March 28, 2024

Photo finishes give CMB boys two silvers

DES MOINES — Enduring one heartbreaking photo finish at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships is hard enough.

But Collins-Maxwell/Baxter senior Bryce Kemp had to do it twice.

After anchoring the Raiders’ shuttle hurdle relay team to a silver medal by .03 seconds, Kemp ran side-by-side with West Burlington-Notre Dame’s Jacob Smith for most of the Class 2A 110-meter high hurdle final and both crossed in 14.86 seconds. The win, however, was given to Smith by the slightest of margins, 14.851 to 14.856.

In the 2A boys shuttle hurdle relay, CMB’s foursome of Kyle Cather, Brady Stover, Joey Nissen and Kemp settled for second despite smashing the school record with a time of 57.52 seconds.

The Raiders led most of the way, but Camanche got a fantastic anchor leg from Thomas Brantley to propel the Indians to the win in 57.49.

“They ran their butts off, and I tried my hardest but that Camanche kid had too good of a finish,” Kemp said. “We wanted to come out first. Brantley closed well. He had a great race.”

For Kemp, it ends a stellar high school career. The future Division I football player won the 110 high hurdles as a sophomore and was runner-up in 2014 and 2015. He also picked up multiple state medals in the shuttle hurdle and long jump.

The narrow losses will hurt for a while, but Kemp will eventually be able to reflect on what he accomplished.

“I had a great high school career. It’s over now,” Kemp said. “My friends and I will have a lot of memories to talk about. It’s time to turn my focus to football now.”

Nissen and Kemp were both part of last year’s seventh-place finish in the shuttle hurdle. The Raiders barely missed out on qualifying for the Drake Relays and had the fastest times in both the 2A state qualifiers (58.21) and in Thursday’s preliminaries (58.49).

“We lost two guys from that team so we weren’t sure where we going to be this year,” Nissen said. “We had two guys really step up and help us. We were hoping to win it this year, but they ran well and we ran a second faster than normal. We did get a medal, and that’s all that really matters.”

Cather, Stover and Nissen put CMB out in front with only Kemp to go. That usually means the Raiders will come out on top, but Brantley’s improbable final leg caught the Baxter senior at the line.

Kemp, though, thought he still had the win.

“I didn’t expect him to chase me down. I thought I got him at the finish but I guess not,” Kemp said.

It was a busy weekend for the Raiders.

Junior Hunter Gunderson returned home with a state meet medal as he placed seventh in the 2A boys high jump.

But it wasn’t the finish that Gunderson was most happy with, it was the personal-best leap of 6 feet, 3 inches that gave him the biggest smile.

“I don’t even know what place I got,” Gunderson said after he was eliminated from the high jump. “I am just happy that I got 6-3. I had more adrenaline today than normal. I think that helped get me to the mark.”

Prairie City-Monroe senior Skyler Koder also competed in the high jump.

His best mark was 5-11 and he placed 21st overall. Winning the event with a jump of 6-11 was West Burlington-Notre Dame’s Jeff Giannettino.

Smith of West Burlington-Notre Dame didn’t only defeat Kemp over the weekend. He also won the 2A boys 400 hurdles in 52.64.

Running in that event with Smith was Cather. The Raider senior was 19th overall as he crossed the line in 57.01.

Clayton Weltha made his second and final appearance at state in the discus.

Unfortunately, Weltha didn’t have his best, finishing 19th with a throw of 142-6.

Tristen Wirfs of Mount Vernon won the event with a throw of 167-3.

Wirfs was a runner-up at Mount Vernon’s state qualifier but threw 12 feet further to claim the win.

Weltha was unhappy with his effort. But he finished the season at the state meet after beginning it with academic issues.

“I wasn’t pushing hard enough. Maybe I was a little scared. I don’t know. I only gave great effort on the final throw,” said Weltha, whose best throw of the season would have netted him seventh place. “Being a conference champion was nice. I gave it a good run.

“I ruined a lot of chances that I would have had though when I couldn’t throw the first part of the season. You get what you deserve and that’s what I deserved.”

Kemp ran faster in the finals Saturday then he did when he won the title in 2013.

Friday, Kemp entered the finals with the third-best time from the preliminaries.

Brantley had the best qualifying time but settled for third in the finals. Smith was .08 seconds faster than Kemp in the preliminaries.

CMB finished eighth in the team race with 23 points. West Burlington/Notre Dame claimed the championship in dominant fashion. It scored 107 points and was nearly 50 points ahead of runner-up Kingsley-Pierson/Woodury Central (58).

Albia won a trophy, too, finishing third with 43 points.