MARION — Senior Brick Kabela eclipsed the meet record in winning the 3,200-meter run and the Spartans used six runner up finishes to repeat as WaMaC track champs last Thursday at a wet and dreary Marion High School. Williamsburg finished a distant second losing to the Spartans for the second straight year, 123.5-93.
Kabela coasted for six laps before turning on the jets in the final 700 meters to take the 3,200-meter run in 9:31.95, breaking the 20 year old record of 9:34.71 (Ben Grant, W Dubuque). Kabela then teamed with seniors Gavin Sieverding, Grant Knipper and Grant Bumsted to place second in the distance medley relay (3:41.00). The senior distance runner clinched the team race when he added a third place finish in the 1600 meter run (4:34.12) as a steady drizzle turned into a complete downpour on the runners and fans.
Other runner-up finishes included the shuttle hurdle team of seniors Nash Kotar, Ben Duckett, Charlie Brandt, and junior Cole Carney. The foursome clocked a sizzling 1:00.75 to reset their school record and best the previous meet record, which was also topped by winner Clear Creek-Amana in 1:00.37. Carney added a 5th place finish in the 110 high hurdles (16.10), while Brandt added a 6th in the 400 hurdles (59.46). Kotar tallied a point finishing 8th in the 100 meter dash. (11.47).
Senior Ben Kampman was runner-up in the discus tossing 175 feet 10 inches, narrowly losing to rival Williamsburg thrower Derek Weisskopf who was named top WaMaC track and field athlete of 2024. Kampman added a 5th place finish in the shot put with a best throw of 50-5.
Junior Caleb Bock claimed silver in the long jump with a 20-10.5 inch leap. The 4×200-meter relay team of seniors Brayden Moore, Milo Ashbacker, Austin Knight and junior Eddie Johnson placed second in 1:30.50. The three seniors then joined sophomore Eli Kampman for a fourth place finish in the 4×100 meter relay in 44.85.
Johnson later added a 6th place in the 100 meters clocking 11.46.
The all-senior 4×400-meter relay squad, ranked 4th in Class 3A, rounded out the night’s scoring finishing second to Williamsburg in 3:25.37. Team members included Mike Yeomans, Rhett Mesch, Grant Knipper and Bumsted. Yeomans and Mesch finished third and fourth in the 400-meter dash with each clocking season bests (50.24 and 50.53). Mesch also placed 6th in the 200-meter dash (23.06) with Knight taking 5th in 22.88.
The Spartans added a fourth place effort from the 4×800-meter relay squad of Yeomans, Bumsted, senior Wyatt Applegarth and sophomore Spencer Michels in 8:21. 03. Solon had several 5th place finishes including senior Marcus Richard in the shot put (49-7), freshman Kaden Hoeper in the high jump (5-10), senior Keenan Kruse in the 400-meter hurdles (59.22) and the 800-meter sprint medley (Ashbacker, Moore, Knight and Eli Kampman) in 1:36.47.
The Spartans placed at least 6th in the 16 of the 17 events contested which included Drake Relays qualifiers in each of the field events and the vast majority of the running events. Coach Mark Sovers believes his team just repeated titles in the toughest 3A track conference in Iowa. “If you can compete at the highest level in the WaMaC, you can certainly compete at the highest level at the state meet,” Sovers said. “We have a deep team. We just build a complimentary lineup to score across all the events.”
The boys’ and girls’ teams will host their state qualifying meets at Spartan Stadium today at 4:00 p.m. (running events begin at 4:45pm). The Iowa State Track meet runs next week, May 16-18, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
Eli Kampman brings home the anchor leg in the 800-meter sprint medley relay Thursday, May 2 at the WaMaC Super Meet at Marion High School. Kampman, Milo Ashbacker, Brayden Moore, and Austin Knight took fifth in 1:36.47