By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Every team wants to enter the district meet feeling good.

City High was already in position to do that entering the final event at the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley divisional meet on Thursday night at Raffensperger Track at City High.

Senior Jack Roggeveen and his 4×400 teammates made sure they sent the Little Hawks home feeling even better.

Roggeveen held off Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Jessie Price over the final 50 meters as City High won the 4×400 in a season-best time of 3:22.6.

“I think it boosts the confidence for a lot of us especially Jack the way he finished,” City High junior Zach Jones said. “He said he got caught by that guy once but it wasn’t going to happen again. This sends us into next week feeling really good.”

Thursday was the final tune-up before next Thursday’s 4A state qualifying meet that will also be held at City High’s Raffensperger Track.

It was also the first chance for the City High 4×400 team to get back on the track after a disappointment eighth-place finish in the finals at the Drake Relays on Saturday.

City High ran their fastest time of the season in the Drake prelims at 3:22.9 but clocked a disappointing 3:25.99 in the cold and rainy finals.

Roggeveen and his teammates got a little bit of redemption on Thursday and a big boost heading into the district meet. 

“Obviously it’s a huge morale boost because we performed so poorly at Drake in that final,” Roggeveen said. “That gets all of our spirits up and just get us excited for districts and state.”

The 4×400 win was highlight of a strong day for the City High relays that included a title in the 4×800, a runner-up in the distance medley and third-place finishes in both the 4×100 and sprint medley.

“We have some tough 800 runners and some tough 400 runners and they are really the ones that are leading this charge,” City High coach Mike Moore said. “I think a lot of the other kids are feeding off that.”

The strong relay performances helped City High finish fourth with 87 points.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy scored 66 points in the field events and cruised to the team title with 150 points.

Cedar Rapids Prairie was second with 104 while Cedar Falls was third with 90.

“I thought this was the next step for us, we didn’t win the meet but we took a big step today,” Moore said. “We are who we are we have some decent things. We aren’t a West High level or a Valley level or a Waukee level as far as number and quality but like I said to these kids I’d take these guys to war with me any time and I know my coaches all feel that same way.”

Jones and Roggeveen finished first and third in the 400 and Jim McMillan was second in the 800 in 1:59.33 but all three did plenty of work in relays.

McMillan teamed with James Momberg, JP Rethwisch and Daniel Brown to win the 4×800 in 8:08.43.

Jones and Roggeveen both ran on the third-place 4×100 team that posted a season-best time of 43.31 while Roggeveen ran the 200 leg on the third-place sprint medley team.

“I had to run four events today, I rarely do that and I thought I was going to be dead but I feel good,” Roggeveen said. “I could go out and run another four if I wanted, they just wouldn’t be very fast.”

It was the 4×400 team that stole the show for City High.

Daniel Brown got City High out to a strong start and Jones gave the Little Hawks a cushion heading into the final 800 meters.

JP Rethwisch kept that lead and turned it over to Roggeveen who held off Price by .07 seconds to win the title.

The 3:22.6 is .30 better than the previous season-best for City High but Roggeveen believes that time will go down even further.

“I think we can get sub 3:20,” Roggeveen said. “That’s a good goal for us and if we can get on the same page and give our all every single time we can definitely break 3:20.

Roggeveen isn’t alone in his belief the 4×400 team can drop time in the final two weeks.

“I’ve seen a 3:17, I’ve seen a 3:16 when Tim Dwight was running and I’ve seen a lot of great teams and we aren’t in that same breath but you get around that 3:20 or 3:19 mark and you are really, really good so I’m really excited for them,” Moore said. “If we can keep them fresh and keep them trained properly these next few weeks I’m excited to see how they can finish this thing.” 

MVC Valley Divisional

At City High

Team scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 150; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 104; 3. Cedar Falls 90; 4. City High 87; 5. Cedar Rapids Washington 73; 6. Dubuque Senior 44; 7. Dubuque Hempstead 41.

Individual Results

(Top Three finishers; Area placwinners)

100 – 1. Matt Timmer (CF) 11.01; 2. Dylan Kutsch (DH) 11.15; 3. Chase Baker (CRK) 11.22; 5. Rajay Rodney (ICH) 11.32.

200 – 1. Matt Timmer (CF) 22.19; 2. Tay Collins (DH) 22.57; 3. MarTy Borseth (CRP) 22.78; 6. Vance Dillon (ICH) 23.37.

400 – 1. Zach Jones (ICH) 50.3; 2. Jesse Price (CRK) 51.25; 3. Jack Roggeveen (ICH) 51.29.

800 – 1. Seb Gearhart (CF) 1:56.31; 2. Jim McMillan 1:59.33; 3. Robert Laue (CRP) 2:01.08;

1,600 – 1. Sam Schillinger (CF) 4:17.88; 2. Max Locher (CRW) 4:29.95; 3. Michael Berg (ICH) 4:30.7.

3,200 – 1. Cameron Steffens (CRP) 9:51.08; 2. Jalen Hildebrand (DS) 9:52.2; 3. Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand (ICH) 10:05.2.

110 hurdles – 1. Joah Banks (CRP) 14.23; 2. Terrell Jordan Jr. (CRK) 15.2; 3. Reese Barton (CRW) 15.26; 5. Rex Thompson (ICH) 15.48.

400 hurdles – 1. Angelo Romagna (DS) 56.45; 2. Mike Jasa (CRP) 56.5; 3. Dakota Brimmer (DS) 57.84; 5. Rex Thompson (ICH) 1:00.29.

Sprint medley – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1:34.9; 2. Cedar Rapids Washington 1:35.18; 3. City High (Vance Dillon, Rajay Rodney, Jack Roggeveen, Lucas Firmstone) 1:35.39.

Distance medley – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 3:40.75; 2. City High (Rex Thompson, Max DePrenger, James Momberg, Lucas Firmstone) 3:42.38; 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 3:45.

Shuttle hurdle – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 58.93; 2. Cedar Rapids Washington 59.97; 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1:00.46; 5. City High (Rex Thompson, Griffin Moore, Max DePrenger, Dillon Africa) 1:03.17.

4×100 – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 42.98; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 43.27; 3. City High (Zach Jones, Jack Roggeveen, Rajay Rodney, Vance Dillon) 43.31.

4×200 – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 1:28.41; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 1:32.46; 3. Cedar Rapids Washington 1:32.74.

4×400 – 1. City High (Daniel Brown, Zach Jones, JP Rethwisch, Jack Roggeveen) 3:22.6; 2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 3:22.67; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 3:29.14.

4×800 – 1. City High (Jim McMillan, James Momberg, JP Rethwisch, Daniel Brown) 8:08.43; 2. Cedar Falls 8:11.78; 3. Cedar Rapids Washington 8:19.45.

High jump – 1. Malik Haynes (CRK) 6-2; 2. Mason Abbas (CF) 6-0; 3. Nathan Drahos (CRK) 5-10.

Long jump – 1. MarTy Borseth (CRP) 23-3; 2. Terrell Jordan Jr. (CRK) 21-10 ¾; 3. Malik Haynes (CRK) 21-3 ¾; 5. Cole Milder (ICH) 20-0.

Shot put – 1. Jackson Coker (CRK) 63-9 ½; 2. Sam Pape (CRK) 50-3; 3. Jackson Leistikow (CF) 50-0 ½.

Discus – 1. Jackson Coker (CRK) 182-0; 2. Cam Jones (CRK) 146-9; 3. Gerry Alt (CRW) 141-4.