Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Mac Svalstad shined in his debut at the state track and field meet on Thursday securing a medal in the Class 3A 400 with a sixth-place finish.

For an encore on Friday the Solon freshman split a 1:52.66 on the 800-meter anchor leg of the distance medley relay to lift the Spartans to a state title.

The curtain call for Svalstad on Saturday was just as impressive.

Svalstad clocked the fastest 800 time by a freshman in state history at 1:52.8 in a third-place finish in the 3A 800 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

“Winning the distance medley with my teammates definitely ignited a spark in me and gave me a lot more confidence going into this race,” Svalstad said. “Knowing that I could go 1:52 was a big boost just knowing I could go out and do that gave me a lot of confidence for this race.”

Svalstad got out strong and led for most of the opening 500 meters on Saturday.

The freshman was fifth entering the final 100 meters before using a late burst to finish third behind two of the most accomplished distance runners in state history.

Pella senior Canaan Dunham won the 800 title in a time of 1:50.61 while Western Dubuque senior Quentin Nauman, an Oregon recruit and the all-time state leader in the 800 was runner-up in 1:51.22.

“I led for a lot of it but they passed me, I knew I had a lot left but they are just such talented guys with so much experience,” Svalstad said. “It’s truly a great opportunity to go out and run against those guys because they are the best of the best.”

Svalstad passed both Gilbert junior Logan Bleich and Mount Vernon senior Dawson Scheil down the stretch.

Bleich finished fourth in 1:52.8 while Scheil was fifth in 1:53.21.

“It definitely gives me a lot of motivation because I know what it feels like to get third,” Svalstad said. “Being third, I was so close but so far away so this is going to give me a lot of motivation in the offseason and into next season to go out there and perform.”

Svalstad also anchored the Solon 4×400 relay team to a fourth-place finish as Solon finished eighth in the Class 3A team standings with 27 points.

The Solon 4×400 team of Paxton Holtkamp, Eli Kampman, Jackson Burk and Svalstad finished fourth in a time of 3:20.93.

The time for Solon was more than a full second faster than its previous best time of 3:21.99 set at the WAMAC Conference meet earlier this season.

Class 3A State Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Girls Results

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Mount Vernon 67; 2. ADM 60; 3. Pella 55; 4. Sioux Center 53; 5. MOC Floyd-Valley 42; 6. Burlington 34; 6. Dubuque Wahlert 34; 8. Marion 33; 9. Williamsburg 31; 10. North Polk 29; 18. Clear Creek Amana 12; 34. Solon 3

Individual results (Event winner; area competitors)

100 – 1. Kaleigh Tooker (MOC-Floyd Valley) 12.0

200 – 1. CaliAna Whitaker (Mount Vernon) 24.44

800 – 1. Evelyn Moeller (Mount Vernon) 2:11.46; 24. Falyn Svalstad (Solon) 2:33.26

1,500 – 1. Evelyn Moeller (Mount Vernon) 4:28.07; 13. Alison Seidl (Clear Creek Amana) 4:53.09

100 hurdles – 1. Elise Coghlan (ADM) 14.2; 6. Addilyn Scheetz (Clear Creek Amana) 14.97

Sprint medley – 1. Marion 1:46.46; 8. Solon (Piper Stahle, Marin Ashbacker, Tenley Levin, Jerzey Haluska) 1:49.93; 16. Clear Creek Amana (Anna Johnson, Thea Nelson, Bailey Simpson, Payton Curtin) 1:51.53

Shuttle hurdle – 1. North Polk 1:02.59; 5. Clear Creek Amana (Sydney Pfeiffer, Bella Behrens, Jaylin Herring, Addilyn Scheetz) 1:06.26

4×100 – 1. ADM 48.24; 7. Clear Creek Amana (Anna Johnson, Thea Nelson, Elizabeth Timmerman, Addilyn Scheetz) 48.89

4×400 – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 3:52.04; 8. Solon (Jerzey Haluska, Mailee Schmidt, Ava Rolwes, Tenley Levin) 4:01.31

Boys Results

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Pella 105; 2. Clear Lake 64; 3. Western Dubuque 56; 4. Gilbert 49; 5. Clear Creek Amana 47; 6. Waverly-Shell Rock 42; 7. Grinnell 30; 8. Solon 27; 9. Keokuk 26; 9. Benton Community 26

Individual results (Event winner; area competitors)

100 – 1. Ryan Bair (Keokuk) 10.48; 3. Tay Seals (Clear Creek Amana) 10.64

200 – 1. Ryan Bair (Keokuk) 21.45

800 – 1. Canaan Dunham (Pella) 1:50.61; 3. Mac Svalstad (Solon) 1:52.8; 16. Jackson VanHorn (Clear Creek Amana) 1:58.03; 23. Jaimyn Bevans (Solon) 2:01.31

1,600 – 1. Quentin Nauman (Western Dubuque) 4:08.16; 6. Carson Meskimen (Clear Creek Amana) 4:16.27

110 hurdles – 1. Tay Seals (Clear Creek Amana) 13.73

Sprint medley – 1. Pella 1:30.91; 4. Clear Creek Amana (Brady Hilsman, Adam Zeman, Tay Seals, Quade Jensen) 1:31.94

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Pella 57.17

4×100 – 1. Clear Creek Amana 42.3

4×400 – 1. Clear Lake 3:16.3; 4. Solon (Paxton Holtkamp, Eli Kampman, Jackson Burk, Mac Svalstad) 3:20.93; 5. Clear Creek Amana (Cade Overman, Riley Colvin, Jack Timmerman, Quade Jensen) 3:21.2

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