty incredible,” Griswold girls Track coach Andy Everett says. “That’s a special deal.”
The Tigers finished with 45 total points, six more than runner-up West Hancock, and eight better than both Sibley-Ocheyedan and Belle Plaine, who each tallied 37 points to finish tied for third.
Sophomore Rebekah Topham restored order by winning both of her individual races for the day, seizing championships in the 800-meter (2:15.28) and the 1500-meter (4:42.35) to score 20 valuable points for the Tigers.
With the two second-place finishes she already had to her credit (the 3000M and the 400M Hurdles), Topham now has five individual State titles and three runners-up through a decorated and brief two-year career.
Topham accounted for 36 of the Tigers’ 45 points, but she alone did not win the team title.
Senior Jordyn Sindt surpassed expectations to finish third behind Topham in the 800M (2:21.44) to add to the eighth place medal she won Friday in the 400-meter hurdles.
Moreover, the Shuttle Hurdle Relay squad of Kinzy Nicklaus, Justine Freund, Jeana Freund and Trisha Huerta rose up to claim seventh place (1:10.9) in the finals of that event Saturday, and notch a valuable two points for the group effort.
That event was one of those variables the Tigers needed to have if they wanted to secure the three-peat, and coach Everett heaped praise on the foursome after their gutsy performance.
“Our Shuttle Hurdle team has been good all year, but on paper they should not have made the finals,” coach Everett says. “We ran well, reached the finals, and those two points were very, very important.”
The two points from the Shuttle Hurdles, as well as Sindt’s seven points earned in the 800M and 400M Hurdles might have provided the wedge that allowed Griswold to move from fifth place to first by day’s end Saturday.
“The competition this year was fantastic,” coach Everett said. “So many other different things could have happened (that would resulted in) about six other teams finishing as State champion. But things ended up falling our way.
“We brought 15 girls here for 14 events, and you never know who might sneak up and score some points for you. You don’t know for sure who might put you over the top. You can analyze times and Quikstats over and over and over again, but you never know how it is going to fall. We made our decisions, and it worked out well.”
Saturday marked the third straight State championship for the girls, and fourth for the runners if you count the cross-country title.
This campaign was waged differently, especially on account of the irrational spring weather this year that cancelled about half of the Tigers’ meets.
And although the faces might change and the methods of achieving the victories vary, the work ethic in Griswold remains the same.
“Every year it was won differently because each team is made up of different people,” said senior Larissa Backhaus, whose hands have helped raise the team trophy all three times. “But other people keep coming up and they continue working just as hard as the girls before them. It’s exciting to be known as a town of runners.”
Snow falling into May moved many of the Tigers workouts indoors this spring, and those sessions in the gym proved to be no picnic. Also, the program had to do without the services of sophomore Alyx Flippin, who played a pivotal role in last year’s track title as well as the cross-country championship, as Flippin has fought mononucleosis and was unable to compete.
Topham, the group’s leader, fought her way through a trying season where she battled a viral illness that deprived her of oxygen and fatigued her.
Then, she tweaked a hamstring a week before the State Meet that limited her ability to practice the hurdles.
Holding on to the trophy as Drake Stadium emptied out, Topham reflected on the journey.
“It’s hard to put into words,” she said. “I’ve been sick for a while, and maybe last season was more exciting…I don’t know. But this certainly is rewarding.”
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