DES MOINES, Iowa — Four Ames seniors ended their high school track careers together Saturday at the 2026 Iowa high school state track and field championships at Drake Stadium, finishing eighth in the 4A 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:57.31.
Sophia Hatcher, Angelica Attinger, Natalya Deardorff and Brenna Van Cleave crossed the line in their final bow for Ames High, a race that capped a meet filled with podium finishes and personal bests for the group. Hatcher also placed third in the 100 hurdles with a PR of 14.17 on Saturday, one day after setting a school record in the long jump with an 18 feet, 11.5 inches leap that earned second place in 4A. Attinger added a third-place finish in the 400 hurdles on May 22 in 1:01.89, while Van Cleave was 10th in the same event in 1:03.60 and Deardorff finished 15th in the 400 prelims in 59.85.
The seniors were part of more than one strong Ames relay showing. Hatcher, Attinger, Van Cleave and Elia Varghese took fifth in the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:03.22, and Ames' 4x400 team finished sixth on Saturday in a season-best 3:21.79. On the boys side, Ames senior Brandon Johnson also placed third in the shot put on May 22, adding another top-three finish for the program during the two-day meet.
For Van Cleave, the meet carried the weight of years spent together. She said it was really special to be with the other seniors, and said the group had been running together since seventh grade. Hatcher said all four years had been amazing and called her teammates family. Deardorff said running with the girls had been amazing and admitted through tears that she was sad to leave them after such a big impact on her life at Ames High.
The group’s next steps split in different directions. Hatcher and Deardorff will run at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attinger will continue at the University of Chicago in Illinois, and Van Cleave is not continuing her track career in college as she prepares to attend Iowa State University. The final meet showed both the depth of Ames’ senior class and the reach of a program that kept delivering on the state stage when it mattered most.
