Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – As far back as last summer Kolby Greiner recalls kicking around ideas for mid-season all-start track meet with West High assistant track coach Josh Kidman.

When Greiner imagined what would eventually come together as the Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival he pictured a meet filled with races featuring the top talent from around the state.

The West High senior had planned on focusing on the 3,200 but when he saw the type of field he envisioned months ago lined up in the 1,600 on Saturday it was too much to pass up.

Greiner followed up a title in the 3,200 and added a fourth-place finish in a loaded field in the mile pace West High on Saturday at a warm and sunny day at Trojan Field.

“I was originally just going to run the two-mile but I heard the mile was stacked and when I looked at it I said ‘holy cow this is stacked I have to run in this’,” Greiner said. “An event like this is just a great opportunity to compete.”

A strong day from Greiner was the highlight for host West High on a picture perfect day for the first Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival that drew participants from 34 teams across the state.

The inaugural event featured a format similar to the Drake Relays, the top performers from teams across the state qualifying for events based on season performance.

A DJ pumped music all meet, renowned track and field voice Mike Jay called the meet on the loud speaker and food were on hand for a crowd that filled the home bleachers at Trojan Field.

“What I wanted today is the excitement for this sport,” West High coach TJ Craig said. “Fair or unfair football and basketball and baseball are typically king. If we can make this sport really important for one day that’s what I want.”

The atmosphere around the track on Saturday was exciting, the weather was perfect and the action on the track lived up to the billing.

Craig and his staff put the event together to give individuals from around the state a chance to compete against top notch talent.

That was the case most of the afternoon.

Greiner started his day by winning the 3,200 in a Drake Relays qualifying blue oval standard time of 9:32.45.

The time by Greiner was nearly 11 seconds faster than Dubuque Hempstead sophomore Ryan Winger and is the fastest time in the state this spring.

Clear Creek Amana junior Nick O’Connor who holds the second best time in the state in the 3,200 this spring was third in 10:05.44 while teammate Brandon Barker was sixth in 10:17.42.

 “I feel like I’m in a really good place, I’m getting back and I can’t wait for the state meet,” Greiner said. “I am one of those guys that is always consistently cutting down. I’m not going for sub-nine minutes in April. I’m trying to PR in May.”  

Greiner originally planned to call it a day after the 3,200 but earlier this week saw the loaded 1,600 field featured three of the top five finishers from the state cross country meet and wasn’t going to be left out.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to look soft in front of everyone and just run the two-mile,” Greiner said with a laugh. “I sort of thought if we are all here at this meet lets just compete.”

Greiner finished fourth in the 1,600 in a season-best time of 4:29.36.

Ankeny standout Tim Sindt won the 1,600 in 4:24.4, the second fastest time in the state this spring.

Treynor senior Jerry Jorgenson was second in 4:27.15 and Dubuque Hempstead senior David Holesinger was third in 4:28.33.  

“Just to see the array of colors of uniforms in the same races running hard, its been a lot of fun,” Craig said. “This is exactly how I envisioned this. It was a great day.”

West High got a pair of titles in the field events as senior Ryan Gudenkauf won the long jump with a leap of 21-7 and Landon Green won the shot put with a mark of 53-10.

“We took a really big step forward in a lot of different ways,” Craig said. “We were in 16 of 19 events and in almost all of those events we really had someone step out and say alright we are ready. The weather helps that too but we are coming, we are definitely coming and I like where we are headed.”

Liberty High didn’t have a champion on Saturday but got a runner-up finish from Drake Woody in the 400 hurdles in 55.15 and the Lightning foursome of Woody, Kaleb Williams, Kelby Telander and Bowen Gryp was third in the distance medley in 3:38.91.

Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival

Boys Individual Results (Event winners; area medalists)  

100 – 1. Max Smith (Ankeny) 10.92; 7. Mason Applegate (ICW) 11.36

200 – 1. Ray Venditti (Calamus-Wheatland) 22.53; 5. Kelby Telander (ICL) 23.7; 7. Tayshaun McGee (ICL) 23.81

400 – 1. Noah Yahn (Muscatine) 50.52; 5. Kelby Telander (ICL) 52.16; 7. Tyuss Bell (ICW) 52.54; 8. Grahm Goering (ICW) 53.59

800 – 1. Seth Van Baale (Bondurant-Farrar) 1:59.55

1,600 – 1. Tim Sindt (Ankeny) 4:24.4; 4. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 4:29.36

3,200 – 1. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 9:32.45; 3. Nick O’Connor (Clear Creek Amana) 10:05.44; 6. Brandon Barker (Clear Creek Amana) 10:17.42; 8. Nicolo Schianchi (ICW) 10:25.88

110 hurdles – 1. Trent Davis (Linn-Mar) 14.68

400 hurdles – 1. Will Burds (Western Dubuque) 54.78; 2. Drake Woody (ICL) 55.15; 5. Cole Mabry (ICW) 58.03

4×100 – 1. Cedar Falls 43.52; 6. West High (Nate Gudenkauf, Ryan Gudenkauf, Mason Applegate, Landon Green) 44.63

4×200 – 1. Cedar Falls 1:30.78

4×400 – 1. Western Dubuque 3:24.9

4×800 – 1. Dubuque Hempstead 8:05.2; 4. West High (Ian Prescott, Will Conrad, Osman Salama, Caden Noeller) 8:20.29; 8. Liberty High (Henry Kraon, Ryan Nugent, Tyler Lambert, Ethan O’Donnell) 8:40.41

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Linn-Mar 1:00.28

Sprint medley relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:36.19; 3. West High (Mason Appleate, Nate Gudenkauf, Tyuss Bell, Grahm Goering) 1:38.53; 5. Liberty High (Ben Houselog, Kaleb Williams, Evan Chandler, Dominic Ehrman) 1:42.58

Distance medley relay – 1. Linn-Mar 3:37.39; 3. Liberty High (Kelby Telander, Kaleb Williams, Drake Woody, Bowen Gryp) 3:38.91; 4. West High (Cole Mabry, Tyuss Bell, Grahm Goering, Yousif Salama) 3:45.83

Long jump – 1. Ryan Gudenkauf (ICW) 21-7; 7. Kaleb Williams (ICL) 20-6

High jump – 1. Trent Allard (North Scott) 6-5

Shot put – 1. Landon Green (ICW) 53-10;

Discus – 1. Cam Jones (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 173-7; 4. Landon Green (ICW) 149-8; 10. Mason Applegate (ICW) 126-1 1/2

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