March 29, 2024

Relays top area boys’ performances at C-M Coed Indoor

GRINNELL — Relays were the biggest positives for area boys’ track and field teams at the 2nd Annual Colfax-Mingo Coed Indoor Meet on Thursday.

Baxter and Colfax-Mingo each won a relay and set a meet record in both events and Newton claimed two relay victories at Grinnell College.

Colfax-Mingo’s Zarek Hill and Baxter’s Logan Berg also each set a meet record in winning individual races.

The Cardinals won the shuttle hurdle and 4x200 relays. Jaden Dydell was on both teams for Newton.

The shuttle hurdle relay included Dydell, Gavin Urias, Gage Gomez and Nicholas Millbrooks, and they finished the relay in 40.89 seconds.

“It’s a process, and I am having fun with it. I am just taking it day by day and hope to get faster as I go,” Dydell said. “I want to give a shout out to my teammates. We ran well today.”

Dydell teamed with Dalton Altemeier, Reese Hammons and Nathaniel Maki to win the 4x200 relay in 1 minute, 47.32 seconds.

Baxter rallied to win the 4x800 relay. The Bolts’ foursome of Rory Heer, Ian Thomson, Josh Bruntz and Berg set a new meet record with a time of 9:04.54.

Berg finished Baxter’s come-from-behind win with a personal-best split of 2:08 on the final leg.

“I saw (Newton’s Treycen Garton) pull ahead, and if he would have gotten a little further ahead I am not sure I could have gotten it back,” Berg said. “But he started coasting so I tried to pass him on the corner and I was able to hold him off at the end.

“Josh had a great leg to get us into second. That gave me a chance. I think that relay is going to be good for us.”

Berg followed that win up with another victory in the 800, this time setting a new meet record in 2:11.92.

“I like where I am at right now. I didn’t expect to run a 2:08 indoors. It feels great,” Berg said.

Hill was part of both Colfax-Mingo wins. He first set a new meet record in the 400 with a time of 55.23.

“It’s nice to have my name up there. I would have liked to have gotten a better time in my final races here though,” Hill said. “There’s a strategy to run the 400 indoors. I am not sure what that is. I think I got out too fast. I just tried to keep that pace the whole time.”

The Tigerhawk senior then rallied his team to a win in the 4x400 relay. The foursome of Brady Berkey, Holister Koenig, A.J. Gibson and Hill crossed the finish line in a meet-record time of 3:49.28.

The Cardinals registered six top-three performances on the night — two of which came in the shot put.

Ben Peterson and Mason Lee finished second and third, respectively, in the shot put. Peterson claimed the silver with a toss of 45 feet, 9 1/4 inches. Lee was next with a throw of 45-6.

The other top-three individual finish came in the 1,600. Jackson Mace finished third with a time of 5:18.11.

The Cardinals’ 4x800 relay team was second behind Baxter. The foursome of Brennan Amos, Jackson Mace, Derek Beiner and Treycen Garton finished in 9:14.09.

The Tigerhawks were second or third in six other events. Five of those came from individuals.

In the high jump, Berkey was second with a leap of 5-10 and Gibson was third with a jump of 5-8. Both marks were personal-bests for their careers.

Berkey’s 5-10 tied for first but the Tigerhawk junior finished second because of more total misses.

Hill was the runner-up in the 60 high hurdles. His time of 9.08 seconds would have set a new meet record but Collins-Maxwell’s Brett Livesay edged him by .01 seconds at the finish line.

Holister Koenig took third in the long jump with a leap of 19-1 3/4 and Zach Steenhoek was third in the 400 with a time of 1:00.54.

The final top-three finish by the Tigerhawks came in the shuttle hurdle relay. Colfax-Mingo’s team of Berkey, Colton Hernandez, Justin Myers and Koenig were third in 44.39 seconds.

Baxter was second in two individual events and third in a pair of relays.

Bruntz finished between Hill and Steenhoek in the 400, finishing second with a time of 59.13 seconds. Thomson claimed the runner-up spot in the 1,600 with a time of 5:11.54.

The 4x200 and 4x400 relays were third.

The 4x200 relay team of Cole Damman, Nick Nelson, Andrew Esqueda and Dalton Heer finished in 1:48.39. The 4x400 foursome included Dalton Heer, Rory Heer, Damman and Berg, and they crossed the finish line in 3:54.12.

Baxter opens the outdoor season at Bondurant-Farrar at 4:45 p.m. on Monday in Bondurant. Colfax-Mingo kicks off its outdoor season at Pella Christian at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Pella.

Newton’s boys open the outdoor season at 11 a.m. on March 30 in Knoxville.