Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon freshman standout Mac Svalstad has a long list of lofty goals for his prep debut season.

Several of items on that list can be crossed over later this week at the Drake Relays in Des Moines.

Before Svalstad lines up alongside the best in the state at Drake Stadium the freshman phenom checked off a goal on his home track on Thursday.

Svalstad broke the school record in the 400 on Thursday winning in a time of 49.07 to help Solon claim the team title at its own Denny Gruber Relays on a sunny evening at Spartan Stadium.

“I don’t take things like that for granted,” Svalstad said of the school record. “I know I’m a freshman breaking records but just thinking about the fact that’s our school history and no one else has ever run that it makes it really special to me.”

Svalstad joined Anders Holmes and Kaden Hoeper as individual event winners for Solon and Spartans won the distance medley relay while pulling away from runner-up Regina to win the team title with 127 points.

Holmes won the 3,200 in 10:49.18 and Hoeper won the high jump clearing 6-0 as Solon finished 22 points in front of runner-up Regina in the team race.

“What stood out to me is that we put people in different roles tonight and they had different responsibilities than usual at most meets and they came through,” Solon coach Mark Sovers said. “They accepted the role they had tonight and they knew it was the best for our team and they made it happen.”

Svalstad ran only one race in his warm up for the Drake Relays but impressed breaking the school record previously held by Solon assistant coach Pat Parysz.

“I felt really confident running today, I felt really good,” Svalstad said. “I really just wanted to give it my all today in that one race because I knew I wasn’t going to race again today.”

Svalstad enters the Drake Relays competition on Friday with the third fastest time in the 800 at 1:54.3 and his 400 time ranks ninth in the state.

“It’s awesome because you get to go out and compete against the best of the best,” Svalstad said. “I think the most important thing with running in that meet is to remember it’s just another race and to stay composed and not overreact.”

Regina got individual titles from Edwin Gangba in the 100 (10.88) and Gabe Schuessler in the 110 hurdles (15.12) on its way to a runner-up team finish.

The Regals won titles in the sprint medley, 4×200 and shuttle hurdle relays.

Solon cruised to the girls team title winning six events while racking up 184 points.

“We’ve only had three outdoor meets and so that has allowed us to get some good work in,” Solon coach Jessica Hotek said. “We’ve been able to adjust our training with having some meets canceled and it’s allowed us to get some really good work in so I feel like we are ahead of maybe where we were last year at this time.”

Piper Johnson won the discus (109-3), Addison Seamans won the 1,500 (5:19.19) and Liv Nelson won the 3,000 (12:19.19) for Solon which also won the 4×800 relay.

Jerzey Haluska won the 400 in 59.47 and ran on the Solon sprint medley and 4×400 relay teams that each finished runner-up.

“She has improved mentally, she is more confident especially compared to her freshman year, she has just made so much growth in that area,” Hotek said of Haluska. “She has emerged as a true leader on our team especially at practice. She works really hard.”

Reese Naeve won the 100 hurdles in 15.28 and anchored the Regina shuttle hurdle relay team to a win as the Regals finished fifth with 47 points.

Denny Gruber Relays

At Solon High School  

Girls Results

Team scores – 1. Solon 184; 2. Mount Vernon 101; 3. Marion 93; 4. Davenport Assumption 48; 5. Regina 47; 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 41; 7. Dyersville Beckman 32; 8. North Cedar 24

Individual results (Event champ; area medalists)

100 – 1. Abby Cave (MAR) 12.31; 2. Avery Recker (ICR) 12.98; 3. Piper Stahle (SOL) 13.1; 8. Margaret White (ICR) 13.64

200 – 1. Taylor Franck (MV) 26.71; 2. Marin Ashbacker (SOL) 26.95; 3. Piper Stahle (SOL) 27.42

400 – 1. Jerzey Haluska (SOL) 59.47

800 – 1. Falyn Svalstad (SOL) 2:31.81; 4. Evelyn Osgood (SOL) 2:51.06; 5. Caroline O’Rourke (ICR) 2:54.06

1,500 – 1. Addison Seamans (SOL) 5:19.19; 3. Liv Nelson (SOL) 5:34

3,000 – 1. Liv Nelson (SOL) 12:19.19

100 hurdles – 1. Reese Naeve (ICR) 15.28; 2. Elynn Hemann (SOL) 15.7; 3. Betsy Gavin (ICR) 17.32; 4. Anabelle Boelkins (SOL) 17.46

400 hurdles – 1. Addison Dabroski (MAR) 1:05.87; 4. Mya Fordice (SOL) 1:10.32; 5. Trea Eidahl (SOL) 1:10.93

Sprint medley – 1. Marion 1:47.75; 2. Solon (Kunkel, Ashbacker, Levin, Haluska) 1:51.6

Distance medley – 1. Marion 4:17.84; 2. Solon (Kunkel, Eidahl, Elijah, Schmidt) 4:26.62

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Regina (Gavin, Wiltz, Keune, Naeve) 1:07.64; 3. Solon (Hemann, Boelkins, Brodersen, Eidahl) 1:09.92

4×100 – 1. Marion 49.92; 2. Solon (Stahle, Ashbacker, Hemann, Kunkel) 50.84; 3. Regina (White, Naeve, Keune, Recker) 51.23

4×200 – 1. Marion 1:44.75; 2. Solon (Stahle, Kunkel, Eidahl, Ashbacker) 1:48.8; 4. Regina (White, Swen, Keune, Recker) 1:52.58

4×400 – 1. Marion 4:02.21; 2. Solon (Haluska, Rolwes, Schmidt, Levin) 4:08.35

4×800 – 1. Solon (Rolwes, Seamans, Fordice, Svalstad) 10:03.72

Shot put – 1. Taylor Bridgewater (V-S) 35-6 ¾; 3. Piper Johnson (SOL) 31-4 ½; 6. Brinley Landsgard (SOL) 29-7 ¾

Discus – 1. Piper Johnson (SOL) 109-3; 4. Adlie Miller (SOL) 80-0; 7. Shiya Patel (ICR) 72-5

Long jump – 1. Lucy Wischmeyer (MV) 17-10 ¼; 2. Tenley Levin (SOL) 16-6; 3. Anabelle Boelkins (SOL) 16-2 ¼

High jump – 1. Emily Pruess (NC) 5-0; 6. Layla Shipley (SOL) 4-6

Boys Results

Team scores – 1. Solon 127; 2. Regina 105; 3. Vinton-Shellsburg 76; 4. Mount Vernon 72; 5. Davenport Assumption 71; 6. Marion 69; 7. Dyersville Beckman 40; 8. North Cedar 26

Individual results (Event champ; area medalists)

100 – 1. Edwin Gangba (ICR) 10.88; 3. Einar Stecher (SOL) 11.13; 4. Philip Swen (ICR) 11.21

200 – 1. Clancey Vanoort (NC) 22.53; 4. Jackson Burk (SOL) 23.59

400 – 1. Mac Svalstad (SOL) 49.07; 4. Kevin Garcia Castro (ICR) 55.04

800 – 1. John Murphy (DA) 2:01.26; 2. Spencer Michels (SOL) 2:07.62

1,600 – 1. Dawson Scheil (MV) 4:26.79

3,200 – 1. Anders Holmes (SOL) 10:49.18; 3. Brooks Kabela (SOL) 11:20.69; 5. Aiden Roman (ICR) 12:23.63

110 hurdles – 1. Gabe Schuessler (ICR) 15.12; 2. Conor Keech (ICR) 17.47; 4. Michael Bigelow (SOL) 17.84; 6. Colton Sieverding (SOL) 19.65

400 hurdles – 1. Ian McCollum (DA) 55.39; 2. Will Brandt (SOL) 58.11; 4. Holt Hinkel (ICR) 59.1; 5. Justin Moore (SOL) 59.7

Sprint medley – 1. Regina (Swen, Hegelheimer, Gangba, Olney) 1:35.44; 5. Solon (Milliman, Donnenwerth, Wildrick, Brandt) 1:39.56

Distance medley – 1. Solon (Hoeper, Donnenwerth, Raasch, Bevans) 3:46.28

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Regina (Hinkel, Keech, Poe, Schuessler) 1:04.51; 2. Solon (Brandt, Bigelow, Moore, Shipley) 1:06.24

4×100 – 1. Marion 43.62; 2. Solon (Burk, Hancox, Kampman, Stecher) 43.8; 5. Regina (Swen, Venzon, Dito, Koch) 45.79

4×200 – 1. Regina (Olney, Hegelheimer, Koch, Gangba) 1:30.28; 4. Solon (Wildrick, Holtkamp, Donnenwerth, Kolar) 1:33.67

4×400 – 1. Dyersville Beckman 3:29.07; 3. Solon (Burg, Young, Bevans, Recker) 3:31.54

4×800 – 1. Davenport Assumption 8:10.63; 2. Solon (Michels, Young, Bevans, Recker) 8:11.69

Shot put – 1. Colson Chvala (V-S) 53-5; 2. Tate Wallace (ICR) 52-3 ¼

Discus – 1. Byron Christianson (V-S) 159-4; 2. Nathan Parizek (ICR) 148-1; 6. Tate Wallace (ICR) 136-11

Long jump – 1. Xzavier Greely (V-S) 22-5 ¼; 2. Aaron Honore (ICR) 20-9 ½; 4. Eli Kampman (SOL) 20-6 ¼

High jump – 1. Kaden Hoeper (SOL) 6-0; 2. Easton Shipley (SOL) 6-0; 3. Gabe Schuessler (ICR) 5-10

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