Sports : Track tradition: Daughter of Vinton native follow's mom's example, sets middle school records

Ella Lampe, left, continues the winning middle school tradition begun by her mom, Amber (Lucas) Lampe. Twenty-nine years after Amber (Lucas) Lampe set an 8th grade record for Vinton Middle School track, she is watching her daughter help set records of her own. In 1988, Amber, the daughter of Steve and Joyce Lucas of Vinton, set a Vinton Middle school record in the 200 meter hurdles event, a record that she held until 2007. That was the last year before the Vinton and Shellsburg schools merged districts and teams. Now, Amber and her husband, Chuck, who was also a track athlete, are watching their daughter, Ella,beginning to set records of her own. Ella, a 7th-grader at Dallas Center-Grimes, and her 4 x 400 relay team, set a new record earlier this month at the Mike Henderson middle school track meet in Ankeny. Her team finished in a time of 4:23, seven seconds faster than the previous records. She was also a member of the sprint medley team which won its event at that meet. Her 4 x 400 team also set a new conference meet record later in the season. Long-time VS Middle School coach Don Lyle remembered Amber as a talented athlete who held that 200M hurdle record for several years. Coach Lyle looked up the old records to discover that Amber had set the 8th grade record of 31.41 in the 200 meter hurdles in 1988 and held that record until it was broken in 2007. The Henderson Meet is named in honor of Mike Henderson, who was very instrumental in keeping records of Iowa track meets for years, before schools and athletes relied on computerized systems and Quikstatsiowa.com for information.