Sunday, May 23, 2004

Seniors shine bright for City High

Upperclassmen play key role in Little Hawks' three titles

By Susan Harman
Iowa City Press-Citizen

That could have been the message that the City High girls track team was delivering Saturday at Drake Stadium, as its senior class led the team to a third consecutive state title.

Senior stars Jennie Funk and Nelle Trefz both won individual events, and the 4x200 relay with three seniors won a surprising third title. Seniors were key in City's second-place finish in the sprint medley, which turned out to include a dramatic duel with West High at the finish.

"Our seniors are the ones that really, really stepped up with the 3,000 and the 800 and the sprint medley and the 4x2," City High coach Terry Coleman said. "The seniors ruled the day today, that's for sure.

"Three years ago these guys were a young team, and now we've got the gray hairs. So these guys have all been here before and they know what it takes. They know what they have to do, and when you're a senior it's your last time out here there's a lot of pride to finish your career on a great note and they sure did."

Lots of teams have seniors who want to win, but somehow this group not only performed well but ignited the rest. The effort of Funk in winning on Friday night started the senior storm. The sprint medley fired it up again Saturday.

Virginia Dreier made up ground all through her 400-meter anchor, but the final 50 meters was a fight with Lizz Huntley of West for second that she won with a lean.

"At our team meeting last night we talked about it doesn't matter what time you run, it comes down to that one moment and if you want it at that time and that place," Dreier said. "In this meet, it really could come down to City and West, and I just had to beat West. In this meet, who knows what's going to happen later on so the moment is what's important."

The two seniors came to the end of the race almost simultaneously. Dreier was so focused on the finish that several minutes later, she asked her teammates, "Did we get second?"

Later in the 4x200, Dreier ran the third leg and moved the team from fifth to second, enabling senior Camille Jordan to finish a winner.

"I know I had to hand off in first, and that's really all I was thinking," Dreier said. "I wanted to do it for my team. Coming back from last year where we were second. We've been working on the 4x2 for this moment.

"This is my senior year and this is my last chance. That's what our team is. Most other teams have good runners, but our team seems to have that mental edge and that has more to do with it."

Jordan echoed the sentiment.

"It's our last year, we just wanted to do our best," anchor Camille Jordan said. "We went out and got it."

Trefz's victory in the 800 pretty much put away the title. She was shoulder to shoulder with Urbandale's Cassi Sokol with 200 left.

"I had the advantage of having the inside, and I knew she was having to go farther than me on the turn and I knew with this great field I'd have to have a good kick to bring it in," Trefz said. "So I just wanted to get to that finish line as quickly as possible."

It's a familiar spot for City's seniors.