The buses heading to the Iowa State Track and Field meet in Des Moines this month will be packed tight after a high number of area athletes qualified with their performances at the various district meets on Thursday. At the Class 3A meet hosted by MOC-Floyd Valley, Spirit Lake Park finished second as a team with 111 points, 36 behind overall team champ Bishop Heelan. Spencer took seventh with 63.5 points. The Indians tallied six district champions, with Alec Baldwin’s twin killing of the 800m (1:59.48) and 1600m (4:33.44) runs. Kevin Martinson was also first to cross the tape in the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.68. SLP will have three relay teams at Drake Stadium after first place finishes. The 4x400m (Martinson, Aric Waltz, Luke Kabele, Kayne Feldick) ran a time of 3:32.99, the 4x800m (Will Norris, Feldick, Baldwin, Keith Byers) finished in 8:10.09, and the medley relay (Kabele, Mychal Sheridan, Feldick, Baldwin) completed their race in 3:38.04. Spirit Lake Park had five more individual state qualifiers with second and third place finishes at districts. Aric Waltz took the silver in the 400m hurdles (57.06), as did Keith Byers in the 1600m (4:38.31). Byers will also run in the 800m after taking third (2:03.30). Other third place qualifiers include Luke Kabele in the 200m (23.30) and Dalton Kelley in the discuss (153’02”).
As for the girls of Spirit Lake Park, they placed sixth as a team with 74 points. Bishop Heelan was first with 142, and Spencer tallied 131 for a third place finish. Individually, the Indians qualified four athletes for state in Class 3A. Kendra Stokke won the district title in the 400m hurdles with a time of 70.28 seconds. Dondi Schmidt placed second in the 1500m (5:23.16), while bronze medals went to Briana Brunsvold in the 3000m (11:35.37) and Molly Hutchins in the shot put (34’5.25”).
Okoboji competed in the Class 2A district meet in Cherokee, and the boys were 24 points behind champion KP-WC (117) in the race for the team title. Estherville-Lincoln Central wound up tenth (38) and Sibley-Ocheyedan eleventh (26). Zach Jones enjoyed a successful meet, taking the title in the 110m hurdles (14.97), while also qualifying in the 400m hurdles with a second place time (55.92). Brian Dubois stood atop the medal stand in the high jump at 6’3”. The Pioneers had three relay teams crowned as district champs and qualify for state. They include the 4x800m (Austin Millard, Joe Hilsabeck, Taylor Cody, Jordan Hanna) running a time of 8:22.12, the distance medley (Alex Koepp, Gabe Goehring, Dubois, Millard) finishing in 3:44.77, and the 4x110m shuttle hurdle relay (Dubois, Koepp, Dalton Syverson, Jones), which ran a time of 1:00.24. Alex Koepp will also compete at state as an individual, as he took third in the 100m (11:70) and in the long jump (20’9”).
The Okoboji girls will send one individual and one relay team to Des Moines following Thursday’s Class 2A district meet. Darby Jones high jumped 4’10” to place third, while the 4x200m relay team of Jordan Duncan, Devan Hanna, Bryanna Wittrock, and Taylor Poppema also grabbed bronze with a time of 1:50.92. As a team, Okoboji tallied 38 points to finish ninth in the team standings. Western Christian won the district crown with 110.5 points, followed by Sibley-Ocheyedan (102) in second. Estherville-Lincoln Central was fourth (81).
In Class 1A, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn qualified five athletes at the meet hosted by North Sentral Kossuth/Armstrong-Ringsted. Justin Wohlert and Matt Benz both earned spots at state in the long jump for the boys, while Sarah Ney (100m and 200m), Brenna Sweeney (400m), and Caroline Knoblock (3000m) will all run at Drake Stadium. Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire’s Colton Bakken will compete at state in the shot put.
The Iowa State Track and Field Championships will be held May 19-21 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. KUOO Campus Radio will have live updates all three days.
