A number of area schools competed at the Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) indoor track and field championships last week.
The Denver boys team finished second as a team in class 2A, the Waverly-Shell Rock boys finished fifth in class 3A, and the W-SR girls finished 13th in class 3A.
Although high school indoor track and field does not have its own season in the state of Iowa, the meet acts as the unofficial championship for those looking to take home some hardware.
With more than 200 schools represented across four classes, the meet is an early look at what fans and teams could expect when the official state track and field tournament comes in May.
The best team performance came via the Denver boys team, who scored 42 points to finish second in class 2A. The best performance for the team came in the 4x800 meter relay, in which the team placed first. That relay team consisted of Jesse Gomez, Ethan Doty, Caden Knoblock and Myles Matthias.
Placing second at the meet was the 4x400 meter relay. With a time of 3:32.73, the team consisting of Gomez, Jackson Schoville, Trevor Baas and Ethan Reiter finished about three seconds ahead of third place and three seconds behind first.
Denver Head coach Rhett Barrett praised his distance relays after the meet.
“Our distance guys are a phenomenal group. They’re the same ones who got fourth at the state cross country meet. They just can run, they work well together, and they know how to compete," said Barrett.
Cameron Ledoux finished in third in the 200 meter dash at the event. The returning state qualifier finished with a time of 22.89, just 16 hundredths of a second off of first place.
Jackson Joerger continued his impressive start to his sophomore season. After placing second in the event at the Wartburg indoor invitational, Joerger placed fourth in the 60 meter hurdles at the event.
Barrett spoke on the improvements Joerger has made from last year.
“He has really matured from last year. Being the starting quarterback [for the Cyclone football team] and then starting on the basketball team in the fall, he’s had a lot of experience now that a lot of sophomores don’t get. He’s a really good athlete, and he has a lot of good talent in the hurdles,†said Barrett.
Also placing fourth for the Cyclones was Will Lockhart in the shot put. Lockhart finished with a longest shot of 48 feet, roughly a foot and a half short of his shot at last year’s state meet that placed him 13th.
“Will is finding his groove. He’s dealt with a sore hamstring, so he couldn’t quite put it all out there in the shot put. But for him to be at 80% and still throw 48 feet, that’s a sign that you have a really good thrower, and he hasn’t had a chance to show people what he can do in the discus yet either,†said Barrett.
The Cyclones had two points finishers in the 800 meter run. Gomez placed fifth with a time of 2:04.45, and Doty placed sixth with a time 2:05.17. The duo pulled in seven team points in the event.
Reiter finished eighth in the 400 meter dash. The returning 200 meter dash state qualifier finished with a time of 52.44.
In the 1600 meter run, Knoblock finished just shy of a points scoring position. He finished ninth with a time of 4:51.13, roughly five and a half seconds off of eighth.
Barrett also talked about his team’s overall performance and the importance of the meet.
“A lot of the teams that we saw down there are ones that we are going to see in May. So it’s a good opportunity to see what other teams have as well as what [your own team] has.
“Our kids are runners, so it doesn’t take much to get them prepared for a meet like this. We still have to work better on the fundamentals: cardio, getting out of the blocks, and all that other stuff. But it was a neat thing for us to go down there and get second,†Barrett said.
The Denver girls team was also in attendance at the event. They did not have any points finishes, with their best finishes coming from Maryn Laures in the 400 meter dash, where she placed 20th and Avery Trunkhill in the 1500 meter run, where she also placed 20th.
With 41 team points, the W-SR boys placed fifth at the meet. The team took home first in three events: the long jump, the shuttle hurdle, and the 4x400 meter relay.
In the long jump, Rylan Peters won by more than a foot by jumping a 21-02.25. That is the same mark that netted Peters second place a week prior at the Wartburg invitational.
W-SR Head coach Cal Twait spoke on Rylan’s performance at the meet, as well as what can be expected from him the rest of the year.
“Rylan is a very gifted athlete, and long jump is something he’s very passionate about. He’s a super springy kid; he’s long, fast, and athletic. When he puts it all together he has the ability to go far.
“Last year as a sophomore he was jumping [21 feet] pretty much every meet, and then his season got cut short because of an injury. So he is very determined this season to make up for some lost time. I think he’s really excited for the opportunity to do really well this year,†Twait said about Peters.
The boys shuttle hurdle, consisting of Nolan Johnson, Zander Christensen, Marquis Olson and Jayden Stephens, finished with a time of 34.2 seconds to take first in the event.
Stephens and Foster, joined by Nolan Foster and Sam Wilson, also took first in the 4x400 relay. The group set a new top time in the state of Iowa with a 3:28.25.
Foster, who had been struggling with illness the week leading up to last week’s Wartburg invite, was not yet quite up to speed according to Twait.
“[Nolan and I] talked after the event, and he said that [his legs] died out at the end of the event. He hasn’t been able to train as much or as hard as he’s wanted to the last week and a half, but in the first 350 meters of the race he looked like himself,†said Twait.
“For [Nolan and Sam] to be running in the 52 second range on an indoor track is really remarkable. They are two really great leaders for our team, and they’re two guys that do things the right way. So it’s great to see them have their success,†Twait added.
Austin Soldswich finished third in the 3200 meter run with a time of 10:03.09. It’s the first competitive 3200 meter run of the year for Soldswich, who finished 10th in the event at the state tournament last year with a 9:38.63.
Both Sam Wilson and Nolan Foster turned in another double points finish for the team in the 400 meter dash. Wilson finished fifth with a 52.09 second run, and Foster finished eighth with a 52.87. The pair totalled five points in the event for the team.
Gael Portillo finished just outside of the points in the high jump for the Go-Hawks. Portillo had a 5-07 jump, a three inch improvement from what he jumped at the Wartburg invitational, to finish ninth.
Coach Twait gave his assessment of the meet, as well as the importance of his guys performing well at the meet.
“There isn’t as many events [at indoor meets] and some of the events are a little different. But we got to see 75-80% of programs [in class 3A] were at the meet, and so a wide margin of them had their best athletes participating. There’s some that were still competing at state basketball and some that were just a little too far to make the trip, but by and large we saw a really good field [of competition].
“It’s a really good measuring stick for us, and it’s good to see guys that have been working hard in the offseason and in the early parts of practice get rewarded,†Twait detailed.
Finally, the W-SR girls finished with 23 team points to finish in 13th in class 3A. Their best finish came in the 800 meter sprint medley, where they placed second.
The sprint medley team consisted of Madison Englin, Anika Wrage, Gracie Hagarty, and Harper Graff. The group finished with a time of 1:54.1, about two and a half tenths off of first place.
Also scoring points in the relays was the girls shuttle hurdle. The team consisting of Rhett Dahlquist, Amalia Djoumessi, Rachel Foster, and Delilah Kroymann finished with a time of 41.27.
Head coach Lance Williamson spoke on the performance of his shuttle hurdle team.
“We haven’t gotten to work a ton of technique in the hurdles. We still need to get outside and get our legs underneath us in that event. So to see the performances we turned out was really awesome to see. It’s a testament to our girls. Given the amount of work we’ve put in compared to other schools, to be where we’re at says a lot about our girls.â€
Individually, Jocelyn Endelman placed third in the high jump. Edelman had a highest jump of 5-03, three inches higher than her state tournament jump which earned her 12th place.
In addition to her points finish in the spring medley, Djoumessi finished fifth in the 400 meter dash. Djoumessi ran a 1:01.51, roughly two seconds off of first place.
Coach Williamson talked about his team’s performance at the meet.
“It was a really fun Friday night, and I think it’s something that we needed as a program to show ourselves what we’re capable of and that we can compete with the best. There’s plenty to build and improve upon, but I’m super proud of them.
“We have a lot of girls that compete in a lot of other sports, and aren’t necessarily training just for track. So seeing us be able to compete, and realize that we can be amongst the best was great for our team,†said Williamson.
With temperatures slowly increasing, focus now shifts to the outdoor track, where races will be faster, and athletes will have to compete against the elements in order to come out on top.
