Ipswich defended its Region 2B girls and boys team championships on a windy, but thankfully dry day at Gettyburg last Thursday, as the heavy rain showers stayed to the north until after the meet.

"What a great day for the Tigers," said IHS head coach Todd Thorson. "The conditions weren't ideal for track and field, but the Tigers really had a great day."

Thorson would like that momentum to carry over to the State B meet in Rapid City on Friday and Saturday, May 25-26. "We are hoping for our best performances of the year," he said. "Both boys and girls have a chance to be in the top six at state. The Deubrook girls are the clear favorites to win the team championship on the girls' side." And Deubrook actually won the girls' B last year, along with Chester Area's boys. But both the Lady Tigers and Tiger boys would like to move up in the team standings from last season's state get-together and possibly be in the hunt for the Combined Girls and Boys title. In 2017 the Tiger girls were seventh and the boys landed in a three-way tie for 18th.

Getting back to those 2018 regional results! The Lady Tigers rolled up 226 team points and Potter County was a very distant second with 105. (They were the only two teams to score 100 or more girls' points.) And on the boys' side, Ipswich tallied 141 team points, compared to second-place Faulkton Area's 97.5.

First or second-place finishes or at the very least state-qualifying efforts were the regional ticket to the State B. And the Lady Tigers produced a balanced effort in both the track and field events.

Lily Gaston had already state-qualified in the long jump and triple jump, but she wasn't taking anything for granted with two new school record wins, her 16-5.00 long jump and a 34-05.25 triple jump.

The Ipswich girls' pole vault action was also impressive, despite the cross wind. Though both in-season qualifiers, Taylor Maurer was first there in 10-03.00, followed by Mckenzie Evans, second at 9-03.00. Izabella McQuarie placed third at 7-06.00, but she had already qualified for the state meet, along with Maurer and Evans. Kamryn Heinz placed first in the shot at 38-07.50, where she was already pre-qualified and was second in the discus at 120-06 where she had already also in-season qualified. Sydney Loken was also pre-qualified in the discus spin, though placing fifth in the 2B action at 106-04.00. And yet another brand new field-event qualifier was Avery Sylte, second in the high jump at 4-08.00.

On the track, Aleah Steger placed first in the girls' 1,600-meter run in 5:52.09, providing a new event for her at the state. And for good measure, she also won the 3,200-meter run in 13:53.07, where she was pre-qualified anyway. Ashley Ptacek also earned a brand-new trip to state with her second-place 2:44.70 800-meter run. Another very new individual track event for Ipswich will be the 100-meter girls' hurdles, run by senior Allison Severson in :17.34, which was good for second-place in the regional competition.

Ipswich will enter all five girls' relay teams at the state meet. Four of them captured firsts at the region, all except the medley which was pre-qualified. (The 4x100 and the 4x400 hadn't yet qualified.) The order of 4x100m runners at the regional went Bailey Hammrich to Maurer to Abby Grabowska to Gaston in :52.78. The 4x200-m relay, clocked at 1:50.82, went like this, Hammrich, Gaston, Maurer and Tessa Kilber. And that badly needed 4x400 finale was won by Kilber, Hammrich, Maurer and Abby Grabowska in 4:26.03.

The Ipswich boys' outcome, meanwhile, saw Ben Kulesa punching his ticket to the State B with a 800-meter run win in 2:12.83. Senior Colton Weeldreyer also accomplished that feat with a 1,600-meter run win in 5:03.09. Maxwell Geditz added a high-jump win at 5-10.00, where he was already pre-qualfied and senior Wyatt Haux obtained Ipswich's other boys' individual first-place effort, with a 12-03.00 pole vault height, despite being pre-qualified. Thomas Goetz was also second at 9-09.00 in pole vaulting and will thus advance to state. Carson Simes will also run in the 100-meter dash at the B, thanks to his runner-up :11.14 2B effort. And Reese Moehlenbrink had pre-qualified in the discus, though placing fifth in the region at 138-11.

Ipswich also earned a new State B boys' relay event by placing second in the 4x100 at :46.95 and those runners were Ty Kadlec, Will Kadlec, Daniel Braun and Simes. The medley-relay team of Will Kadlec, Simes, Maxwell Geditz and Weeldreyer placed first in 4:04.15 and they were pre-qualified anyway. Though it was pre-qualified, Ipswich's 1,600-meter boys relay team picked up a Region 2B end-of-the-day win in 3:43.92 and those runners were Maxwell Geditz, Weeldreyer, Riley Nehlich and Kulesa. The 3,200-meter relay boys had already pre-qualified for the state, but placed fourth in the regionals at 10:24.55.

At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 28 in the Ipswich School Theatre will be the Welcome Home and Track and Field Sports Awards.

Other IHS Region 2B placements not already mentioned:

GIRLS

100-Meter Dash: 6, Kendra Osborne, :13.52; 8, Avery Sylte, :13.62.

200-Meter Dash: 5, Kendra Osborne, 29.93; 6, Mckenzie Evans, :30.27; 8, Avery Sylte, :30.61.

400-Meter Dash: 3, Emily DeRaad, 1:10.35; 4, Hailey Bierman, 1:11.07.

1,600-Meter Run: 8, Baylee Kulesa, 7:16.96.

3,200-Meter Run: 5, Kari Kanable, 15:55.97; 6, Abby Olson, 15:59.63.

100-Meter Hurdles: 4, Abby Grabowska, :17.53; 5, Ashlyn Weig, :18.51.

300-Meter Hurdles: 3, Allison Severson, :55.42.

High Jump: 3, Josie Sylte, 4-02.00.

Long Jump: 8, Izabella McQuarie, 14-04.00.

Triple Jump: 4, Avery Sylte, 30-01.75; 5, Izabella McQuarie, 29-07.25.

Shot Put: 6, Sydney Loken, 31-03.50.

BOYS

200-Meter Dash: 7, Matthew Hettich, :25.22.

400-Meter Dash: 6, Riley Nehlich, :56.70.

Wyatt Haux

800-Meter Run: 4, Jacob Nierman, 2:18.94; 7, Wyatt Haux, 2:28.83.

3,200-Meter Run: 4, Alfonso Gutierrez, 12:30.44; 7, Evan Onken, 13:50.11.

110-Meter Hurdles: 5, Carter Geditz, :19.90; 6, Carson Gohl, :20:54.

300-Meter Hurdles: 6, Carson Gohl, :50.38.

4x200-Meter Relay: 5, Ipswich, 1:39.02.

Pole Vault: 4, Matthew Jaenisch, 8-03.00.

Long Jump: 5, Will Kadlec, 18-02.75.

Triple Jump: 7, Dillon Weig, 35-03.00; 8, Matthew Jaenisch, 33-10.50.

Shot Put: 6, Reece Moehlenbrink, 42-10.00.