Jasper County duo grabs state medals in shot put

DES MOINES — Baxter’s Will Clapper couldn’t hold back his emotions and Lynnville-Sully’s Rylan James was visibly upset with his performance, too.

In the end, both Clapper and James left Drake Stadium with state medals in the Class 1A boys’ shot put during the opening day of the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships on Thursday.

Clapper’s first throw of the evening was his best and it held up enough to net a fourth-place finish. James’ final throw of the preliminary round got him into finals, and he grabbed a seventh-place finish.

Both Jasper County athletes thought they could have done better. But leaving with state medals is nothing to be upset about.

“I knew my first throw would get to me to finals. I was just chasing it. I wasn’t going for another 50, I was trying to get a big one,” Clapper said.

James added, “It feels really good especially because my first two throws were not good at all. I wouldn’t have made finals with either of those, not even close. I felt relieved to get that 48-11 to sneak in.”

Clapper entered the finals in third place with his throw of 50 feet, 6 inches.

James needed a toss of 48-11 1/2 to get into the finals and that put him seventh with three throws to go.

Clapper wound up falling down to fourth. He scratch three of his six throws. His other two tosses were 49-7 1/2 and 49-0.

“The last one came off my palm. The other two throws that went out of bounds, I wasn’t turning my foot enough,” said Clapper, who was the runner-up in 1A last year. “It was little things today. I just tried to lay it all out there and throw it as far as I could.”

James’ first two throws covered 46-3 1/2 and 45-0. It took a 48-2 to reach finals and his 48-11 1/2 did that on his third attempt. His final three throws were all under 47 feet.

It was James’ first state medal. And the first points of the week for the Hawks, who expect to compete for a team trophy.

“I have been here three years in a row. Most of my throws aren’t great here,” James said. “I usually pull one out that I can use, but I have yet to throw my best here. Today’s throws actually felt good. They just weren’t going.

“All the pressure released there. My main goal was to get in the finals and I did that.”

The most controversial event of the day came in the 1A boys 3,200-meter run. That race featured Baxter’s Logan Berg.

The controversy came when an official at the finish line rang the bell lap with two laps to go. Eleven of the top 12 runners stopped after seven laps but the race wasn’t finished yet.

Berg used all of his energy on what he thought was the final 200 meters. Instead, he had one more lap to go. So instead of finishing in the top 10, he fell back to 11th.

However, after a coaches meeting, the Iowa High School Athletic Association made a decision to make the race official after seven laps. That gave Berg his ninth-place finish.

“I thought I ran a 9-minute race. Obviously we were all off a lap,” Berg said. “When I came around for the sixth lap, I saw a two so I just figured I had two laps left. I went around again and I heard the bell.”

The IHSAA issued a statement after the race.

“The race’s official results will be based on the runners’ placements after seven laps, when most participants appeared to consider the race over. The IHSAA has decided to not rerun the race given Thursday’s race conditions and the challenging schedules of the race’s participants for the remainder of the weekend. The bell was incorrectly rung after the race’s sixth lap, as all runners were competing on the lead lap.”

There were no times recorded for the race. LeMars Gehlen Catholic’s Will Roder was leading the race after seven laps but finished fourth after eight. George-Little Rock’s Joe Anderson continued to run after seven laps and won the race.

After the meeting with officials, Roder was awarded the win and Anderson finished second.

“I have one more year so I am not too upset about it,” Berg said. “I don’t pay attention to how many laps I have left. I just know that when they shoot the gun or ring the bell, I have one lap left.”

The next best finish for Baxter came in the boys 4x800 relay. The team of Rory Heer, Ian Thomson, Josh Bruntz and Berg finished 15th with a time of 8 minutes, 39.29 seconds.

Thomson, Bruntz and Berg were in the relay last year at state and finished 24th.

“It was hot, but we ran pretty good,” Thomson said. “We could have ran better, but the heat was tough to run in. We were only one second off our qualifying time and that was in optimal weather.”

Earlham won the 4x800 relay one year after placing third. The Cardinals finished in 8:07.10.

Brenna Thomson and Lauren Ratliff also ran in one final race together on Thursday. Both were in the 1A girls 3,000. Brenna Thomson was 19th in 12:21.35 and Ratliff finished 23rd in 12:35.91.

Emma Lucas of Bedford defended her 3K title, winning in 10:20.66.

Berg and Bruntz run again on Saturday. Both are in the 800 at 11:10 a.m. on Saturday and Berg competes in the 1,600 at 2:15 p.m.