Van Roekel, Zeiser end track careers with state titles

DES MOINES — Prairie City-Monroe senior Jordan Van Roekel let out a celebratory yell. Collins-Maxwell-Baxter senior Josh Zeiser quietly walked to the infield.

At that point, it didn’t matter how they reacted. The only thing that mattered is they had each just won a state championship.

Van Roekel won his second-straight Class 2A 400-meter hurdles championship on Friday while Zeiser claimed the 2A 110 hurdles to lead a busy weekend for Jasper County schools at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The PCM and CMB boys teams tied for seventh place with 28 points each.

PCM

The Mustangs got a second-place finish from the 4x400 relay team of seniors Andrew McCarthy, Sean O’Connor, Bo Clymer and Van Roekel, but it was the anchor of that relay that stole the show. Van Roekel’s victory in the 400 hurdles capped a senior season that featured falling one game short of state in football and one game into the state basketball tournament.

“My senior year has been quite a year, and this just kind of adds to our resume,” Van Roekel said. “In football and basketball we had a heck of a year, so fortunately I could just pull this one out and become a state champ again.”

Aside from Van Roekel’s fourth-place finish in the 400, PCM also had a fourth-place finish by the 4x100 team of O’Connor, McCarthy, Hutch Burns and Van Roekel. The Mustangs’ other state competitors included Sam Munson in the discus and the 4x800 team of Jake Van Wyk, Hunter Reed Ethan Kain and Jesse McAtee.

On the girls side, the Mustangs were led by sophomore Lexi Kain, who finished seventh in the 200 with a time of 27.83, and also appeared in the 400 and on the shuttle hurdle and 4x400 teams.

The shuttle hurdle team, consisting of Kain, Emma Williams, Macey Walker and Kelsey Townsend, finished its improbable run at state after losing member Shelby Palm to an injury earlier in the season.

“Shuttle went great and we had our best time of the season here,” Kain said. “We were originally seventh and went down to six, so we did pretty good.”

Other PCM appearances included freshman Rachel Peter in the 3,000, Mackenzie Clarke in the 100 and Townsend in the 100 hurdles. Sophomore Abbi Gilson also threw a personal-best 120-10 to finish 11th in the discus.

CMB

Zeiser was knocking at the door in his first two days of state, as he finished third in the long jump on Thursday and second to Van Roekel in the 400 hurdles on Friday. However, he finally broke through with his time of 14.58 in the 110 hurdles, which ended up being the second-fastest time in all four classes.

“I came out and ran my best time ever, but Jordan Van Roekel ran a heck of time,” Zeiser said of the 400 hurdles. “I wasn’t mad with my second-place finish behind him, but it definitely gave me a confidence booster. It was more relaxing and settling today after getting a few events out of the way.”

Sophomore Zach Samson, the Raiders’ only other boy qualifier, finished up with a fifth-place showing on Thursday, and since no Raider girl events qualified for Saturday’s finals, Zeiser was competing alone. However, a vocal group of CMB fans seated near the finish line helped him during and after the race.

“It’s awesome, it definitely helps having people down there cheering you on,” Zeiser said. “It gets your adrenaline flowing, and you definitely want to represent them and give them a good show.”

MacKenzie Schmitz got things started for the Raider girls with a 14th-place finish in the 200 on Thursday, and the rest of the qualifiers wrapped up on Friday. Alex Broderick competed in the high jump, while the shuttle hurdle team of Jenna Ziesman, Jenna O’Hara, Taylor Ross and Cierra Hayes took 18th and the 4x400 team of Schmitz, Anne Deutsch, Ashley Girard and Sarah Galbraith finished in 15th.

Lynnville-Sully

Lynnville-Sully only competed in a couple events at last year’s state track meet, and it brought a much larger contingent of athletes to Drake this time around. The Hawk boys ended up scoring the 13th-most total team points out 59 teams that scored at state.

No Lynnville-Sully individual or relay placed higher than sophomore Meliek Meyer, who capped off a stellar campain in the 100-meter with a second-place finish. After posting the second-best qualifying time on Thursday, Meyer repeated that mark on Saturday as the runner-up to East Mills’ Nick Pittman in 11.47 seconds.

That was on of Meyer’s three medals over the weekend, as he also was part of two relay teams that took fourth and sixth place, respectively. On Friday, he ran the second leg of the 4x200 relay that included brother Malin Meyer, Blake Dunsbergen and Bailee Samson). That foursome took fourth in a season-best 1:33.30. On Saturday, he anchored the 4x100 relay, which took sixth in a season-best 44.33 seconds. That team also included Malin Meyer, Samson and Caden Doll.

Also medaling for Lynnville-Sully was senior Chase Jansen, who ended his prep career by taking sixth in the 800 in a season-best 2:00.98. Jansen was a returning state qualifier. Junior Brady Van Wyk took 22nd in the high jump on Thursday at 5 feet, 8 inches.

For the girls, freshman Shelby Davis took 18th in the high jump on Friday at 4-10, while sophomore Alexa Vander Leest took 16th in the 1,500 on Saturday in 5:15.46.

Perhaps the only blemish of the Hawks’ state weekend was boys shuttle hurdle team of Nathan Russell, Van Wyk, Darin Hofer and Doll getting disqualified during its run in Saturday’s finals. Had the team not been disqualified, it would’ve had a season-best time that won the first heat of the competition.

“We knew it was going to be tough to get first or second because Earlham and Madrid are two great teams, so we just wanted to be up there with them and we certainly were,” Doll said. “I’m definitely proud of that right there.”

The Hawks were better known as the Mohawks for Saturday’s finals, as multiple members of the team sported the haircut with “L-S” emblazoned on the back of their heads.

“It was just kind of a late-night decision and we ran over to the local barber and got it cut real quick,” Doll said. “You’ve just got have fun with it. That’s the name of the game. You’re here to have fun and compete with other people, so it’s just a part of that.”

Colfax-Mingo

Colfax-Mingo’s top finisher of the weekend was junior Jaden Van Dyke, who took fourth in the 800 in 1:57.39 on Saturday. Using the strategy that earned him trips to both the state indoor and outdoor meets, Van Dyke used a strong second lap to pass multiple of his fellow runners down the front straightaway. His time was also a season-best.

“At the beginning of the year there wasn’t much competition in the eight, so I kind of had to lead, but I hate being the pace runner because I can’t feel myself wanting to go,” Van Dyke said. “So it’s definitely kind of my strategy to hang back and go.”

Also with a nice finish to the season was the Tigerhawk girls’ sprint medley relay team of senior Hailey Summy, sophomore Anna Baldwin, senior Katie Stuva and senior Meghan Parman, which took 12th in 1:57.47. Parman inherited the baton for the 800 leg of the race near the back of the pack, but managed to win the heat with an impressive effort down the home stretch.

“Beating that first couple girls around the curve was fine, but the top three of us were neck-and-neck for a while,” Parman said. “It was really hard, but I’m glad it’s over and I gave it my all. We were a lot better ranked this year versus last year, so that’s pretty exciting.”

Senior Gary Alexander competed in the discus on Friday, taking 22nd with a toss of 137 feet, 2 inches.