March 28, 2024

Field events, distance races lead Baxter track in outdoor opener

BONDURANT — Baxter’s track and field teams opened up their outdoor season on Monday, and the Bolts excelled in throwing events and distance races at Bondurant-Farrar High School.

Senior Will Clapper won the shot put and discus, junior Logan Berg was part of three wins and the Baxter boys won a pair of relays.

On the girls’ side, junior Amber Weltha got the Bolts’ only win. It came in the discus.

Baxter’s boys finished third in the four-team field with 107 points. Host Bondurant-Farrar was first with 173 and Winterset was second with 156. Saydel finished fourth with 106 points.

Clapper won the boys’ discus with a toss with a 138 feet, 9 inches. His winning throw in the shot put was 50-0.

Berg won the 1,600-meter run in 5 minutes, 1.58 seconds. Senior Ian Thomson was the runner-up in 5:07.04.

Berg’s win in the 3,200 was clocked at 10:44.21. Senior Josh Bruntz was fourth with a time of 11:43.91.

Bruntz and Thomson also were in the 800 and they went 2-3, respectively, with times of 2:21.10 and 2:23.67.

The Bolts won the distance medley and 4x400 relays.

In the distance medley, the foursome of junior Cole Damman, senior Dalton Heer, freshman Rory Heer and Berg won the race in 4:00.92.

The 4x400 relay team of Damman, Dalton Heer, Bruntz and Rory Heer claimed a win with a time of 3:56.11.

The 4x200 relay finished second. The team of Damman, Dalton Heer, senior Andrew Esqueda and Rory Heer finished in 1:45.60.

There was eight girls teams in the field, and Baxter was sixth with 45 points. Iowa Falls-Alden won the meet with 183.5 points. Bondurant-Farrar was second with 142 followed by Roland-Story (89), Boone (83.5) and Winterset (81). Saydel finished seventh with 17 points and the IF-A JV scored three points.

Weltha won the girls’ discus with a throw of 101-5. Senior Kaylin Van Ryswyk took third with a toss of 94-10 1/2.

Weltha also was third in the shot put with a heave of 32-1 1/4.

Seniors Brenna Thomson and Lauren Ratliff finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 3,000. Thomson finished in 12:19.81 and Ratliff came across the finish line in 12:20.17.

The Bolts’ 4x100 relay team was fourth. The foursome of junior Rachel Kenney, freshman Maggie Schabilion and juniors Andrea Brown and Emily Nation finished in 56.74 seconds.

Baxter’s track and field teams compete at Prairie City-Monroe at 4:30 p.m. on April 2 in Monroe.