Marvelous Mustang: Anderson sprints to gold in 200-m dash

DES MOINES — Prairie City-Monroe senior Noah Anderson was worried about his hamstring after claiming the silver medal in the 100-meter dash on Saturday at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium.

He was afraid he re-aggravated an injury that forced him to miss about two weeks of action this season.

Turns out, the hamstring was just fine. Or Anderson was able to gut out one of the best performances of his career during the 200 dash later in the day.

Anderson capped an impressive Mustang career with a state championship gold medal in the 200.

His teammate, junior Preston Van Wyk, wasn’t very far behind in both sprinting events as the PCM boys’ track team had a program-best finish in Class 2A on the blue oval.

“This feels great. This is what I have been working for. This is what we have been working for,” Anderson said. “I am just glad I could get it done in my last race.”

Two weeks before the state meet, PCM coach Collin Harrison was unsure what his two best sprinters would be able to do. Both Anderson and Van Wyk suffered hamstring injuries in the same race. They missed the conference meet and about two weeks of competition.

The injuries healed up in time to make a statement on the blue oval.

“Noah gets a ton of credit, and deservedly so, but Preston had one of the best seasons in school history, too,” Harrison said. “They go hand in hand. They both have the same desire and same grit, and they both did something special this weekend.”

The duo played a big role in PCM scoring 35 points in the team standings. The fifth-place finish in 2A was the best in school history.

Anderson was the state champion in the 200 and finished second in the 100. Van Wyk grabbed the bronze in the 200 and took fourth in the 100.

They also teamed up with juniors Payton Strovers and Wes Cummings to finish third in the 4x200 relay.

The foursome set a new school-record and ran their best time of the season when they hit the finish line in 1 minute, 31.09 seconds.

“We thought we’d have a chance to win if we ran well,” Harrison said. “I can’t complain about setting a school record and running our fastest time.”

Anderson and Van Wyk both set up their big weekends with strong performances in Thursday’s preliminaries.

Anderson had the fastest 200 time in the prelims, and Van Wyk qualified in the final spot. Van Wyk ended up third in the finals running out of the outside lane, the same lane Anderson ran in last year when he finished fourth.

The 200 was supposed to be a showdown between Anderson and defending champion Gage Clay of AHSTW. However, Clay was not at full strength after injuring his hamstring during the 4x100 relay.

Clay walked his entire 200 and finished eighth. That made Anderson the heavy favorite to win his first title. His start wasn’t great, and it took him about 130 meters to pull away from two-time 100 champion Tanner Iske of West Liberty.

Anderson won the 200 in 21.79 seconds. He tied his own school record with a 21.66 in the prelims. Iske was the runner-up in 22.07 and Van Wyk grabbed the bronze in 22.57.

“This was a great day. Noah has been working for this since junior high,” Van Wyk said. “We both ran together then and I can remember both of us saying we wanted to be state champs some day. Dream come true for him.”

Anderson and Iske flip flopped in the 100. Iske won the race in 10.58, but Anderson was second 10.93. He edged Emmetsburg’s Blake Vermulm, who was third in 10.96. Van Wyk was next with a time of 11.13.

“I am glad we came in here and placed where we did,” Van Wyk said. “We both moved up a spot from our preliminary races. We pushed ourselves on that one.”

Anderson’s hamstring was not feeling the best after his 100 final. But he gutted out the 200 the best he could.

There was a weather delay of about 2 hours and 12 minutes that may have helped Anderson recover in time for his final prep event.

“Noah wanted to race Gage, but he came into the state meet with faster times anyway,” Harrison said. “I think he still would have won. This was a special day for him. He was hungry. He had that taste in his mouth after last year.”

Anderson is the fifth male athlete to win an individual state track and field title and the first since Jordan Van Roekel won the 400 hurdles in 2011and 2012. Anderson and Van Roekel are the only two champions of the past 20 years.

“From where I was last year to where I finished today is a big improvement,” Anderson said. “All I ever hear is Gage Clay’s name. I hear his name a lot. I want to hear my name a lot, too. I want to be talked about, too. So I have been motivated to do what I can to get in front of him this year. It’s been a good battle this weekend.”

Clay and AHSTW claimed a state title in the 4x200 relay. They won the race in 1:29.97. Dyersville Beckman Catholic was the runner-up in 1:30.43. PCM actually finished fourth with its time of 1:31.09 but moved up to third after Woodward Academy was disqualified.

The final event of the day for PCM came in the 1,600 where freshman Beau Webb was making his state meet debut.

Webb finished 20th overall with a time of 4:44.49.

Pekin ran away with the 2A title, scoring 72 points. Mid-Prairie was the runner-up with 44 points, and Beckman scored 38 points in third. Carroll Kuemper Catholic was one point head of PCM in fourth.