H-D-CAL Boys and Girls Track Kick Season off at Indoor Meets

The snow is starting to finally melt, and the weather is starting to warm up which heralds also the spring sports season for high school athletes.  The Bulldog boys and girls track teams opened up their season with two indoor meets in one week.  First up the boys and girls competed at the Wartburg Indoor Co-Ed Invitational on Tuesday, March 21.  The girls then traveled to Clear Lake for the North Iowa Girls Indoor Championships in the new rec facility. The boys then ran in the North Iowa Boys Indoor Championships the next night.  The track coaches all voiced their excitement at the season’s opening and expectations to see their athletes running, throwing, or jumping in Des Moines at the end of the season.  

In girls track, Charlee Morton won the indoor shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 7 ½ inches, picking up where she left off last season.  No other girls would finish in the top 8 in any events, but plenty of girls shook the rust off and they got back into competitive mode.  The boys track team also saw success in several different events with Seniors Jack Drier and Tony Valenzuela both making the final heat of the 55-meter dash.  Drier would win the event with a 6.6 second run, with Valenzuela finishing in third with a run of 6.76.  Junior Gavin Meader finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.99.  In the 400, Juniors Gage Plagge and Carson Hisler both finished top eight, with Plagge finishing second with a run of 56.07 and Hisler finishing sixth running 56.91.  Plagge also finished seventh in the long jump with a jump of 19-01.

On Thursday the Bulldog girls traveled to Clear Lake Thursday night for the first ever North Iowa Indoor Championships in the new Rec Center at the Clear Lake High School.  There, the 12-team field would compete for the first ever crown with the Bulldog girls finding success in multiple events, starting with Morton winning another title in the shot put with a throw of 37-3 3/4. In other results Sophomore Lily Hambly finished seventh in the high jump with a jump of 4-8, Aubryee Showalter finished eighth in the long jump with a jump of 14-07 1/4, and Abbi Drier finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.81.  The juniors had a strong showing as well with Teaghan Bird finishing fifth in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 34.67, Hambly finished eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:57.74, and Lydia Maas finished 8th in the girls 1500-meter run with a time of 6:06.  The Bulldogs also claimed another crown in the shuttle hurdle relay with a team of Drier, Hambly, Bird, and Showalter with the girls running a time of 43.27.  They would finish 4th in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:38.23 set by the team of Zoe Erdman, Hambly, Aubree Gronewold, and Bird.  The 4x800 team claimed third place with a run of 11:34.72, run by Bird, Gronewold, Maas, and Erdman.  As a team the Bulldogs finished seventh with 46 points.

The H-D-CAL boy traveled to Clear Lake the next night to compete in the boys edition of the North Iowa Indoor Championships.  In field events the Bulldogs had a few place winners.  Junior Scott Har placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 45-10.50,  Valenzuela placed seventh in the long jump with a jump of 19-03.50 and Valenzuela and Drier both made the finals in the 60-meter dash again.  Drier would claim the title with a run of 7.11 and Valenzuela would finish 11th.  In the 200-meter hurdles sophomore Colin Bird  finished seventh with a run of 28.80 and Hisler ran a 57.61 400-meter dash to claim eighth place.  Plagge finished sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.02.  

The Bulldogs finished in fifth place in the sprint medley with a time of 4:02.06 by junior Karter Janssen, Tate Murray, Gavin Meader, and Plagge.  The 4x200-meter relay team would take firth place however.  The relay order was Drier to Murray to Meader to Valenzuela, three of those four made state track last year.  The Bulldogs also competed in a new event, the college distance medley, and set a school record by virtue of it being the first time they competed in the event.  The relay  was run at 1200-meter, 800-meter, 1600-meter, and 400-meter. A team of juniors Jayson Stevens and Ethan Miller, and sophomores Isaac Sauke and Isaac Vosburg finished in eighth place with a time of 13:25.14.  The Bulldogs would ultimately finish tied for 9th place out of 12 teams with 38 points.

The boys and girls were supposed to have a track meet Friday, March 31, but it was canceled due to high winds.  Both the boys and girls competed in a coed meet at South Hamilton Monday.  Thursday the Bulldog girls will host a home meet and the boys will travel to Clarion.