DES MOINES

Near the end of last Saturday’s State Track Finals session at Drake Stadium, Mid-Prairie freshman Jeorgia Evans, and Pella Christian’s Rachel Kacmarynski and Meredith Van Wyk had become sprint buddies and rivals.

They laughed.

They congratulated each other.

And they headed for the medals podium together.

“They’re all so sweet, so that helps a lot,” Evans said. “Makes it way more fun.”

Kacmarynski, a sophomore, won her second straight state title in the 100-meter dash with a state meet record time of 11.92 seconds and Van Wyk, a junior, won her second straight title in the 200 with a personal-best time of 24.87 seconds.

Evans, who began the season by setting four Iowa high school indoor championship meet records and taking on her first battle with the Pella Christian state champs, emerged from the state outdoor championships with two second-place finishes, a third-place finish and another school record in the 200.

She also ran the lead leg for the 4x100 relay team, which broke a school record in the prelims and finished third to Pella Christian and Spirit Lake in the finals.

“It’s all amazing,” Jeorgia Evans said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity doing it in front of such a big crowd.”

And to top it off, Jeorgia ran in both finals against her older sister, Jovi, and ran with her in the relay.

“It just feels so good to be able to run with her,” Jeorgia Evans said. “We’ve been dreaming this for so long, so it just feels so amazing.”

A second-place finish by Jeorgia Evans in the long jump and top 10 finishes by Dessa Poll, the team’s only senior competing in Des Moines, and Brooklyn Stuzman helped the Golden Hawks capture fifth place in the team standings.

Pella Christian won the team title with 80 points, beating Van Meter by 20.

Jeorgia Evans set a school record in the 200 with a time of 25.26 seconds, finishing third to Van Wyk and Bailey Vos of Pella Christian, as all top six finishers posted personal-best times. She nearly matched her own school record in the 100, finishing second with a time of 12.09 seconds.

She finished second in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet about a week after she set a school record in that event with a leap of 18-5.

Jovi Evans, who came back from knee surgery early in the spring and made the 100 and 200 finals for the second consecutive year, finished seventh in the 200 and eighth in the 100.

“It’s so sad that she had to experience all that,” Jeorgia said of Jovi’s injury, which came in a volleyball tournament at the start of track season. “The way she pulled herself together and fought to get to this point, I’m extremely proud of her for that.”

Jovi Evans and Myli Hershberger, competing in the 4x100 for the second straight year, combined with Jeorgia Evans and Tessa Bombei to set a school record in the prelims with a time of 48.97 seconds.

“That got us a good lane in the finals. Kind of cool,” Jovi Evans said.

In the finals, they timed 49.15 seconds for third place with Jeorgia Evans and Bombei, both freshmen, running the first two legs.

“Me and Jeorgia have been doing handoffs with each other since middle school,” Bombei said.

Rachel Hostetler, another freshman, ran in two individual finals and part of a third, and combined with state championship cross country teammates Kendal Landstrum, Tessa Brokaw and Brooklyn Stutzman for a seventh-place finish in the 4x800 relay.

Hostetler finished 14th in the 1500 with a time of 4:59.19, one spot ahead of Stutzman, and was 13th in the 800 with a time of 2:22.20, four spots ahead of Landstrum. Hostetler pulled out of the 3000 on Thursday while getting ill in the midst of the race.

Poll, a senior, finished ninth in the discus with a throw of 111-01 and Stuzman posted a 10th-place finish in the 3000 with a personal-best time of 10:45.68 in her state individual debut.

BY THE NUMBERS

100: 2, Jeorgia Evans, :12.09; 8, Jovi Evans, :12.51.

200: 3, Jeorgia Evans, :25.26; 7, Jovi Evans, :25.97.

800: 13, Rachel Hostetler, 2:22.20; 17, Kendal Landstrum, 2:22.73.

1500: 14, Hostetler, 4:59.19; 15, Brooklyn Stutzman, 5:00.79.

3000: 10, Stutzman, 10:45.68; Hostetler, DNF.

Long Jump: 2, Jeorgia Evans, 18-0.

Shot Put: 17, Harper Pacha, 35-9.5.

Discus: 9, Dessa Poll, 111-1.

4x100 Relay: 3, Mid-Prairie (Jeorgia Evans-Tessa Bombei-Myli Hershberger-Jovi Evans), :49.15.

4x200 Relay: 24, Mid-Prairie (Myli Hershberger-Hannah Rodgers-Ruby Miller-Jovi Evans), 1:52.21.

4x800 Relay: 7, Mid-Prairie (Rachel Hostetler-Brooklyn Stutzman-Tessa Brokaw-Kendal Landstrum), 9:52.55.

4x100 Shuttle Hurdle Relay: 19, Mid-Prairie (Sophie Miller-Tessa Bombei-Olivia Schlabach-Ruby Miller), 1:11.55.