Area competitors one spot away from earning medals over weekend

DES MOINES – Save for a repeat performance by Drew Engebretson in the 800, the area was thwarted for medals by a few close calls on Friday and Saturday of the state track & field meet.
Engebretson, who finished sixth a year ago coming out of the first section, was among the second section and got his career best time in the event by five-tenths of a second.
However, it didn’t allow him to a move up in the medal position, taking sixth once more.
“My strategy coming in was to take it easy the first lap,” Engebretson said, “get a feel for it and then kick it in and give everything.”
He added that he was hoping for better, time-wise, although he did get his PR at 1 minutes, 58.11 seconds.
By virtue of Engebretson’s finish alone, the Warhawks finished a five-way tie for 41st with three points.
Jacob Hansen, who ran in the first section of the 800 and improved his PR by four seconds, came back and worked his way to a ninth-place finish in the 1,600, also on Saturday, May 23. That was a PR for the sophomore by more than 11 seconds at 4:32.50.
“Pretty tired, I guess,” Hansen said after finishing the second race of the day, “but I made two PRs today, so I’m happy with that. I had a little nerves this morning, but I got that out of the way. It was great running the last race with Peyton here. He was a good mentor, I’m going to miss him.
“Usually I’m his pacer, but today I got out on my own a little.”
Also just missing a placing was senior thrower Madison Mason, who was ninth overall out of the first flight in the discus on Friday, May 22.
Due to Memorial Day deadlines, this story did not run in the May 27 print edition of the Hampton Chronicle. It may be found in its entirety in the May 28 Sheffield Press and Pioneer Enterprise.