Boys place in the top 10 at State Track Meet

(Above) Zeke Nelson ran a personal best of 15.24 in the 110 hurdles to place fifth. -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy

by Michelle Watson

Not only did the Clear Lake boys track team qualify for 11 events at the State Track Meet held May 19-21 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, but of those 11 events, every one of them either ran a season best time, or improved on where they were seeded coming into the meet.

“I’m not sure if many other schools can claim that,” said Head Coach Troy Tysdahl.  “You can’t ask for anything more as coaches and we are all so proud of the way our kids performed.”

Clear Lake finished as a top 10 team in Class 2A .  Spirit Lake won the meet with 92.5 points and DSM Christian was second with 65.  The Lions finished with 21 team points to claim 10th place.

The State Meet was the last time two of Clear Lake’s seniors will compete in the Lion jersey.  Jagger Schmitt wrapped up a very successful career bringing home four medals.  He is also one of the few track athletes to end his career by qualifying for the State meet in all four events every year of his high school career.  

Tanner Reimann earned three medals.

“Jagger and Tanner willed the 4x400 team into the finals by running phenomenal third and fourth legs in the prelims and taking the team from eighth place to third,” said Tysdahl.  “It was very inspiring to see that they made a decision to go out on top and truly gave everything they had.”

The 4x400 team which also consisted of Zeke Nelson and Jaden Wright, ran the race in 3:29.84 and finished in seventh place.

Individually, Schmitt competed in the 400 meter dash where he finished sixth with a time of 50.59.  

Back next year will be junior Zeke Nelson, who also had a tremendous few days in hurdle events and left with three medals.  He ran a personal best time of 15.24 and placed fifth in the 110 hurdles.  He ran another personal best in the 400 hurdles in 55.59 and placed fourth.  He anchored the shuttle hurdle relay team that finished in 17th place with a time of 1:04.11.  Other members the relay included Derek Erpelding, Blake Enke and Cooper Cooke.

“Zeke’s dedication to his craft resulted in cementing himself as one of the top hurdlers in the state with high goals for next year,” said Tysdahl.

LJ Bryant competed in the 200 meter dash and finished 24th with a time of 24.15.

Clear Lake qualified every one of its relays for the State Meet.  The highest placing relay was the 4x100 team of Bryant, Titan Schmitt, Jagger Schmitt and Reimann, which finished fourth with a time of 43.72.  The 4x200 team of Titan Schmitt, Alex Kerr, Jagger Schmitt and Reimann finished seventh in 1:32.27.  

Joe Faber had a strong 800 split in the Distance Medley to help his team to a 19th place finish in 3:43.57.