Solon girls track team brings home second straight Class 3A team state championship

For the second straight season, the Solon girls track team has earned the title of Class 3A state champions.

This year's title comes after leading the pack with a team score of 79, 17 points ahead of state runner-up ADM.

"It feels really good to be champions again," said sophomore Aly Stahle. "We worked really hard in the offseason and everyone has been pushing themselves this year. It feels good to see it pay off."

Paving the way to victory for the Spartans were their nine finishes inside the top three, including state championships in the distance medley, 400m hurdles (Sophia Stahle) and 800m run (Gracie Federspiel).

Senior Sophia Stahle said that there hasn't been any dropoff in talent from last year's title team to this year's.

"We are all very close even though we lost a couple of our top runners," Sophia Stahle said. "We have been grinding in the offseason, so we have had a couple of people blossom to help fill those roles."

When the Spartans won last year, it came as a bit of a shock since they had not been considered a power in Class 3A. In fact, they had not claimed a team title since they were Class 2A co-champions with Gilbert back in 2010.

However, the Spartans learned quickly that as hard as it is to get to the top, the real battle is making sure that they stay there. This can be especially difficult because, in addition to having to compete against other hungry Class 3A teams who would gladly take your spot, expectations to win another title are high.

Those factors could easily bog a team down, but Sophia Stahle said that they welcomed the challenge.

"We are competitive as a team and individually," Sophia Stahle said. "So we knew that if we go out and do what we are supposed to do we would be fine."

Though they proved that they were capable of pushing through the in-season adversity, they now have another hurdle to overcome if they want to reach the mountaintop again next year.

The conclusion of the state track meet marks the end of the high school careers of the team's nine seniors. That includes program cornerstones like Sophia Stahle and Kayla Young, two competitors who have been key in both team state titles.

"I love this team," Sophia Stahle said. "We are all so supportive of each other. It's not like we have the hurdlers, then the long-distance runners and then the mid-distances runners. We are all together, which helps raise the vibe of the team and makes us so close. I am really going to miss being on this team."

Luckily for the Spartans, they will bring back several notable competitors like state qualifiers Aly Stahle, Gracie Federspiel and Mia Duckett.

"We are all riding the energy from this season, which is going to be big going into off-season workouts," Aly Stahle said. "Plus, I have heard a lot of people saying that they wanted to come out and start running track, so I think we are going to be a really good team next year."

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Solon girls track team wins its second straight iowa high school state title.