C-M’s Lietz takes over district lead in 400

MARTENSDALE — Jacob Lietz is hitting his stride at the right time of the year.

Running more than a full second faster than his previous career-best performance, the Tigerhawks junior moved into the district lead in the 400-meter dash Thursday and his gold medal was the lone victory for the Colfax-Mingo boys track and field team.

Lietz won the 400 with personal-best time of 52.30 seconds and those 10 points led the Tigerhawks to a fifth-place finish in the 10-team field.

Colfax-Mingo scored 67 points on the night. It trailed fourth-place Pleasantville by just a point and third-place Interstate 35 was seven points clear of the Tigerhawks. Gilbert won the meet with 158 points, while Mount Ayr was second with 100.

“Jake Lietz was an animal for us tonight,” Colfax-Mingo coach Matt Barkalow said. “He seized the district lead and set a new PR by more than a full second.”

Lietz was a part of two of the Tigerhawks’ three second-place finishes, too.

He anchored the 4x400 to the silver and ran the 400 leg of the distance medley relay team that also was runner-up.

The 4x400 team of Blake Summy, Gabe Simpson, Jared Myers and Lietz hit the line in 3 minutes, 37.81 seconds, which now ranks 10th in Class 1A.

Summy also started the distance medley relay. He handed to Colin Lourens before Lietz and Simpson finished things off in 3:59.03.

Lourens grabbed the other second-place finish with a leap of 18 feet, 11 inches in the long jump.

“Colin continues to have a super season for us,” Barkalow said. “Summy, Simpson, Myers and Lietz were all men with their efforts in the 4x400 relay. I was incredibly proud of all my boys tonight.”

Summy gave the Tigerhawks a 1-3 finish in the 400. The junior finished his quarter in 53.60 seconds and the 4x200 relay team of Lourens, Myers, Alan Wheeler and Simpson was fourth in 1:41.02.

Fifth-place finishes went to Richard Blom in the 110-meter high hurdles as well as the shuttle hurdle relay team and the 4x800 relay team.

The shuttle hurdle foursome included Lourens, Blom, Sean Borts and Myers and they hit the line in 1:10.20. The 4x800 team of Simpson, Clayton Brown, Adam Teed and Cameron Warner stopped the clock in 9:24.

The Tigerhawks return to action at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. They will be at PCM’s home meet at 5 p.m. Thursday.