Ballard's Paityn Noe ends her legendary career with a Iowa state record in the 3A girls 1,500
One state record was not enough for Ballard's Paityn Noe.
Noe, the Class 3A record holder in the 3,000, had never won a 1,500 title after finishing fourth as a sophomore and second to Carlisle great Ainsley Erzen at last year's state meet. That changed Saturday when Noe broke Erzen's 3A record in the 1,500 of 4:36.96 with the fourth-best time in state history at 4:28.80.
"Going into it I knew Ainsley Erzen and her past record, so I kind of had that in mind," Noe said. "Last lap when he said I think she has a chance...send her home, the crowd got really loud and it was just pushing me at the end."
Noe won the race by 18.64 seconds over Pella freshman Marissa Ferebee. It was the perfect capper to her senior season and overall career for the future Arkansas Razorback.
Noe ended up a two-time state cross country champion and she also won two Drake Relays and 3A state titles in the 3,000 in track. In her senior year alone Noe has run the state's all-time best 5-kilometer time in cross country, becoming the first Iowa high school girl to go under 17 minutes, the third-best 3,000-time in Iowa history at this year's Drake Relays (9:28.89) and set two state track records along with helping Ballard set a school mark in the distance medley.
"I don't know if it's set in completely because I have a lot more to come," Noe said. "I'm done with one small step in my entire journey, but maybe over the next few days talking to my teammates it will hit me a little bit more. I am so grateful for Ballard introducing me to running, helping me get better and better and loving the sport along the way. It's been awesome."
Ballard sophomore Annika Larson also ran in the 1,500, placing 12th in 4:58.18. Larson took 16th in the 800 earlier in the day with a time of 2:23.63.
Ballard boys make a statement
The Ballard boys turned heads with their performance as a team during the state meet.
On Thursday, the Bomber 4x800 team placed third in Class 3A after entering state 15th and Chance Lande and Jameson Witt go from being ranked 13th and 21st to finishing eighth and 12th, respectively. Friday saw Chase Ihle come in 15th in the long jump and finish fourth and Ballard's 4x400 team advanced to the finals after coming in ranked 18th.
Saturday saw a Bomber sprint medley team go from 21st to 13th and set a school record with a time of 1:35.40, and the 4x400 team ended up placing seventh with a time of 3:23.87.
"My grade and the grade above me completely changed the trajectory of Ballard track," Lande said. "We kind of brought it back from the ashes and made a great impact here."
Lande, a junior, was joined by Jayden Swain, Jaden Peasley and Eli Rouse in the sprint medley Saturday. He ran with Witt, Rouse and Jakson Fleischmann in the 4x400.
Lande had a simple solution as to why Ballard did so well over the three days at state track.
"Honestly, I think it's the crowd," Lande said. "It gets me going and I know it gets the guys going. I just makes you want to go out and put on a show for everybody and I think we came out here and did that."
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Paityn Noe sets 3A girls 1,500 record at state co-ed track meet
