HC Girls’ Track Finishes Regular Season 5th at Atlantic

HC Girls’ Track Finishes Regular Season 5th at Atlantic -

(5-4-26) – It wasn’t about the points. It was about the prep for what’s next.

Harlan Community competed at the Bruce Henderson Invitational in Atlantic Monday for their final regular season meet. The Cyclone girls finished 5th with 83 pts, getting wins in the Sprint Med and 4 by 400m.

It was another busy night for Julia Helsink who anchored both relay wins while finishing 2nd in the 400m in 59.22 seconds and 3rd in the 200m in 26.53 sec, giving her four 400ms and a 200m for the meet.

“Julia's doing really well. She's feeling healthy, so that's always good,” Cyclone Girls’ Track Coach Jenny Hamilton. “Four 400ms and 200m is a lot to ask of a person, but she did really well and that was her first open 200m of the season, actually… I don't know what she had in her mind for how she wanted to do, but she was kind of disappointed with her time and that’s the fastest time on our team in the 200m.”

That type of competitiveness is impressive and bodes well for Heslink and her teammates as they prepare for the postseason. She’s been an important part of Harlan Community’s relay teams that have built a solid connection that’s allowing them to be successful throughout this season.

“Chemistry is definitely part of it,” says Hamilton. “They just feed off of each other and can get the relay in the right mindset to be competitive and to be tough and to be focused.”

Another area of improvement has been the hurdle events. Ari Daniels and Ainsley Mages ran season-bests in the 100m hurdles at 16.34 and 17.21 respectively, and Shuttle Hurdle team of Daniels, Mage, Brinley VanBaale, & Paige Sonderman had their best time of 1:11.75. Hamilton says the groups competitive nature is what drives them.

“When we went over and talked to them, they were ready and they had big goals in mind and it really just takes all of them doing their very best on the same night and that's kind of the positive pressure that comes along with being of a relay. You have to step up and when it's your turn and put it all together all on the same night.”

The Cyclone girls’ track team will look to step up when they compete in the Hawkeye 10 Conference Championships in Glenwood on Thursday.

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