IOWA TRACK AND FIELD CO-ED STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Bobcats ride rarities to runner-up relay finish
By ROSS THEDE
POSTED: May 16, 2008
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No need to adjust your binoculars — both things really did happen at the Iowa High School Co-Ed State Championships.
Both factors contributed to the Bobcats’ 4x800-meter relay team taking second place in the Class 4A race here Thursday night at Drake Stadium. Marshalltown won the second flight in a combined time of 7 minutes, 54.67 seconds, but Waukee — running out of the first flight — had its time of 7:53.52 withstand the assault of the traditionally faster heat to take the event crown.
Fogarty, running the anchor leg for a relay he did not help qualify for state, chased down Ankeny’s Kyle Svoboda with 100 meters to go and buried the pedal in hopes of knocking Waukee’s time off the scoreboard.
After crossing the finish line he turned back to see if he’d done it, chuckled when seeing he hadn’t, and then began a much-needed cool-down after running his longest competitive race of the season.
“I haven’t been training 800s, no,” he said between big gulps of oxygen. “I knew that after the first 350 meters.”
Seniors Luke Demmel and Ethan Blagg and freshman Khor Kong, running respective splits of 1:58.1, 1:59.5 and 2:00.7, had the Bobcats in second place behind a healthy Ankeny advantage when Fogarty took the baton. The margin seemed insurmountable, even for Fogarty’s MHS teammates watching from the infield.
“I didn’t think he was going to get first,” Blagg confessed. “He has an amazing kick.”
“I honestly thought that Ankeny had us,” Kong chimed in.
Fogarty did not find out he’d be switching out of the 4x400 and into the 4x800 until Tuesday, but it did not show when he caught Ankeny’s anchor at the start of the home stretch.
“I was just glad he had a finish left,” Demmel said.
Fogarty’s anchor split of 1:56 was one of the fastest in the field, but it wasn’t quite enough to surge the Bobcats past their CIML Iowa Conference foes.
Marshalltown junior Logan Swarts went into the 3,200 seeded 21st but bumped that number down to 17th place with his final time of 10:06.99.
The Bobcat relay’s runner-up finish gained the team eight points, tying them with Ankeny, West Des Moines Valley and Lewis Central for ninth after the first day of state competition. Pleasant Valley and defending champion Iowa City West are tied atop the team standings with 22 points.
Today’s events for the Bobcats include the 400 hurdles, where Fogarty is the defending champion. Derek Williams has the top seed for the long jump, in which he placed sixth last year.
