Top Volleyball Athletes Not Only Tops In Track, But Best In Field Events

<p><span style="font-weight: 400">All about the track, the blue oval, but some of the top volleyball athletes might be finding success at state track in the field events in the discus, high jump, long jump, discus, and shot put.  There are plenty of athletes who may do both, but few are elite. With the heat advisory in effect for Thursday, Iowa once again will have an interesting weekend of weather with a high of 90 on Thursday down to 75 on Saturday.  Bring on the weekend and some of the best athletes in the state to compete. </span></p> <p><strong>High Jump</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Kenzie Mantz</strong>, the Iowa State Cyclone volleyball commit comes into the Class 1A high jump with the second overall jump of 5’3.  Club teammates from CIA 16 Black <strong>Kaylee Sallee</strong> and <strong>Saari Kuehl</strong> will be squaring off once again like they have all season in the high jump with Sallee from Hudson and Kuehl from Gladbrook-Reinbeck.  </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mantz’s club teammate from Eastern Iowa Xtreme and future Hawkeye, <strong>Jaedynn Evans</strong> of Regina is tied for the top overall jump heading into the state meet with a jump of 5’5.  <strong>Helaina Hillyard</strong> is a top prospect out of the Class of 2020 out of Mediapolis and Iowa Rockets will be competing in high jump as well. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Aliyah Carter</strong> of Dubuque Wahlert will have plenty of hop in her step this weekend competing in the high jump and long jump.  Carter comes into the meet with the second overall jump of 5’6. Focusing in on a repeat of a state title from 2018 is <strong>Madison Harms</strong> of Sergeant Bluff-Luton (Committed to South Dakota for volleyball) is the defending Class 3A champion.  Other top high jumpers who also will be competing in Class 3A who are also big jumpers on the volleyball court are <strong>Haleigh Hadley</strong> of Gilbert and <strong>Thea Banning</strong> of Winterset. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">There are some familiar names in the Class 4A high jump field which will come as no surprise with <strong>Layanna Green</strong> of Waukee and CIS who is leading the group with a jump of 5’6.  Iowa volleyball recruit <strong>Grace Tubbs</strong> of Clinton will be jumping along with <strong>Lauren Blake</strong> of Indianola and<strong> Calea Jones</strong> of Ankeny Centennial. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Long Jump</strong> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Kyah Luhring</strong> is fresh off a verbal commit to Northwest Missouri State for volleyball and track.  A top notch athletic program that is on the rise in volleyball. Luhring is one of the top 2020 liberos in the Class of 2020 from Grundy Center and plays her club volleyball at CIA.  She has the 7th best jump heading into the state meet in Class 1A.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I am so excited to announce that I have verbally committed to Northwest Missouri State to continue my academic, Volleyball, and Track &amp; Field career! Huge thank you to my family, coaches &amp; everyone who have supported me through this process! So excited to be a Bearcat!💚🐾 <a href="https://t.co/nwl4vbaGBe">pic.x.com/nwl4vbaGBe</a></p> — Kyah Luhring (@kyah_luhring) <a href="https://x.com/kyah_luhring/status/1128458931385270274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Mallory Baeding</strong> of Carroll-Kuemper is coming off a state title in volleyball for Carroll-Kuemper and will be joined by All-State volleyball athlete <strong>Heather Boeckenstedt</strong> who competed at the state tournament for Dyersville Beckman are both in the top ten heading in the Class 2A state long jump.  Other top jumpers who also have been standouts on the volleyball court are 2022 prospects <strong>Kelsey Drake</strong> of Wilton and <strong>Macy Daufeldt</strong> of West Liberty who has committed to play volleyball at Drake along with <strong>Rachel Rinken</strong> of New Hampton who was a top outside hitter for the Chickasaws enroute to state and <strong>Kelsey Koch</strong> of Forest City who was the Top of Iowa West Player of the Year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Carter will look to double up in high jump and long jump.  The Kansas State volleyball commit was the 2018 state champion and has the top jump heading into the weekend.  <strong>Emerson Green</strong> of Cedar Falls has shown she can do a little bit of everything this year, setting her Cedar Falls Tiger volleyball team to a state runnerup finish and also being one of the top 2020 prospects in Iowa for basketball where she will continue playing at UNI.  She has the second best long jump with a leap of 18’6. </span></p> <p><strong>Shot Put/Discus</strong></p> <p></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Vanessa Hamlett</strong> was on the Starmont state volleyball team and will be heading to the ring for shot put in Class 1A with the second overall bestthrow of 41’01. In Class 2A, <strong>Jamie Kofron</strong> took home a state runner-up trophy as part of the Tipton volleyball team this fall.  She will look to take home titles once again in the shotput and discus where she has the second best throw in each heading into the weekend. She will compete in field events at Iowa next year. <strong>Faith DeRonde</strong> of Oskaloosa is having quite the Freshman campaign in volleyball and track.  A top 2022 outside hitter who plays her club ball at CIS will be competing in shot put and discus with a top overall throw for a Freshman. Her teammate Sophia Dykstra has the third overall throw heading into the weekend. </span></p>