MANCHESTER — The varsity boys won the 2023 WaMaC Conference track and field meet Thursday, May 4 at West Delaware High School in Manchester with four wins and eight runner up finishes. The Spartans led the way with 157 team points followed by Williamsburg (111.5), Marion (77.5), CPU and Mount Vernon (75), CCA (73), Independence (52), South Tama County (42), Benton Community (42), Vinton-Shellsburg (28), and West Delaware (7).
Ben Kampman won discus with a 174’-5” throw, beating his sixth-place Drake Relays performance, and Blake Timmons won the 200-meter dash in 22.42 seconds.
Brayden Moore, Austin Knight, Timmons, and Jeremy Bachus took gold in the sprint medley relay with a time of 1:33.44 while Cole Carney, Charlie Brandt, Benjamin Duckett, and Nash Kotar won the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:03.45.
Oaken Foster cleared 6’ in the high jump to tie with Williamsburg’s Tray O’Neil for second and was runner up in the long jump with a 20’-11” leap. Adam Smith took second in the shot put with a 53’-10” throw, Brick Kabela was runner up in the 3,200-meter run in 10:05.91, and Michael Yeomans was second in the 800-meter run in 2:00.34.
Moore, Knight, Bachus, and Timmons took second in the 4×200 in 1:30.69, Brett White, Moore, Milo Ashbacker, and Kotar were second in the 4×100 in 44.23 seconds, beating their Drake Relays time of 44.31. Rhett Mesch, Bachus, Yeomans, and Knight were second in the 4×400 in 3:29.24.
Timmons and Kotar took third in the 100-meter dash (11.16 seconds) and 110-meter high hurdles (15.81), Mesch was fourth in the 400-meter run (52.36 seconds), Carney took fourth in the 110 hurdles (16.24 seconds), and Bachus was fourth in the 200 dash (22.60).
Yeomans, Maddox Shipley, Wyatt Applegarth, and Grant Bumsted finished fourth in the 4×800 in 8:22.01.
Marcus Richard was fifth in shot put with a 48’-1-1/2” throw, Adam Smith was fifth in discus with a 154’-10” effort, and Ashbacker, Keenan Kruse, Grant Knipper, and Kabela brought the distance medley relay to a fifth-place finish in 3:46.17.
Sixth place finishes went to Caleb Bock in the long jump (20’-1-1/2”) and Kruse in the 400-meter low hurdles (59.30).
Grant Bumsted and Kabela were seventh in the 800 run (2:06.31) and 1,600 run (4:42.32).
Full results can be found at kauderracing.com.
Head Coach Mark Sovers said he was “absolutely in debt to the athletes for the way they competed on Thursday. They came out and showed everyone who we are and how to put out your Best when your Best is required. They have been able to invest in each other and raise the standard together of what they expect each time they go out and compete.” Sovers also gave credit to the field events for their 44 team points and, “impacting our performance throughout the meet.”
“Our coaches (Coach Wymer, Coach Parysz and Coach Hietman) have made such a positive impact on our team all year round and we value them so much,” he added. “We were honored to represent Solon and have the opportunity to become Conference champions in the end. The exciting thing is that there is more ahead for this group and we cannot wait to be the best version of who we are this coming week at the WaMaC JV championships (held Monday, May 8) and the 3A State Qualifying meet (Thursday, May 11 at the Mapleleaf Athletic Complex in Mount Pleasant and starting at 4:00 p.m.).
Qualifiers will advance to the 2023 Iowa High School State Track & Field Championships May 18-20 at Drake University in Des Moines.
Tickets for the qualifying meet are $6 plus fees and are available at https://www.iahsaa.org/tickets.
Grant Bumsted runs the 3,200-meter run, at WaMaC meet Thursday, May 4 at West Delaware High School in Manchester.