Washington Girls Track

Foreman leaping hurdles to fight cancer

WAVERLY - Brooke Foreman dedicated her state title in the 400 meter hurdles last year to her late grandfather, who lost his battle with cancer before getting a chance to see her run.

Foreman is dedicating this season to Ed Foreman as well with a unique plan that she hopes will help fight cancer and motivate herself to win another state crown.

The plan is still in the formative stages, but Foreman would like to receive pledges from people in the community who would donate money to the fight against cancer based on how well she does in the Class 4A state meet this year.

People would sign up to make pledges, perhaps $25 if she finishes first at the state meet or $20 if she finishes second.

"Hopefully I can get a lot of publicity and get a lot of support for my idea," she said Tuesday after competing at the Wartburg College Co-Ed High School Invitational in the Hoover Field House.

All proceeds from the fundraiser would be donated to the Mercy Hospital cancer center. "I wanted to do something special my senior year to make it memorable," she said.

Foreman welcomes the added pressure that could come with her unique idea. "I need it. I definitely need it," she said.

She said she's still working on her plan, but is excited about the idea. "I haven't worked out the details," she said. "I just thought of it last night."

Washington Coach Frank Scherrman supports Foreman's plan.

"Just on her own, she decided, 'How can I keep my grandpa's memory as a motivator and do something in his name, in his honor?' She just completely came up with that on her own," he said. "Fantastic."

However, Scherrman wants to make sure Foreman doesn't put too much pressure on herself this season.

"We're going to have to talk to her a little bit about that," he said. "There's going to be enough pressure (as the defending state champion).

"She'll have a big target on her back all year long, so I don't want her to be disappointed to have the same time and things don't go quite her way."

Scherrman said people can contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if they'd like to participate in Foreman's project and pledge money.

Foreman's speciality is the 400 meter hurdles, but they did not offer that event at the indoor meet in Waverly. She competed in the 55-meter hurdles and placed second after she and Mary Young of Urbandale accidentally brushed each other during the race.

"We were definitely bumping into each other," Foreman said. "It caused me to slow down and go a little higher over the hurdles, because I was pretty scared I was going to fall.

"It's no big deal," she said. "It was the first meet and I'm not complaining."

LINN-MAR SENIOR Brandon Ophoff blazed to victory in the boys 55-meter hurdles in 7.62 Tuesday. He looked a little wobbly in his preliminary heat, then looked smooth in the finals.

"That was really a surprise," he said after his victory. "The prelims were really sloppy, but I cleaned it up a little bit for the finals."

Tuesday was the first time he had run a full race in spikes this year and was obviously pleased with the result. He's looking forward to the start of the outdoor track season in a few weeks.

"Outdoors is always a whole other game," said Ophoff. "You have double the hurdles (in the 110 highs) and anything can happen. But it's always nice to start out good."

Ophoff has committed to run track at Iowa State next year, specializing in the hurdles and perhaps the decathlon.

Ophoff placed third in the 110 high hurdles at the state meet last year, helping Linn-Mar finish third in the Class 4A team standings. He also ran the first leg on the shuttle hurdle relay team that placed second at the state meet.

"I want to do well in the state meet this year, but really I think my biggest goal is the team," he said. "I think our team can do really well.

"We've got a lot of good guys. If we're all running on all cylinders, we should be good at the state meet."

Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans, a state title threat in the 3200 this year, eased into the new season by running the third leg on Linn-Mar's 4x800 relay that placed sixth. Evans finished second at the state cross country meet last fall.

Taylor Vogel of Cedar Rapids Washington captured the girls 400-meter dash Tuesday in 1:03.73, beating Brooke Long of Ankeny by 62-hundredths of a second.

Austin Dellamuth of Cedar Rapids Prairie won the boys 400-meter dash in 53.01 seconds, clipping Nate Lucs of Waukee by 29-hundredths of a second.

There were a total of 24 boys teams and 20 girls teams in the meet, which began at 3 p.m. and ended at 10 p.m.

METRO GIRLS RESULTS
Top 8 Finishers

Cedar Rapids Washington
1st - Taylor Vogel, 400 meter dash, 1:03.73
2nd - Brooke Foreman, 55 meter hurdles, 8.90
2nd - 4x200 relay, 1:50.52, Taylor Vogel, Jasmyne Jones, Sarah Witte, Brooke Foreman
5th - Taylor Vogel, 200 meter dash, 27.77
6th - Shannon Gorman, 1500 meter run, 5:13.74
7th - 4x800 relay, 10:57.38, Sarah Witt, Megan Kelly, Sam Stuer, Shannon Gorman
8th - 4x400 relay, 4:33.21, Jasmyne Jones, Mikayla Frye, Megan Muller, Brooke Foreman

Cedar Rapids Jefferson
4th - Madison Ranschau, 55 meter hurdles, 9.11
5th - Malya Rattliffe, 55 meter dash, 7.71
8th - Lucy Schneekloth, 55 meter dash, 7.78

Cedar Rapids Prairie
3rd - Jessica Harris, long jump, 15-2 1/4

Marion
6th - Distance Medley, 4:42.29, Morgan Kolarik, Natalie Ertz, Ellen Cannon, Allison Scott

METRO BOYS RESULTS
Top 8 Finishers

Linn-Mar
1st - Brandon Ophoff, 55 meter hurdles, 7.62
4th - Chase Grabau, 3200 meter run, 10:17.06
4th - Matt Simon, 800 meter run, 2:04.40
4th (tie) - Brandon Ophoff, high jump, 5-10
5th - Mike Keiser, 55 meter hurdles, 8.15
6th - 4x200 relay, 1:37.45, Brandon Jeffries, Colton Sanchez, Travis Kvach, Jake Luerkens
6th - Jabez Walker, 800 meter run, 2:06.77
6th - 4x800 meter relay, 8:41.36, Amani Richardson, Devin Bettmann, Josh Evans, Tanner Rathje
7th - Michael Detert, long jump, 20-10
7th - Jack Halupnik, shot put, 45-11 3/4
8th - Ryan Wirth, 400 meter dash, 54.57

Cedar Rapids Prairie
1st - Austin Dellamuth, 400 meter dash, 53.01
3rd - Tristan Beyer, 400 meter dash, 53.34
7th - Mitch Pritts, 1600 meter run, 4:43.67
8th - 4x200 meter relay, 1:38.03, Jarred Edmonds, Tristan Beyer, Haakon Wilz, Austin Dellamuth

Cedar Rapids Jefferson
7th - 4x400 relay, 3:41.86, Nate Karlan, Alex Baxter, Ryan Deerberg, Jordan Selby

Taylor Vogel will run at Winona State

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Taylor Vogel plans to join the women's track program at Winona State University next year.

Vogel helped Washington finish eighth at the Class 4A state track meet last May. She helped the Warriors finish fourth in the 4x100 relay, 11th in the 4x200 relay and 12th in the sprint medley relay.

Vogel will sign her letter-of-intent at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Room 128 at Washington High School.

Brooke Foreman commits to Drake for track

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Brooke Foreman loves running on the blue oval at Drake University, having competed successfully there at the Drake Relays and state track meet.

She loves it so much that she'll run there in college as well.

Foreman committed to Drake at Thanksgiving, ending the uncertainty of not knowing where she'd compete in college.

"It was very stressful at first, talking to all the coaches and talking with my dad every night about the decision," she said. "I wanted to make the decision before Christmas."

Now she can relax and finish her outstanding track career at the Drake Relays and state meet this spring.

"I'm going for gold," she said Thursday, "and I want to prove that I deserve my spot on the team (in college). I'm going to give it everything I have."

Foreman has already proven a lot already. She won the 400 meter hurdles at the Class 4A state track meet last May and finished fourth in the 100 hurdles. She also helped Washington place second in the shuttle hurdle relay.

She also turned in a good performance at the 2011 Drake Relays, finishing fourth in the 400 hurdles and helping the Warriors take third in the shuttle hurdle relay.

Foreman picked Drake University over St. Thomas (Minn.).

"I've been running at Drake all three years so far (in high school). So it's just like home to me. And I love the coaches," she said. "The staff is amazing."

Foreman has wanted to compete in collegiate sports for a long time. Now her dream is going to come true. "I originally wanted to go into basketball, but then when I got to high school I realized that track is my love," she said.

Foreman is currently a guard on the Washington basketball team, which played in the state tournament last season and is ranked fifth in Class 4A.

Jeff Foreman, a cousin from Winfield, Ill., is a freshman high jumper on the men's track team at Drake.

Foreman rules the 400 hurdles

DES MOINES - Brooke Foreman ran the best race of her life Friday and Kyle Dunn ran one of the fastest races in Iowa prep history.

Together, they crowned the Metro area as the undisputed monarchs of the 400-meter hurdles this year.

Foreman, a junior at Cedar Rapids Washington, slashed more than 1.2 seconds off her previous best in the 400 hurdles and won the Class 4A state title in 1:02.62.

She crossed the finish line and pointed to the sky, a tribute to her grandfather Edward Foreman, who died in January after a courageous battle with cancer.

"That was for my grandpa. All of that was for him," she said breathlessly, with a big happy smile. "I just ran the race of my life."

Dunn, a senior at Linn-Mar, ran one of the best races in state history and captured his 400 hurdles in 51.04 seconds, but barely missed the Iowa all-time best of 50.96 set by Dustin Avey of Ames in 1996.

"I can't complain about a gold, but obviously I was looking for that record," said Dunn, who won his fifth state title. "I'm not making any excuses, but that inside lane, a little rainy weather - it wasn't helping me out."

Dunn ran in Lane 1, where he faced sharp turns in sloppy conditions from a day-long rain. Nonetheless, he clipped 37-hundredths of a second off his personal best and won easily.

Dunn became the first Class 4A athlete in state history with three gold medals in the 400 hurdles. He won the race as a sophomore, junior and senior.

"Getting the third one definitely feels pretty amazing," he said.

Dunn won the 400-meter dash for the second straight year Thursday and will be aiming for his first title in the 110 high hurdles Saturday. He'll also anchor Linn-Mar's shuttle hurdle relay as the Lions chase the Class 4A team championship.

There's a fierce race for the 4A title after 10 events. Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley are tied for first with 27 points and Linn-Mar is third with 26. Cedar Falls is fourth with 21 points and Cedar Rapids Prairie sits in fifth place with 20.

"It's going to take pretty much every point we can get from now on, and maybe some mistakes from the other big teams," Dunn remarked.

Linn-Mar might have ended the day in first place, but Nick Lucas quit the team last week in a disagreement with the coaching staff and scratched in the 400 hurdles Friday.

Dunn looked slightly disappointed when he crossed the finish line and realized he narrowly missed Iowa's all-time best in the event, but Foreman was the picture of complete happiness when she finished her race a few minutes later.

Foreman appeared to be stride-for-stride with Natalie Olberding on the homestretch, then reached back for something extra and pulled away.

"Something in me just snapped," she said, searching for an explanation. "I didn't know I had that. I didn't know I was going to run this race, especially in this weather."

Foreman revealed last week that she's dedicated the 400 hurdles to her grandfather all season. Edward Foreman lived in Illinois and never got to see his granddaughter run in high school, but his memory inspired her to win a state title.

"He sees me now," Brooke said. "He really does."

Foreman returned to the track Friday and qualified in fourth place for the 100 meter hurdles. The finals are today.

The Washington girls are in seventh place in the team standings with 18 points. Iowa City West is running away with the title with 59 markers.