When the dust settled, however, it was still the East Marshall boys track and field team that came out on top, defending their title from 2017 with a score of 142.

The most dominant performance for the Mustangs came in the throwing events, where senior Justin Ridout continued to show he’s the best thrower in the area. Ridout won the discus with a heave of 143 feet, 3 1/2 inches, then he followed that with a victory in the shot put with a distance of 53-8. After his throws were complete, Ridout said he knew the competition was his to win, so he wanted to go out and show himself up.

“I was kind of just competing with myself in the shot put, I really wanted to get a 57 up there but it didn’t really work,” he said. “Some things to work on for Thursday and I have two days to prepare and I think I can do it.”

Ridout’s second throw in the shot put would have been a new personal record and well over 57 feet, but he just scratched on the attempt. Other than in the throws, the Mustangs won two more events.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Grundy Center senior Drew Rathe clears the bar at 6 feet, 2 inches, during the high jump on Monday in the NICL West Division championships. Rathe set a new personal best with the mark and won the event.

Austin Elliot took a photo-finish victory in the 100-meter dash, beating top-seeded Troy Dolphin from BCLUW by less than a tenth of a second, and the 4×800-meter relay team of Eli Anderson, Seth Kilborn, Dane Thompson and Tyer DeBondt won with a time of 8:47.27. East Marshall also placed second in eight other events, which greatly helped its score.

Grundy Center was second in the meet with a score of 122. Drew Rathe was the lone individual to win an event for the Spartans, jumping a height of 6-2 in the high jump and shattering his previous personal-best of 5-11.

“I felt good today, I don’t know, I just kept jumping,” Rathe said. “I got 6 foot and I didn’t even know it was 6 foot, I thought it was 5-11. So I just kept feeling good, then I got 6-1, then 6-2, and I almost got 6-3.”

It was a good day for Grundy Center in the high jump as Sawyer Bowen followed Rathe by placing second. Jordan Hook also took second in the shot put, while Will Grames finished second in the 200, and Derek Ciddio placed second in the 1,600 and 3,200.

BCLUW placed third as a team with a score of 122. Jack Garber had arguably the most successful day of any athlete, as he won two individual events for the Comets and was a part of two relay wins.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Garber, already known as one of the best hurdlers in the state regardless of class, took first in the 110 high hurdles and first in the 400 hurdles. Garber is used to running the shorter race, but the 400 hurdles was kind of a shot in the dark for him to run.

“I came into it pretty nervous, I’m not very knowledgeable about the 400 hurdles so I don’t really have a set strategy for it,” he said. “I kind of came into it thinking ‘if I go out fast it’s going to hurt at the end, but if I go out slow it’s still going to hurt at the end,’ so I just went at it hard. On the back stretch I tried to make up a lot of ground, and then on the end I gave it all that I had left. Not really the prettiest over the last three hurdles but I just wanted to get over them.”

Not only did he win the 400 hurdles, he did so in a season-best time of 56.2 seconds. Garber also anchored the shuttle hurdle team to a victory, running alongside Coby Willet, Koty Kruse and Connor Thompson, and he ran the second leg of a victory in the 4×100, running with Ben Paper, Logan Manna and Troy Dolphin.

Garber said he loved his victory in the 400 hurdles, but his favorite win was the shuttle hurdle setting a season-best time of 1:00.90.

“We have been working really, really hard on that race and to get that time and win this conference title, that meant a lot to us and a lot to me,” he said.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Troy Dolphin had the other individual win for BCLUW, as he took first in the 400 as well as second in the 100 and third in the 200.

West Marshall was fourth in the meet with a score of 90. Like Garber, senior Beau Coberley was a stud for the Trojans, winning two individual events and running on two winning relay teams.

Coberley placed first in the 200 with a time of 22.8, a new season best, and he won the long jump with a vault of 21 feet. He also ran the anchor leg of the winning 4×200 team, along with Josh Larsen, Jake Tollefson and Cameron Bannister, and he was part of the winning sprint medley team with Larsen, Tollefson and Bannister.

West Marshall closed out the meet with a win as well, with the 4×400 team of Bannister, Tollefson, Joe Halverson, and Ron Maxey taking first with a time of 3:34.87. Maxey also won the open 800 with a time of 2:07.25.

South Hardin placed fifth as a team with a score of 69. Zakee Newman was a dominant force for the Tigers in the distance races, winning both the 1,600 with a time of 4:52.67 and the 3,200 with a time of 10:24.21.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

After his races, Newman said his goal wasn’t to just beat his competitors but to improve on his own times.

“I planned on coming in to at least PR in both, and I was very close to them,” he said. “Other than that it was a great race.”

Kevin Rewoldt finished in second for South Hardin in the discus and third in the shot put, while Tanner Lawrence was third in the 110 high hurdles.

AGWSR finished in sixth with a team score of 50. Alec Stahl had one of the best individual placings for the Cougars, taking second in the 800, while Liam Stubbe also took second in the 400 hurdles.

The lone win for AGWSR came in the distance medley, where the team of Stubbe, Stahl, Chase Harms and Luke Starr won with a time of 3:46.02.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck was the final placing in the meet, taking seventh with a score of 19. Matt Johannsen took third in the long jump for the Rebels, while the 4×200 relay team of Johannsen, Hunter Lott, Cael Wyatt and Josh Peterson also took third.

NICL West Division Championship

At Grundy Center

BOYS

Team Standings — 1. East Marshall 142, 2. Grundy Center 122, 3. BCLUW 97, 4. West Marshall 90, 5. South Hardin 69, 6. AGWSR 50, 7. Gladbrook-Reinbeck 19.

Event Results (top 3)

100 — 1. Elliot, EM, 11.56; 2. Dolphin, BCLUW, 11.64; 3. Paper, BCLUW, 11.89.

200 — 1. Coberley, WM, 22.8; 2. Grames, GC, 23.06; 3. Dolphin, BCLUW, 23.25.

400 — 1. Dolphin, BCLUW, 51.91; 2. Nicholson, EM, 52.59; 3. Kuiper, GC, 52.76.

800 — 1. Maxey, WM, 2:07.25; 2. Stahl, AGWSR, 2:07.48; 3. Halverson, WM, 2:08.57.

110 HURDLES — 1. Garber, BCLUW, 14.96; 2. Johnson, EM 15.63; 3. Lawrence, SH, 16.44.

1,600 — 1. Newman, SH, 4:52.67; 2. Ciddio, GC, 4:55.28; 3. Terrones, EM, 4:58.38.

3,200 — 1. Newman, SH, 10:24.21; 2. Ciddio, GC, 10:26.05; 3. Terrones, EM, 10:28.50.

400 HURDLE — 1. Garber, BCLUW, 56.20; 2. Stubbe, AGWSR, 56.94; 3. Ralston, BCLUW, 59.2.

DISCUS — 1. Ridout, EM, 143-3 1/2; 2. Rewoldt, SH, 135-6; 3. Rohler, GC, 127-1.

HIGH JUMP — 1. Rathe, GC, 6-2; 2. Bowen, GC, 6-0; 3. Bartling, AGWSR, 5-10.

LONG JUMP — 1. Coberley, WM, 21-0; 2. Hulin, EM, 20-1; 3. Johannsen, G-R, 19-6 1/2.

SHOT PUT — 1. Ridout, EM, 53-8; 2. Hook, GC, 50-10; 3. Rewoldt, SH, 45-11.

4×100 — 1. BCLUW 45.05, 2. East Marshall 45.29, 3. West Marshall 47.46.

4×200 — 1. West Marshall 1:32.82, 2. East Marshall 1:36.25, 3. Gladbrook-Reinbeck 1:37.78.

4×400 — 1. West Marshall 3:34.87, 2. East Marshall 3:40.11, 3. Grundy Center 3:40.34.

4×800 — 1. East Marshall 8:47.27, 2. West Marshall 8:51.3, 3. Grundy Center 9:03.57.

SHUTTLE HURDLE — 1. BCLUW 1:00.9, 2. Grundy Center 1:03.67, 3. AGWSR 1:04.68.

SPRINT MEDLEY — 1. West Marshall 1:36.49, 2. East Marshall 1:36.95, 3. Grundy Center 1:38.27.

DISTANCE MEDLEY — 1. AGWSR 3:46.02, 2. East Marshall 3:48.62, 3. South Hardin 3:52.43.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No