Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – When it comes to running relay races, the City High boys track and field team has a lot of attractive options.

The combination of veteran leaders and impactful underclassmen eager to compete produced a lot of gold Thursday night at Trojan Field.

“An incredibly-talented group of kids, first of all,” seventh-year City High Coach Mike Moore said after the Little Hawks won six events, including four relays, at a Class 4A state-qualifying meet. “Just really proud of the effort of all the kids. They understood from day one that we’re happiest at the end of May. We’ve still got another week to get there and we did some really good things tonight.”

With 122 points, the Little Hawks finished second in the team standings to meet champion Cedar Rapids Prairie (133).

Dubuque Senior (108 points), Ottumwa (93) and Liberty High (87.5) rounded out the top five.

“Pretty impressive night for the Little Hawks,” Moore said. “We have got a week of work yet to do, but hopefully we can get some legs fresh over the weekend and come back on Monday and really have a great couple of days of practice. Get them off to Des Moines and have a successful state meet because that is where we want to be at our best. I think we are definitely on our way there.”

The top-two placewinners in each event are guaranteed a berth at the state meet, which begins Wednesday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

In addition to the automatic qualifiers, 12 at-large bids will be awarded from the remaining performances in the other state-qualifying meets across the state.

“We all really care about this,” City High sophomore distance runner Ammon Smith said. “We all went all out, as hard as we could, for this. We really wanted to get those places and those points.”

Smith anchored a pair of stirring victories in the 3,200 relay and the distance medley relay for Iowa City High, then capped his night with individual gold in the 800 run in 1:57.48.

“I knew that I had to go out and control that race if I wanted it,” Smith said.

A whopping nine different runners had a hand in the four relay wins for City High.

Smith was assisted by fellow sophomores Truman Thompson and Ford Washburn, plus junior Nollen Abriam, in a narrow 4×800 relay win in 7:59.69, just eight hundredths of a second better than runner-up Liberty High.

In the distance medley, two more sophomores – Ronnie Major and Akili Mattox – joined Smith and junior standout Javon Harris in victory, while Harris, Major, sophomore Sam Rew and senior Isaac Rohret were the foursome in the 4×100 relay win.

“A lot of it is we don’t really have just one really solid runner in each of those,” Smith said. “We have a deep team that we can put multiple, really good guys in each of those relays to really have them stick.”

The night got off to a rousing start for the Little Hawks in the sprint medley relay in which Rew, Major, Rohret and Harris established a new school record of 1:33.11.

“Each of us are hungry,” Rohret said. “Each of us know that is it a team, so each of us are willing to do our parts to benefit the relay team. Because of that, we are able to mesh and able to produce wonderful times.”

Rohret claimed the other individual victory for City High with a blistering time of 11.07 seconds in the 100.

“Practice,” Rohret said. “I have been practicing since last year. I have been running throughout the summer and just continued to work at it. Slowly I have been getting better at it.”

In a pair of runner-up performances, City High also qualified its shuttle hurdle relay team of Harris, senior John Aschenbrenner and sophomores Austin Rindels and Matt Schaeckenbach, plus Raph Hamilton in the shot put.

Liberty claimed individual gold when senior Bo Gryp won the 1600 run in 4:21.16.

Despite the 4×800 defeat, the runner-up finish earned Gryp, fellow senior Caleb Schillinger and juniors Gavin Keeney and Jordan Robinson a trip to state.

Iowa City West was sixth in the team standings with 83.5 points behind second-place finishes from junior Alex McKane (3,200), senior Jason Lu (110 hurdles) and senior Fabian Brown (200).

Class 4A State Qualifying Meet

At Trojan Field

Team scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 133; 2. City High 122; 3. Dubuque Senior 108; 4. Ottumwa 93; 5. Liberty High 87.5; 6. West High 83.5; 7. Dubuque Hempstead 72; 8. Muscatine 39.

State Qualifiers; Area placers

Long jump – 1. Sam Akins (DS) 22-5 1/4; 2. Gatlin Menninga (OTT) 21-4; 3. Daqwan Sanders (ICL) 21-1 3/4; 4. Ronnie Major (ICH) 20-4 1/4; 5. Daquan Johnson (ICW) 20-0 3/4; 6. Grahm Goering (ICW) 19-5 3/4; 7. Akili Mattox (ICH)18-10 ¾

High jump – 1. Logan Flanagan (DS) 6-5; 2. Austin Fountain (OTT) 6-2; 3. Matt Schaeckenbach (ICH) 6-2; 7. John Aschenbrenner (ICH) 5-8; t8. Braden Gladwin (ICW), 5-08; t8. Beau Miller (ICL) 5-08.

Shot put – 1. Jesus Jaime (OTT) 54-02.75; 2. Raph Hamilton (ICH) 53-7 1/2; 5. Mason Applegate (ICW) 47-5; 8. Ostyn Friday (ICH) 45-0

Discus – 1. Nolan Recker (MUS) 177-1; 2. Jesus Jaime (OTT) 160-4; 4. Raph Hamilton (ICH), 147-7; 7. Ostyn Friday (ICH) 126-7; 8. Mason Applegate (ICW) 123-01

100 – 1. Isaac Rohret (ICH) 11.07; 2. David Williams (DS) 11.10; 4. Mason Applegate (ICW) 11.31; 6. Brody Fishman (ICL) 11.75; 7. Wyatt Williams (ICL),11.76; 8. Todd Rent (ICW) 11.91

200 – 1. Charlie Welch (OTT) 22.27; 2. Fabian Brown (ICW) 22.67; 3. Luke Meyers (ICL), 22.68; 7. Jalen Wieck (ICL) 24.16; 8. Isaiah Svoboda (ICH) 24.47

400 – 1. Matthew Kruse (DS) 50.04; 2. Derek Leicht (DH) 50.41; 5. Quincy Jagnow (ICL) 53.69; 7. Bongain Mazibo (ICW) 54.49; 8. Jeremiah Madlock (ICL) 55.63

800 – 1. Ammon Smith (ICH) 1:57.48; 2. Derek Leicht (DH) 1:57.50; 3. Truman Thompson (ICH) 1:59.48; 4. Gavin Keeney (ICL) 1:59.63; 5. Caden Noeller (ICW) 1:59.67; 7. Caleb Schillinger (ICL) 2:00.86; 8. Ike Taylor (ICW) 2:02.83.

1,600 – 1. Bo Gryp (ICL) 4:21.16; 2. Owen Maloney (DH) 4:21.42; 4. Ford Washburn (ICH) 4:23.49; 5. Jack Kinzer (ICL) 4:23.79; 7. Alex McKane (ICW) 4:27.44

3,200 – 1. Ryan Winger (DH) 9:32.76; 2. Alex McKane (ICW) 9:40.74; 6. Aidan Decker (ICL) 9:53.19; 7. Seth Cheney (ICW) 10:01.80; 8. Christian Montover (ICL), 10:02.02

110 hurdles – 1. Ceondae Adams (CRP) 14.62; 2. Jason Lu (ICW) 15.00; 6. Austin Rindels (ICH) 16.07; 8. Daqwan Sanders (ICL) 16.81

400 hurdles – 1. Matthew Kruse (DS) 54.19; 2. Isaac Eaton (OTT) 55.01; 4. Matt Schaeckenbach (ICH) 56.51; 8. Jason Lu (ICW) 57.88

Sprint medley relay – 1. City High (Sam Rew, Ronnie Major, Isaac Rohret, Jovan Harris) 1:33.11; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 1:34.04; 5. West High (Izaiah Loveless, Trey King, Fabian Brown, Daquan Johnson) 1:36.57; 7. Liberty High (Michael Miller, Benjamin O’Connor, Luke Meyers, Quincy Jagnow) 1:36.99;

Distance medley relay – 1. City High (Ronnie Major, Akili Mattox, Jovan Harris, Ammon Smith) 3:39.18; 2. Liberty High (Cody Nichols, Benjamin O’Connor, Jack Kinzer, Bo Gryp) 3:39.18; 6. West High (Izaiah Loveless, Kalen Haworth, Asher Overholt, Mohan Kumar) 3:51.93

Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 59.17; 2. City High (John Aschenbrenner, Jovan Harris, Austin Rindels, Matt Schaeckenbach) 1:01.40; 3. Liberty High (Maxwell Thompson, Daqwan Sanders, Beau Miller, Griffin Kraft) 1:01.49; 4. West High (Clayton Bopp, Kalen Haworth, Christian Janis, Jason Lu) 1:02.32

4×100 relay – 1. City High (Sam Rew, Jovan Harris, Ronnie Major, Isaac Rohret) 42.94; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 43.26; 3. West High (Trey King, Fabian Brown, Christian Janis, Mason Applegate) 43.37; 4. Liberty High (Michael Miller, Benjamin O’Connor, Brody Fishman, Luke Meyers) 43.44.

4×200 – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 1:29.67; 2. Ottumwa 1:30.79; 3. West High (Daquan Johnson, Trey King, Fabian Brown, Christian Janis) 1:31.80; 5. Liberty High (Wyatt Williams, Evan Chandler, Jalen Wieck, Cody Nichols) 1:35.24

4×400 relay – 1. Dubuque Senior 3:25.77; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 3:25.95; 4. Liberty High (Luke Meyers, Michael Miller, Gavin Keeney, Jack Kinzer) 3:29.76; 6. City High (Matt Schaeckenbach, Truman Thompson, Juma Amisi, Ammon Smith) 3:32.12; 8. West High (Jason Lu, Daquan Johnson, Christian Janis, Caden Noeller) 3:34.24.

4×800 relay – 1. City High (Truman Thompson, Nollen Abriam, Ford Washburn, Ammon Smith) 7:59.69; 2. Liberty High (Gavin Keeney, Jordan Robinson, Caleb Schillinger, Bo Gryp), 7:59.77; 5. West High (Ike Taylor, Asher Overholt, Mason Van Waning, Caden Noeller) 8:15.81

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