Storm Lake Girls Track Teams Compete at Audubon Invitational March 31

Silvia Kampbell stepped onto the track at Chis Jones Field in Audubon on March 31 carrying the kind of early-season confidence coaches prize: a victory. The Storm Lake distance runner had won the 800 meters at the Algona Indoor meet just weeks earlier, posting a time of 2:41.9 that placed her among the northwest Iowa athletes to watch as the outdoor circuit opened.

Storm Lake girls competed at the Audubon Invitational alongside a field that typically includes IKM-Manning, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Clarinda, Panorama, Underwood, Tri-Center, and Griswold. That mix of Class 1A and Class 2A programs makes Audubon one of the region's more competitive early-season tests, covering sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws, and distance events in a single afternoon at the same venue that has hosted Class 1A qualifying meets since at least 2021.

Kampbell is not the only Storm Lake name to track this spring. Mackenzie Harder appeared on the 2025 tentative state qualifier list in four events, the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, and long jump. Whether she is running at that level again this season will become clearer as the results from Audubon and subsequent invitationals populate the Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union's Bound tracking platform, which is audited every Tuesday during the regular season.

The qualifying math tightens quickly from here. Storm Lake competes in Class 3A, where the top two finishers in each event at a qualifying site, plus the next eight performances statewide, earn spots at the state meet. That meet is scheduled for May 21-23, 2026, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, with Class 3A running in the second session. The roughly seven weeks between the Audubon Invitational and the state qualifying window closing leaves little room for athletes still searching for a personal best.

For Kampbell, who also appeared on Storm Lake's 2025 state qualifier list in the 3000 meters, the goal is translating an indoor win into outdoor marks that hold up against statewide competition. Her Audubon performance is an early data point in that effort, and coaches and fans will track her Bound rankings each Tuesday as the season builds toward Drake Stadium.