CL boys sending large group to State Track Meet

by Marianne Gasaway

It was one of the best nights in school history for Clear Lake at the District Track meet held Friday in Charles City.  The Lions qualified for State in 10 events.

“We had a great night at districts, the best ever since districts were started for Clear Lake boys track,” said Coach A.J. Feuerbach, adding the qualifiers in 10 events (one event with two runners), may be a school record, especially since the school added a fourth spring sport for boys.  “We believe in Class 3A we have the second most events; Humboldt has 12 just to show you how good our conference has been this year. We will have someone in every single class 3A boys running event on Friday, another first for our program.  We are pumped to see what our kids can do on the big blue in Des Moines!”

Decorah edged another North Central Conference school, Webster City, for the District title, 118 to 117 points.  Clear Lake was a close third with 111.5 and Algona, also from the NCC finished with 111.    The remaining teams were Waverly-Shell Rock (94), Charles City (92), Hampton-Dumont (44) and Iowa Falls-Alden (43.5).

Freshman Jagger Schmitt, sophomore Justin Wright and junior Kody Kearns qualified in four events, while two others, junior Nick Danielson and senior Drew Enke will appear in three events.

Schmitt and Jaden O’Brien-Green finished one-two in the 400 meter dash in 51.51 and 51.89. They will be in the blocks on the Drake track Thursday with the ninth and 12th fastest qualifying times.

Wright finished third at Districts in the 800, but had one of the next eight fastest times in the State to qualify for State.  He finished the race in 2:02.77, which puts him 17th in the field at State.

Enke had a pair of runner-up finishes in hurdle events to punch his State ticket.  He ran the 110 hurdles in 15.44 and the 400 hurdles in 57.36.  His 110 time ranks 11th among State qualifiers, while the quarter-mile race has him listed as 16th in State qualifying times.

Jorge Rivera, a sophomore, also finished as a runner-up.  He was second in the long jump with a mark of 18’11.5”.

The Lions also pooled their talent to qualify five relays.

Tyres Green-Harrington, Kearns, Schmitt and Danielson finished second in the 4x100 in 44.53.

The 4x200 team of Green-Harrington, Danielson, Austin Warnke and Kearns was runner-up in the 4x200 in 1:32.83.

The 4x400 with Tanner Reimann, Enke, Schmitt and Wright was second in 3:30.63.

The Sprint Medley team of Danielson, Kearns, Schmitt and Wright crossed the finish line in second in 1:36.37 and the Distance Medley with Danielson, Kearns, Reimann and Wright was third, but qualified based on their time of 3:39.64.

The Lions likely would have qualified their outstanding shuttle hurdle team for State, but were called for leaving the blocks too early and were disqualified.

Other placements included:

•100: O’Brien-Green, 5th, 11.71

•200: O-Brien-Green, 5th, 23.87; Warnke, 6th, 23.88

•110 hurdles: Mitchell Raber, 8th, 16.33

•4x800: Elijah Mock, Jordan Bergman, Austin Young, Joe Faber, 5th, 9:32.62

•High jump: Tyson Cooley, 5th, 5’10”

•Discus: Cameron Levenhagen, 8th, 121’

See pages 4B-5B for more about State Track qualifiers