The sprint medley relay team of Jack Garber, Troy Dolphin, Logan Mann and Ben Paper started the day with a win in the first running event, then Caleb Silver punched his ticket to state with a win in the 3,200-meter run. Garber closed out the automatic bids with a win in the 110 high hurdles, a race he competed at in the Drake Relays.

After running a 15.04 and taking first in his specialty race, Garber said it was a difficult task coming into the meet knowing everyone expected him to win.

“It was kind of a cool feeling but it was also terrifying,” he said. “You want to go out there and you need to run your fastest times and you need to prepare yourself mentally because this is it. If you don’t prepare yourself mentally then it’s really easy to hit one and fall, and when you are coming in as No. 1 there’s not much place to go other than down.”

Silver was also the top seed in the 3,200, and until the final 100 meters he actually trailed Jackson Edens from GMG. Silver was able to give it a final kick and close out the victory, and he said he had some extra help from above.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • BCLUW’s Caleb Silver, left, chases GMG’s Jackson Edens through the turn during the 3,200-meter run at Thursday’s Class 1A state-qualifying track and field meet at BGM High School in Brooklyn. Silver earned an automatic berth to state by winning the race in 10 minutes, 43.92 seconds, while Edens will hope for an at-large spot after finishing second in 10:45.18.

“Today I just ran my race, that’s all I did,” Silver, who was a state qualifier in the 3,200 last year, said. “I give all the glory to God, he gave me this opportunity to come out here and run so I thank him for that opportunity and I can’t wait to run down at the blue oval.”

Edens and Silver battled in both of the distance races on Thursday, with Silver taking the victory in the 3,200 and Edens passing Silver in the final 50 meters of the 1,600 to finish in second place.

“He’s a good runner, only a sophomore so I know he has big things coming in the future,” Silver said of Edens. “I can’t wait to see what he does in the future, it will be fun running with him for the next year.”

“I am really good friends with the guy and I like the guy, it was nice to see that I’ve grown up a bit and he’s grown up too,” Edens said.

While that rounds out the automatic bids from BGM on the day, there were plenty of other great performances that likely earned qualifications for BCLUW, GMG, North Tama, Meskwaki and Colo-NESCO.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Garber said he thinks both the shuttle hurdle relay that placed second and his third-place finish in the 400 hurdles will earn qualifying spots as well, so he was thrilled with how everything went.

“I am happy to probably get my teammates down in the shuttle hurdle, that’s a big thing, and in the sprint medley we ran an insane time, I am really excited for that one,” he said.