By Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The West High boys track team was the picture of jubilation after capturing its first conference championship since 2014 Thursday.

The Trojans huffed and puffed around the track in a victory lap shouting the name of their school. They stretched out in a circle on the Trojan Field turf and then ran joyously into the middle and crashed into each other.

This was not just another meet even though it’s sandwiched between the hype and pageantry of the Drake Relays and the all-important state-qualifying meet in one week.

“We’re so happy to do this for the seniors,” sophomore Kolby Greiner said. “They’ve worked their tail off. It’s a real honor for us to do this for their last year. My brother was actually on the last (conference championship team), so this is awesome because I’m up there with him. It’s really awesome to do this with this group of guys.”

“This is something that was really, really important to them,” West coach T.J. Craig said. “Especially on our home course, and it’s something we talked about all year. We’ve said all year long we’ve got the guys here to do something special, and they’ve just gone out and proved it every week.”

The Trojans won 10 events and finished with 177 points to easily eclipse Linn-Mar’s 117 in winning the MVC Mississippi division championship.

Craig, named coach of the year, dissected the victory.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “This senior class has worked really hard the last two years. We finished fourth the last two years. They deserve to feel exactly how they feel right now. And it wasn’t just them. It was sophomores and juniors and it was across the board: throwers and jumpers and hurdlers. It truly was a team thing.”

The Trojans’ Austin West was named the Athlete of the Year in the division after running in three victorious relays (sprint medley, distance medley, 4×400) and winning the 400 hurdles.

“He just had a phenomenal year,” Craig said.

As good as he was, West had company in putting this dominant victory together. Gabe Caruthers was also part of the same three winning relays and won the open 200 in a heart-pounding photo finish over Dubuque Wahlert’s Alden Kuntz.

“It felt great,” Caruthers said. “My coaches were over there and said ‘on the curve is where you’re going to get him.’ I tried to keep that in mind. What I felt I could do on the curve is run my hardest.”

He came out of the curve in the lead, but Kuntz, the 100-meter champ earlier, was gaining into the straightaway.

“I knew he would be right there with me,” Caruthers said. “I knew it was close, but I wasn’t about to let the team down. The crowd was cheering; I had the motivation.”

He had a key 200 leg in the sprint medley to give anchor Austin West some room and anchored the 4×400.

“Gabe is a perfect example of this team,” Craig said. “He came out last year and he struggled a little bit, but he stuck with it. He got better, and he’s reaped the benefits.”

Derek Nugent won the 800 and ran on the winning 4×400 and 4×800 relays.

“From 400 to 500 (meters) I wanted to spread it out and see who could hang with me,” he said of making a move in the 800. “I tried to push it and then bring it home strong.

“It’s sort of our goal to be peaking at state, and that’s really what we want to do.”

Kolby Greiner and Ali Ali scored big in the distance races. Greiner held off Ali to win the 3,200, while Ali staged a great race with Linn-Mar’s Ryan Murphy in the 1,600 before Murphy’s kick gave him the victory. Greiner was third.

“The first few laps I was like ‘this is awfully slow,’” Ali said. “Then Murphy came and I went with him and it was an awesome fight.”

Greiner wasn’t happy with the slow, tactical pace in the 1,600.

“I wish they would have just taken it out,” he said. “We went through that 800 at about 2:20, and that was really slow and then they started to pick it up. I don’t really have that foot speed. The next time I run it I’m probably going to have to take it out right away.”

West won two field events.  Jonathan Gannon took the discus with a throw of 154-8, while Jared Sams-Merriweather won the high jump (6-2) over two others on fewer misses.

West will compete next Thursday at City High in the 4A state-qualifying meet.

MVC Mississippi Division

At Iowa City West

Team results – 1. Iowa City West 177, 2. Linn-Mar 117, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 100, 4. Waterloo West 72, 5. C.R. Xavier 49, 6. C.R. Jefferson 41, 7. Waterloo East 31.

Individual results

(Top three finishers; Area placewinners)

Shot put – 1. Josh Volk (CRX) 52-9.5, 2. Nick Joens (WW) 52-2.5, 3. Keenan Stewart (CRJ) 48-3.5, 4. Alex Kleinow (ICW) 48-1, 5. Landon Green (ICW) 47-7.5.

Discus – 1. Jonathan Gannon (ICW) 154-8, 2. Riley Higgins (LM) 146-7, 3. Blake Ealy (ICW) 133-3.

High Jump – 1. Jared Sams-Merriweather 6-2, 2. Matt Bandy (DW) 6-2, 3. Jacee Clark (WE) 6-2, 5. Dillon Doyle (ICW) 5-10.

Long Jump – 1. Danny McDermott (DW) 21-5, 2. Deyton Love (WW) 20-8.5, 3. Joey Callahan (DW) 20-2.25, 5. Cole Mabry (ICW) 19-8.

Sprint medley – 1. Iowa City West (Kinball Henstrom, Trumell Roberts, Gabe Caruthers, Austin West) 1:34.24, 2. Dubuque Wahlert (Ryan Rogers, Joe Friend, Alden Kuntz, Luke Hilby) 1:36.78, 3. Waterloo East (Jacee Clark, Tyre Reed, Jordan Evans, Deshon Ford) 1:37.47.

3,200 – 1. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 9:36.81, 2. Ali Ali (ICW) 9:43.16, 3. Ryan Murphy (LM) 10:21.05.

4×800 – 1. Iowa City West (Derek Nugent, Jeff Garbutt, Ethan McAreavy, Ethan Goers) 8:24.33, 2. CR Xavier (Josh Gerke, Nathan Skala, Beau Van Berkum, Grayson Walther) 8:24.33, 3. Linn-Mar (Trent Long, Dylan Dolezal, Grant Chlystum, Colin Johnston) 8:25.00.

Shuttle Hurdle – 1. Linn-Mar ( Trent Davis, Nick House, Zeal Baker, Logan Clark) 58.43, 2. Iowa City West (Jared Sams-Merriweather, Cole Mabry, Caden Fedeler, Max Hill) 1:01.01, 3. Dubuque Wahlert (Ryan Rogers, Zach Kemp, Sam Herrig, Joe Friend) 1:01.36.

100 – 1. Alden Kuntz (DW) 10.96, 2. Josue Bokoyo (CRJ) 11.19, 3. Mitchell Hall (CRJ) 11.24, 5. Trumell Roberts (ICW) 11.45.

Distance Medley – 1. Iowa City West (Austin West, Dillon Doyle, Gabe Caruthers, Nate Jelinek) 3:38.46, 2. Dubuque Wahlert (Matt Riley, Coby Adams, Luke Schaefer, Luke Hilby) 3:45.13, 3. Linn-Mar (Trent Roling, Trey Martin, Johnny Seitz, Ethan Schmidt) 3:47.85.

400 – 1. Sam Tudor (WW) 49.42, 2. Isaiah Arndorfer (WW) 50.59, 3. Dalton Gosch (LM) 52.04, 5. Chris Low (ICW) 52.63, 6. Javonte Williams (ICW) 52.65.

4×200 – 1. Waterloo East (Jacee Clark, Jordan Evans, Deshon Ford, Kendall Robinson) 1:32.01, 2. CR Xavier (Aaron Larson, Cole Goerdt, John Rocca, Kaiden Cuevas) 1:34.21, 3. Linn-Mar (Tyler Hungate, Colin Johnston, Jaidyn Williams, Nick House) 1:34.25, 4. Iowa City West (Orin Cantu, Dillon Doyle, Jackson Steburg, Jared Sams-Merriweather) 1:35.86.

110 Hurdles – 1. Zeal Baker (LM) 14.76, 2. Max Hill (ICW) 15.03, 3. Trent Davis (LM) 15.12.

800 – 1. Derek Nugent (ICW) 1:57.10, 2. Jeff Garbutt (ICW) 2:00.29, 3. Trent Long (LM) 2:02.61.

200 – 1. Gabe Caruthers (ICW) 22.35, 2. Alden Kuntz (DW) 22.38, 3. Josue Bokoyo (CRJ) 22.72.

400 Hurdles – 1. Austin West (ICW) 55.65, 2. Nick House (LM) 56.36, 3. Max Hill (ICW) 56.77.

1,600 – 1. Ryan Murphy (LM) 4:26.96, 2. Ali Ali (ICW) 4:31.56, 3. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 4:35.80.

4×100 – 1. C.R. Jefferson (Braxton Bolden, Kyran Ligon, Josue Bokoyo, Mitchell Hall) 4406, 2. Waterloo West (Sam Tudor, Harrison Eighmey, Levi Lenius, Carlton Todd) 44.07, 3. Waterloo East (Deshon Ford, Jordan Evans, Tyre Reed, Jacee Clark) 44.36.

4×400 – 1. Iowa City West (Derek Nugent, Austin West, Jeff Garbutt, Gabe Caruthers) 3:24.81, 2. Waterloo West (Sam Tudor, Clayton Streed, Connor Backens, Isaiah Arndorfer) 3:30.44, 3. Dubuque Wahlert (Nathan Tranel, Coby Adams, Sam Herrig, Jace Kunkel) 3:30.93.

Freshman-Sophomore Results

Team results – 1. Linn-Mar 177; 2. West High 126; 3. Dubuque Wahlert 103; 4. Cedar Rapids Xavier 50; 5. Waterloo West 49; 6. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 39; 7. Waterloo East 29.

Individual results

(Top three finishers; Area placewinners)

Shot put – 1. Alex Lahmon (LM) 49-7.5.

Discus – 1. Mitchell Miller (DW) 109-5, 2. Landon Green (ICW) 107-4

High Jump – 1. Trey Ma.rtin (LM) 5-6, 3. Ben Houselog (ICW) 5-2.

Long Jump – 1. Derik Bunten (CRJ) 20-3.75, 4. Nick Fleckenstein (ICW) 17-9.5.

Sprint medley – 1. Waterloo East (Ahkil :Muhammed, Kendall Robinson, Tavious Jenkins, Tyre Reed) 1:41.12, 2. Iowa City West (Anthony Forte, Orin Cantu, Ben Houselog, Nick Fleckenstein) 1:41.57.

3,200 – 1. Will Conrad  (ICW) 10:41.91, 2. Peter Woodward (ICW) 10:47.97.

4×800 – 1. Iowa City West (Yousif Salama, Nick Johnson, Chen-You Wu, Ian Prescott) 8:53.01.

Shuttle Hurdle – 1. Iowa City West (Ryan Gudenkauf, Ryan Sartain, Drake Woody, Osman Salama) 1:09.36.

100 – 1. Danny McDermott (DW) 11.43.

Distance Medley – 1. Linn-Mar (Wyatt Ochs, Jaxon Collins-Brandt, Jackson Edwards, Cole Ganson) 4:19.71, 2. Iowa City West (Peter Breitbach, Ibrahim Barakat, Jonathan Gallman, Rabi Alaya) 4:19.71.

400 – 1. Ethan Harthum (LM) 56.38, 2. Osman Salama (ICW) 56.52, 5. Mason Sorge (ICW) 58.77.

4×200 – 1. Waterloo West (Isaac Tolbert, Parker Palmer, Savian Moss, Zeph Toe) 1:38.72, 5. Iowa City West (Shamar Wyatt, Anthony Forte, Dominic Ehrman, Ben Houselog) 1:42.98.

110 Hurdles – 1. Carter Oberfoell (DW) 18.41, 4. Drake Woody (ICW) 19.30.

800 – 1. Grayson Walther (CRX) 2:12.53, 3. Joey Goodman (ICW) 2:16.44, 5. Hunter Bagan (ICW) 2:24.88.

200 – 1. Bridger Aucutt (LM) 24.14.

400 Hurdles – 1. Cole Mabry (ICW) 58.27, 2. Drake Woody (ICW) 1:02.56.

1,600 – 1. Jacob Hocking (DW) 4:57.39, 4. Jonathan Shilyansky (ICW)5:16.39.

4×100 – 1. Dubuque Wahlert (Kolton Bartow, Will Hutchinson, Dino Onyeukwu, Nick Moran) 47.37.

4×400 – 1. Linn-Mar (Ethan Harthun, Trey Martin, Tanner Frank, Bridger Aucutt) 3:44.94, 2. Iowa City West (Ben Houselog, Nick Fleckenstein, Mason Sorge, Osman Salama) 3:48.98.