The Solon Spartan track and field team captured seventh at the Vinton-Shellsburg Boy’s Early Bird in Vinton April 1, scoring 53 team points. Denver (130), Jesup (123), Benton Community (112), Williamsburg (101), Anamosa (65), and Laporte City-Union (54) bested Solon with the Spartans finishing ahead of Dubuque Wahlert (32), Grinnell (24), Vinton-Shellsburg (23), HLV-Victor (19), North Linn (17), Columbus Catholic (15) and Janseville (11). Scoring courtesy of Kauder Racing.
They were also supposed to compete in the Tipton Co-Ed Early Bird meet on March 29, but due to weather related concerns it too was rescheduled for Friday, April 1. Results were not available as of deadline.
At the Vinton-Shellsburg meet, a relay team comprised of junior Blake Timmons, senior Brady Mullen, junior Oaken Foster, and senior Ty Becicka championed the 1,600-meter distance medley relay in a time of 3:54.82, capturing ten team points.
Junior Jeremy Bachus took the silver position in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.10 adding eight points to the team’s total.
Sophomore Brett White jumped into fourth-place with a leap of 18-10, good for five team points, and senior Parker Pentico’s leap of 18-5 earned two team points for a seventh-place finish.
The 4×100-meter relay team of seniors Trin Eidahl, Jake Quillin, Timmons and senior Michael Pipolo earned five points for Solon with their fourth-place finish in a time of 45.87.
Foster captured fifth with a leap of 5-8 in the high jump, earning four points.
Spartan sophomore Nash Kotar cleared the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.79 to finish sixth in a time 16.79, good for three more Solon team points.
Timmons ran a 23.51, earning three team points, for a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
A seventh-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay netted the Spartans two points from the foursome of Pipolo, Bachus, seniors Grant Gerdin and Jacob Timmons in a time of 3:49.20.
In the shot put, sophomore Marcus Richard threw 37-7 to finish 12th, senior Cayden Knipper tossed his way to 14th with a 36-7, senior Josh O’Neill threw his way to 19th with a toss of 35-10, and freshman Michael DeValk’s 23-2 was good for 38th-place.
Freshman Jackson Link finished 18th with a throw of 91-4 in the discuss, sophomore CJ Tabor threw 90-11 for 20th, Knipper’s 88-7 was good for 22nd and freshman Grant Wilson tossed a 72-2 to take 29th.
The combination of senior Michael Purdy, sophomore Charlie Brandt, junior Dawson Fordice and junior Quinn Felderman finished 11th in the 800-meter Sprint Medley Relay with a time of 1:46.27, while the team of seniors Jake Quillin, Grant Gerdin, Pentico and junior Rhyse Wear finished 13th in 1:46.60.
Kotar and Brandt combined with Foster and Mullen in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay to grab third-place and six team points with a time of 1:08.52.
In the 100-meter dash, Pipolo ran 11.66 to score a team point for his eighth-place and Eidahl’s 11.86 was good for 11th.
Junior Mathew Tvedte finished 20th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.01.
Eidahl, Quillin, Gerdin and Jacob Timmons joined to compete in the 4×200-meter relay finishing in 1:39.14 and earning four team points for a fifth-place finish.
The other Spartan 4×200-meter teams of Felderman, Fordice, Maddox Shipley and Charlie Hammill ran a 1:41.04 to finish in ninth-place and seniors Oliver Burns, Purdy, junior Rhyse Wear, and senior Brent Lumpkin combined to finish in 1:43.71 for 15th.
Wear ran to a 16th-place showing in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.76.
Solon fielded two additional 4×100-meter relay teams of Burns, Jacob Timmons, Pentico and Purdy, finishing ninth with a 47.73, and White, Brandt, Foster, and Kotar finished tenth in 47.77.
The Spartan 4×400-meter team of Felderman, Fordice, Shipley and Hammil ran to a 12th-place finish in 4:04.18.
Head Coach Mark Sovers is pleased with the early successes of the team starting the outdoor season.
“We had the opportunity to participate in two meets on Friday,” he outlined. “The advantage was so many more athletes had the opportunity to go compete. The throwing events have been a big positive at the start of the season.”
“Adam Smith has thrown a personal best both in the Shot Put and the Discus so far this year,” he elaborated. “Ben Kampman also threw a personal best in his first time out in the Discus. The great thing about competing at two meets, we were able to have all of throwers participate (13) and show the promise we have early in this group led by coach Brad Wymer.”
Coach Sovers is counting on a multilevel approach to this season’s success for the boys track and field team.
“Another early positive for the team has been the performance of our middle Distance group. Ty Becicka has shown very good leadership and come out and competed at the same level as where he finished the year at last year. Grant Bumsted has started fast with a personal record his first time out in the 4x800m Relay, Collin Bumsted performed a personal record in the 3200-meter run. They came out and competed from the beginning and that is a credit to the individual, the event group and coach Pat Parysz.”
Coach Sovers is also counting on continued success from the sprinters.
“Early season success to build on from the Sprinters has been led by Blake Timmons, Michael Pipolo, Trin Eidahl, Jeremy Bachus and Brady Mullen.”
The Spartans are scheduled to visit Bob Murphy Stadium in Williamsburg for the Co-Ed Relays on Tuesday, April 5 at 4:30 p.m., then travel to Clear Creek Amana to compete in the Boys Invitational on Thursday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m., and the Hollingsworth Relays held at Iowa City West High School is set for Saturday, April 9 at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 12, at 4:15 p.m. the Spartans compete at the Iowa Valley Community Schools Invitational and visit Davenport on Thursday, April 14 to compete in the Jesse Day Relays at Brady Street Stadium at 4 p.m. Solon returns to Iowa City West high School for the Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival on Saturday, April 16 at 10:30 a.m.
Coach Sovers is counting on returning experience to assist in building a complimentary team.
“Our Field events have experience back in the jumps with Parker Pentico, Brett White and Oaken Foster. This group will help lead the way for our field events as the season moves forward.
“Our relays need to continue to develop consistency and set the tone for us at track meets. Right now, the experience starts with Blake Timmons, Trin Eidahl and Jeremy Bachus. Brady Mullen, Nash Kotar, Ty Becicka, and Michael Yeomans. (All are) returners with some success from last year. Our relays, as the season goes along, will embody what we value as a Team: toughness, perseverance, and resiliency. People are ready to step into the role moving forward and will add to some exciting practices and meets.”