Where to see a Comet
Boys shooting to stay in front pack of team standingsBy MARK PAWLAK
POSTED: May 15, 2008
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The Comets will run in all six relays at the Iowa Track and Field Co-ed State Championships to lead their attempt to remain near the top of the final team standings.
“It really truly is quite a feat,” BCLUW head coach Les Penick said of qualifying all six relays. “A few weeks ago looking at the district, I thought we had a chance for six relays. Everything came together and to get all six down there was an exciting moment.”
Add in the Comet girls taking six of a possible seven, BCLUW will be represented in the relay events.
“It’s just as special for the girls to get six as well,” Penick said. “There will be BCLUW Comets running all over down there.”
The Comets have finished in the top 10 of the final team standings in seven of the last nine years. BCLUW left with a trophy in both of the previous years as they were the Class 1A state champion in 2006 and the runner-up last spring.
“Our motto that last several years has been tradition never graduates,” Penick said, “hopefully we can continue with that.”
The 4x800- and 4x400-meter relays have fared well in previous state meets.
The Comets have placed in the 4x800 in five straight years and are two-time defending champions. The 4x400 has placed four times in a row and was the state’s best in 2007.
One member of both of last year’s relay champions is back in junior Tanner Dielschneider.
Friday will be the day with the most Comet sightings as they will be running in four relays.
The 1,600 medley, which qualified with Austin Krause, Dielschneider, Adam Probasco and Dane McDonald, is in the fast heat. Krause, Probasco, Ben Vawter and Ty Morgan qualified in the 4x200. BCLUW is in the 4x100 (Krause, Probasco, Cory Haywood, Dielschneider) and 4x400 (Probasco, McDonald, Haywood and Dielschneider) preliminaries to close out the day.
The shuttle hurdle opens this afternoon’s competition with the Comets having qualified with the group of Krause, Vawter, Morgan and Haywood.
The Comets are in the fast heat of the 4x800 due to the qualifying time of Dielschneider, Sam Goodman, Blake Zacharias and McDonald.
The Comets’ bevy of talented runners has allowed them to get all six relays to the state meet and gives them the chance to make some minor changes this weekend.
“We could have made personnel changes in just about every relay and will probably change some things up at state,” Penick said. “It just shows we have a bunch of kids on this team that work really hard. They’re a group that don’t care about me, they care about we.”
BCLUW will have three individual entries as McDonald moved his way to state in the 1,500, Haywood is in the 400 hurdles field and Nick Hutchens in the discus.
West Lyon leads the Class 1A field with 12 qualifiers. Alburnett and Wapsie Valley have 10 apiece, while the Comets are among five schools with nine qualifiers.
“The opportunity is there for us to place well in several events and score some points,” Penick said. “We’re looking to keep that top 10 streak going.”
Class 1A rundown
Grundy Center’s strength sits in the hurdle events. The Spartans have a pair in 110 high hurdles in seniors Randy Haupt and Chris Henely. The two join Spencer Ross and Mark Faust for the shuttle hurdle relay, which set a school record at districts. Haupt is seeded sixth in the 110 highs and the shuttle hurdle relay has the No. 7 seed.
Grundy Center has four additional individual qualifiers in Todd Schafer (100), Henely (200), Drew Riesberg (3,200) and Haupt (high jump). In the relays, the Spartans’ group of Zach Mackie, Dalton Wrage, Henely and Schafer are in the 4x100.
AGWSR stands with the fifth-best time in the 4x100 with the group of Jared Nolte, Chris Keninger, Tyler Huisman and Trent Heetland. The distance medley is in the second of three heats. The Cougars’ top individual qualifier is Keninger, who is in the final heat of the 400, while Parker Drake is in the 3,200 and Nolte the long jump.
Both of Colo-NESCO’s events are in the hurdles. Jake Warren is in the 110 highs field and the Royals will send Jake Kaiser, Brandon Eley, Erik Lawson and Warren to the track in the shuttle hurdle relay. Colo-NESCO finished seventh last year and the final two legs of that group are back in Lawson and Warren.
Tim Mooney will represent GMG in both the discus and shot put.
