Rams qualify for state track in 20 events

ATLANTIC - The Glenwood boys and girls track teams qualified for this week’s Iowa State Track Meet in 20 events at the Class 3A state qualifying meet in Atlantic Thursday.

The top two finishers earn automatic bids to state. The state meet commences Thursday at Drake University in Des Moines. The Class 3A portion of the meet begins at 9 a.m.

The Glenwood boys finished as the runner-up in the team standings to A-D-M in Atlantic. The Rams scored 146 points while double-placing in eight of the 12 individual events and placing third or higher in five of the seven relays.

In all, the buys qualified 11 entries in nine events led by a pair of double-double qualifiers in Bryant Keller and Andrew Smith. Both qualified for the 1,600 and 3,200-meters in Atlantic. The pair went first and second in the 1,600-meters and the 3,200.

Keller and Smith were a little off on their times, Starner said but they continued to do their thing.

“Both did what they had to do to move on to next week,” Starner said. “The times weren’t a concern as they were trying to conserve some of their energy for later meet performances.  With their experience, we are looking forward to both of them competing for the podium at the state meet.”

Smith also won the 800. Also notching individual state bids were Cooper DeLashmutt in the 400-meters, Trey Darden in the 100-meters, Reagan Skarnulis in the shot and Chase Razor in the high jump.

Starner called the performance of Chase Razor “the big surprise on the day.”  The freshman entered the meet with a season best jump of six feet but cleared 6 feet, 3 inches for runner up and a ticket punched for the state meet.  

“He was going against some pretty stiff competition and he stepped it up when he had to,” Starner said.

Darden continued his late season performance, dropping his time in the 100-meters. Darden ran a season-best 11.08 in a loaded field of sprinters to finish fifth overall, with the four sprinters in front of him finishing under 11 seconds and three of them finishing in the top four in Class 3A times for the season.  

Keaton German also ran a season best time of 11.31, however injured his hamstring at the end of his race which would end his evening.  

The 4x100-meter relay team of Jackson Mulkins, Darden, Tristan Ludwig and Payton Longmeyer were just off of the season best time by two-hundredths of a second.   

“Ludwig did a great job filing in for German in a real critical time,” Starner said.  “Class 3A’s top two relays were ADM and Harlan and both were in our district and just trying to stay close with them is a challenge.  The relay did a great job of performing under pressure and qualified with the ninth fastest time in all of the state qualifying meets.”

The Distance Relay  team of Ludwig, Meier, Cruz and Bryant Keller had a strong showing at Atlantic.   

“Bryant did an excellent job fending off the ADM anchor and pulled away down the stretch to finish in second place,” Starner said.

Starner and his team are looking forward to getting to work at state.

“We have a great opportunity to bring home some hardware in multiple events,” he said. “Just like our district, it’s going to be a tough field, but we look forward to the challenge and getting the opportunity to compete against such great competition.”

The Glenwood girls were second as well, tallying 139 points and qualifying eight events automatically for the state meet. The Rams picked up three more state qualifiers on Friday as at-large bids.

“We were really happy with the girls’ efforts, naturally at a district meet there are always some highs and lows and we had our share of both, but as a whole we really thought the girls had a nice day,” said Glenwood girls coach Jordan Bueltel.  “We were i

n a very strong district and the girls really came out and competed nicely, and led to some great performances.”

Danika Arnold and Grace Berglund both qualified for state in a pair of individual events.

Arnold won the 200 meters with a time of 25.85 and placed second in the 400-meters.

Grace Berglund took top honors in the 3000-meters with a time of 10:35.98 and also placed second in the 1,500.

Allison Koontz added a second place finish in the 100-meters and ran on a trio of Ram relays that punched tickets to state.

The Rams’ sprint medley relay of Zoë Carda, Koontz, Megan Hughes and Brooklyn Schultz placed first with a time of 1:52.05.

The 4x100 team of Carda, Elaina Dougherty, Arnold, and Koontz also won the meet (49.69) as did the 4x200-meter relay team of Carda, Schultz, Koontz and Hughes (1:45.50).

When times were calculated following Thursday’s 3A state qualifiers, the Rams’ Breckyn Petersen (400-meter hurdles) and the 4x800 and 4x400-meter relays locked up state bids.