Cyclone Girls’ Track Stretches Their Legs at IATC Indoors

Cyclone Girls’ Track Stretches Their Legs at IATC Indoors -

(3-17-26) – The season must start somewhere.

The 2026 Track season got underway for Harlan Community as the girls’ competed in the Iowa Association of Track Coaches Indoor Championships in Ames on March 12th.

“It was great to get a meet under our belt,” said Hamilton in her first interview of the season with KNOD. “This is kind of a special meet where it's very limited on who they accept and it's all based off of the best times from last year. You have to have a qualifying time from last year to make it. So, it's not like a lot of meets. There's very, very good competition there and so, you're kind of amongst the best. So, we were able to take 10 athletes and just get a good start for them on the season.”

It was the initial time out for sophomore distance runner Ashlyn Rau, who finished 7th with a time of 4:57.61 in the 1500m. Hamilton knows the expectations on Rau are high for this season.

“We like that she's setting high goals for herself where hopefully she gets a lot of them, but sometimes you don't make your goals. And so, you know, if you're always making your goals, they're probably not high enough. So, we appreciate that about Ashlyn.”

Hamilton also feels Rau will have an impact on Julia Heslink, who ran her first 1500m at the high school level at the IATC, finish with a time of 5:02.52.

“That's gonna be really helpful for her to have Ashlyn as a leader. Somebody to train with and chase and that was a really great debut for her. So, that puts her No. 8 on our all-time Top-10 list actually for Harlan Community. So, that’s neat for Julia.”

Being 8th on the all-time Cyclone list means her coach, Hamilton, got knocked off. But that’s the progress she wants to see from her athletes.

The Cyclone girls’ track is also hoping for good things from sophomore Addie Berndt, who threw 28’3.5 inches in the shot put at the IATC.

“That's a good place for her to start. One big thing we'll be looking for Addie is consistency. So, we would like now that this is where she's starting, we would like that to be her bottom mark and consistently throw 28s and above from here on out.”

Harlan Community girls’ track will compete in the Central College girls’ indoor meet in Pella Saturday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats