Ogden’s Taydem Graden soared to gold in the girls’ long jump on the opening day of the Iowa High School Track & Field Championships Thursday, May 22, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
She claimed the Class 2A state title with a leap of 18 feet, 3.5 inches.
Graden also helped Ogden’s girls shuttle hurdle relay team qualify for the finals on Saturday, May 24, with a strong 8th-place finish in the preliminaries, clocking a time 108.80 seconds alongside teammates Aubrey Leonard, Alena Wilson, and Hazel Friedrichsen.
For the Ogden boys, Jude Benbow had a busy day, placing 9th in the boys 3200-meter run with a time of 9:54.33.
He also anchored the boys 4×800-meter relay team to a 17th-place finish in 8:21.04, joined by Brady Van Sickle, Myles Tromblay, and Thomas Bergstrom.
Ogden will continue competing in running and field events Friday morning.
Jill Lutz reporting
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