Click here for more photos from Iowa City West at the state track meet. 

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Projections had West High as a Class 4A state title contender last season.

The performances from the Trojans didn’t back up what was projected and West High settled for a 10th place finish.

“We were projected out well, I think we were seeded to win it off our district times,” West High senior Austin West recalled. “We just didn’t perform well.”

West and his teammates wasted little time putting up a warning to the rest of the 4A field on Thursday.

The Trojans are back and this time they aren’t relying on projections.

Behind titles from West in the 400 and Jonathan Gannon in the discus West High bolted to the front of the 4A team standings with 23 points after the opening day at the state track and field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

West High leads Waukee by two points after five events while Pleasant Valley and West Des Moines Dowling each closed day one of the three-day meet with 16 points

“There is just a different feel this year,” West High coach TJ Craig said. “What that means as far as a result I’m not sure but it’s a different feel and it feels like we are in a good position.”

 

At last year’s state meet West High struggled to perform up to its seed, fell out of title contention early and finished with 35 points.

A solid showing but not what the Trojans had planned following a resurgent regular season.

West High didn’t enter having a top-seed entering Thursday but came away with a pair of individual champions.

“This year there is definitely a different feel,” West said. “We aren’t thinking about what we are supposed to get we are competing and we are out performing our seeds this year which is great and I think we have a real shot at making the podium and pushing for the top spot.”

Gannon was one of the Trojans that had a state meet to forget a year ago placing 21st in the discus with a toss of 135-11.

He got an ending to remember on Thursday, making his first state medal a gold with a career-best toss of 178-6.

“I remember last year pretty well,” Gannon said. “It was pretty disappointing last year so I just tried as much as I could to stay on top of it mentally this year and come in with the right attitude, focused and ready to go.”

 

Gannon said he made a few tweaks to his technique late in the season and it paid off as he closed his prep career with personal best performances in two of his final three meets.

His previous career-best mark of 174-8 came at the Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet earlier this month.

“There have been a couple of tweaks,” Gannon said. “In discus it’s a lot of small things that can make a big difference and a couple of little things out of the back of the ring can really change my throw and that really helped.”

Gannon needed his career-best to hold off a balanced field.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy junior Cam Jones was second with a 175-1 while Pleasant Valley senior Sam Hanna was third with a mark of 174-11.

Lewis Central sophomore Logan Jones who entered with the top performance from the season finished fifth with a throw of 172-0.

“Jonathan is one of those guys that is just a very good athlete so we knew that throw was in there it was just a matter of bringing it together at the right moment,” Craig said. “He absolutely did that today.”

West used his own career-best performance to pick up a state gold on Thursday.

The senior chased down defending state champion and top-seed Darien Porter of Bettendorf to win the 400 in a school-record time of 47.94.

West surged past Porter in the final few meters as the Bettendorf junior placed second in 47.99.

“I knew when he was on the inside and he wasn’t gaining too much ground away from me at like the 150 mark I knew he was either saving it or I could start reeling him in,” West said. “It didn’t set in that I was actually gaining ground until there was 60 or 70 meters left. The last 20 was really crucial.”

The winning time for West was better than a second faster than the previous career-best for West that came at last week’s district meet and was the 12th fastest time in state history.

Junior Gabe Caruthers added a seventh-place finish in the 400 in 49.91 as West High to provide the difference in the team race.

“It’s a great confidence booster for us,” West said. “It was really important to have a good day one just getting points up on the scoreboard and hopefully we get more tomorrow and Saturday.”

Class 4A State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Team scores – 1. West High 23; 2. Waukee 21; 3. Pleasant Valley 16; 3. West Des Moines Dowling 16; 5. West Des Moines Valley 14; 6. Johnston 13; 7. Ames 12; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie 11; 9. Waterloo East 10; 9. City High 10.

Individual results

(Champion; Area Participants)

400 – 1. Austin West (West High) 47.94; 7. Gabe Caruthers (West High) 49.91

3,200 – 1. Konnor Sommer (Pleasant Valley) 9:15.79; 8. Kolby Greiner (West High) 9:40.67; 15. Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand (City High) 9:54.97

4×800 – 1. City High (Jimmy Momberg, Daniel Brown, Lucas Firmstone, JP Rethwisch) 7:49.41; 11. West High (Jeff Garbutt, Raymond Yang, Ethan McAreavy, Ian Prescott) 8:06.86

Discus – 1. Jonathan Gannon (West High) 178-6; 22. Ethan Postler (West High) 117-7.

High jump – 1. Jacee Clark (Waterloo East) 6-8; 17. Tevon Williamson (City High) 5-11