Graber’s title headlines historic state meet for PCM boys

DES MOINES — Riley Graber put himself into the conversation of winning a state title in the 400-meter dash when he broke 50 seconds and placed fourth at the Drake Relays back in April.

The PCM senior made the state championship a reality on Thursday when he went under 49 seconds for the first time.

But it was just the beginning of an historic weekend for the PCM boys track and field team.

“I couldn’t be prouder of what the boys accomplished this weekend and the whole season,” PCM head boys track and field coach Logan Bieghler said. “We entered the weekend qualifying in 13 events, we medaled in nine of them and we set six school records.”

Qualifying in 13 events and placing in nine of them are both the most in school history.

The Mustangs also finished sixth in the final Class 2A standings and scored 34 points, which is the second-best finish and the second-most points scored at the state meet in school history.

Graber left the blue oval inside Drake Stadium with the lone championship, but the Mustangs finished third in the sprint medley relay, took fourth in the shuttle hurdle relay and placed fifth in the distance medley and 4x400 relays.

“The boys handled themselves with class, attacked each event and represented PCM to the fullest,” Bieghler said. “The grit and determination they showed all weekend long was absolutely incredible.”

Graber kicked off the big weekend with a gold-medal performance in the 400-meter dash. He won the race in a school-record time of 48.99 seconds. Seven different runners broke 50 seconds and Okoboji’s Evan Osler took second out of the second heat with a time of 49.13.

Graber’s other individual event was the 200. He advanced to the finals after placing fourth in the prelims with a time of 22.16. He ended up seventh in the finals though with a 22.44.

Treynor’s Cauy Konz won the 2A 200 in 21.7 and the final qualifying time was 22.29.

“I’ve put my whole life into this, and to leave my mark like that is all I could have wished for,” Graber said. “This place has given me everything I have, and I couldn’t be more thankful for it. And I’m just really happy to leave my mark in a great way.”

The next best finish came in an event Graber anchored. The sprint medley relay team of Evan Jones, Adrien Robbins, Tad Wilson and Graber finished third in a school-record time of 1 minute, 32.89 seconds.

Grundy Center won the sprint medley relay in 1:31.84.

Jones said the Mustangs came into the day thinking they had a quartet who could win the event, but he felt like it was just an off day despite setting the school record.

“It definitely was kind of an off day for us,” Jones said. “But you can’t be mad at first place at the state meet as much as we want to be. You can’t be at the point. I bet you know, 24 of the best teams are in this, and we come out third. That’s pretty incredible.”

The lone fourth-place finish came in the shuttle hurdle relay. The Mustangs qualified for the finals with a time of 1:00.72 in the prelims. They moved up from sixth to fourth in the finals after posting a school-record time of 1:00.22.

That foursome featured Jaden Houser, Jake Winters, Robbins and Gavin Van Gorp, and the team ran a faster time in fourth this season than PCM ran when it won the championship two seasons ago.

“It’s a blessing just to be here with these guys,” Houser said. “We did what we came to do. By the end of the day, we wanted to PR and break the school record. We knew there were some cats in 2A. We knew they’d bring it so it was all about working against ourselves and doing the best we could.”

The Mustangs also placed fifth and set school records in the distance medley and 4x400 relays.

Robbins, Tad Wilson, Coby DeRaad and Kash Fischer posted a school-record time of 3:34.3.

It took a 3:35.65 to grab the final medal and Okoboji won the race in 3:30.03.

“It feels good, but I’m not too happy,” Robbins said. “I want to be on the podium in the top three. We did PR and got the school record. It’s a good day, but you always want to win and do better.”

It was the first state medal for Wilson, Fischer and DeRaad. Fischer is the only one who agreed with Robbins about the final result. He thought he could have ran a faster split to improve the final time, but DeRaad doesn’t know what else could have been done besides that.

“It feels good. All the hard work paid off and I think we peaked at the right time, which is good,” DeRaad said. “We tried our hardest. I don’t know what else we can do. It sucks we didn’t have the results we wanted, but we gave it all we had.”

The 4x400 relay team of DeRaad, Fischer, Robbins and Graber broke a school record that was set in 2012 by Sean O’Connor, Andrew McCarthy, Bo Clymer and Jordan Van Roekel.

The current Mustangs posted a school-record time of 3:22.82 in the finals and placed fifth. They also were fifth in the prelims with a time of 3:23.76. Okoboji won the race in 3:16.41.

Two other Mustangs grabbed their first state medals in the 4x100 relay. The foursome of Lewis Daye, Jones, Finn Wilson and Tad Wilson placed eighth in both the prelims and finals. They went 43.46 in the prelims and then posted a time of 43.73 in the finals.

Other than Graber, Van Gorp and Alex Wendt grabbed individual medals at the state meet.

Van Gorp placed eighth in the 110 high hurdles after a disappointing run in the finals. But he set a new school record in the prelims to advance to the finals.

His school-record time of 14.84 pushed him into the finals, but he went 15.07 in the finals and settled for the final state medal.

Van Gorp did not have much time between the shuttle hurdle relay final and the 110 high hurdles final on Saturday. He said that may have played a factor in going slower and placing lower.

“My legs are pretty heavy after the shuttle hurdle,” Van Gorp said. “I gave it my all in that one, and we got the school record. We wanted to place a little higher but it was our best time ever.”

The school record Van Gorp broke in the 110 high hurdles had stood since 1991 when Jeff Stock ran 14.99.

Winters also competed in the 110 high hurdles and placed 11th with a time of 15.55 in the prelims. It took a 15.24 to advance to the finals and Treynor’s Brady Wallace won the race in 13.91.

“I’m pretty proud. I was seeded fourth coming into districts,” Winters said. “I ran easily my best time there just to get here. It was amazing. Running as an individual is a crazy experience.”

The final medalist was Wendt, who placed eighth in the 2A boys discus on Thursday.

He advanced to the finals with a 147 feet, 7 inches on his very first throw at the state meet and it held up all the way through the finals. Wendt also had tosses 143-0 and 144-0 in the prelims before throwing 142-10 in the finals.

Van Gorp just missed a medal in the long jump as he was ninth with a leap of 20-11.

That mark was his first two leaps of the day and he also had jumps of 20-7, 20-1 1/2 and 20-0 3/4. The top nine performers in the prelims of the long jump, shot put and discus advance to the finals, but only the first eight earn medals.

Van Gorp was sitting eighth heading into the finals but dropped down one spot following finals.

The final relay for the Mustangs came in the 4x800. The foursome of DeRaad, Joe Shaver, Carson Hansen and Fischer posted a time of 8:18.84 in 14th place.

The final state medal time was Anamosa at 8:09.16 and Denver won the race in 7:57.10.

It was the first state appearance for both Hansen and Shaver.

“It was great. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a freshman,” Hansen said. “We haven’t had the pieces really to do it until this year. Last year we fell a little short. We were third this year too, but ran a better time. It was exciting just being here.”

Fischer, who qualified in the 4x800 relay as a freshman at Southeast Polk, placed 18th in the 800 on Saturday. His time was clocked in a career-best 1:59.

The final medal-winning time was 1:52.58 and Unity Christian’s James Foreman won the race in 1:52.58.

Chase Wagaman also competed for the Mustangs in the high jump but did not clear opening height. He was one of five who didn’t clear the first height and eight jumpers went out at 6-1.

Spirit Lake and Okoboji tied atop the 2A standings with 65 points and Denver and Treynor tied at 48 in third. The rest of the top five included Greene County (40) and PCM (34) was sixth.

“Our goal going into the weekend was to attack the race, get a personal record and give yourself a chance at a medal and potentially the podium,” Bieghler said. “They did not disappoint. Us coaches couldn’t be more proud of what they were able to do and accomplish.

“The 2025 PCM boys track and field team is one for the history books, and they are officially one of the best teams in PCM History.”

Notes: Several members of the PCM boys track and field team dyed their hair blonde for the state meet. They said it was an idea brought up by Robbins, who will play college football inside the stadium he set a bunch of track and field records in this weekend when he joins the Drake program this fall.