And so when Webster City senior JJ Moore connected on a throw that crashed into the grass more than 150 feet away from the ring on his very first attempt yesterday, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

He carried the momentum with him for the rest of the evening as well.

Moore’s first throw in the discus was more than good enough to win the gold medal at the state qualifier, but he went ahead and topped it multiple times anyway. He added a second gold medal in the shot put and will compete in both events at the state meet in Des Moines next week for the second straight year.

“I hit that one right away and it was pretty safe, so then I just tried to go all out on the next five (throws),” Moore said. “I’m pretty excited right now. I believed that I could do it and I did it.”

WCHS senior Charlie Stansfield yells out encouragement to a teammate following his leg of a relay at yesterday’s Class 3A state qualifier in Gilbert. He will run at state next week. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Moore’s official winning throw — 157 feet, 2 inches — came on his third and final attempt of the prelims. The next closest thrower to him, North Polk’s Charlie Rhoads, advanced to state as well with a toss of 138-4.

Without much time to transition to the shot put, Moore quickly made it into his favored ring and consistently hit marks beyond 53 feet. There was a brief moment midway through the finals when North Polk’s Jackson McNulty moved into the lead with a toss of 53-111⁄4, but Moore answered him just moments later with what turned out to be the winning distance — 56-83⁄4.

“It gave me a lot of motivation when (McNulty) hit that good throw,” Moore, who was fourth at the 2022 Drake Relays and a 2021 3A state medalist in the shot put, said. “I knew I had to answer it.”

Teammate Brandon Lahr made the finals in the shot put as well and finished sixth with a personal best throw of 45-91⁄4.

WCHS automatically qualified for the state meet in only one other event and will now wait nervously as it sees whether or not several third-place finishers will receive wildcard bids. With the LeMars state qualifier postponing until Friday, the wait will probably linger into Saturday morning.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

The Lynx 4×200-meter relay quartet of Jaxon Cherry, Keegan Hisler, Charlie Stansfield and CJ Hisler won’t have to wait though, as they earned the automatic bid with a runner-up finish behind North Polk in 1:32.19. CJ Hisler held off Nevada’s Caeden DaSilva — the 100-meter champion last night — down the stretch to assure WCHS of moving on.

The same foursome will hunker into a wait and see approach with regards to the 4×100, as WCHS finished third in 44.92 seconds.

Cherry also settled for third in the 100 in 11.81 seconds. He finished behind DaSilva (11.61) and Iowa Falls-Alden’s Jaden Damiano (11.77), who just leaned across the line ahead of the WCHS sophomore.

WCHS picked up fourth-place finishes from Jose Ramirez in the mile (4:54.18) and the shuttle hurdle relay (1:09.18).

North Polk dominated the meet and scored 213 points. The other seven teams in the field were separated by only 131⁄2 points. Humboldt was second with 84; WCHS tied for sixth with 701⁄2.

Class 3A State Qualifying Meet

Thursday at Gilbert

Team Scores

1. North Polk 213; 2. Humboldt 84; 3. Iowa Falls-Alden 81; 4. Algona 80; 5. Hampton-Dumont/CAL 711⁄2; 6. (Tie) Webster City, Gilbert, Nevada 701⁄2.

Webster City Results

Shot Put — 1. JJ Moore 56-83⁄4; 6. Brandon Lahr 45-91⁄4.

Discus — 1. Moore 157-2; 11. Jaxon Cherry 114-9.

High Jump — 4. Keegan Hisler 5-8.

Long Jump — 9. Luke Estlund 16-9; 14. Christopher Martinez 15-5.

100 Meters — 3. Cherry 11.81; 6. CJ Hisler 12.12.

400 Meters — 8. Riley LaSourd 55.37; 14. Skyler Scott 57.54.

800 Meters — 8. Tristen Maxwell 2:20.98; 14. Riley Jensen 2:35.14.

1,600 Meters — 4. Jose Ramirez 4:54.18.

3,200 Meters — 13. Owen Patterson 14:22.28.

110 High Hurdles — 8. Treyton Sinclair 18.15; 12. Aiden Feltz 21.05.

400 Hurdles — 9. Gabe Rollins 1:05.46.

4×100 Relay — 3. WCHS 44.92 (Charlie Stansfield, Cherry, Keegan Hisler, CJ Hisler).

4×200 Relay — 2. WCHS 1:32.19 (Cherry, K. Hisler, C. Stansfield, CJ Hisler).

4×400 Relay — 7. WCHS 3:51.16 (LaSourd, Estlund, Scott, Brayden Henely).

4×800 Relay — 7. WCHS 9:41.44 (Ramirez, Henely, Maxwell, Tristan Mason).

Sprint Medley Relay — 8. WCHS 1:45.05 (LaSourd, C. Stansfield, Scott, Estlund).

Distance Medley Relay — 7. WCHS 4:13.63 (Sinclair, Estlund, Jesse Crutcher, Maxwell).

Shuttle Hurdle Relay — 4. WCHS 1:09.18 (Rollins, Lincoln Tielke, Martinez, Sinclair).