DES MOINES — Grundy Center junior Brayden Wallis will compete in Saturday’s finals of the Class 2A boys 4×400-meter relay on the Blue Oval in Des Moines.

Around this time last year, he was in a hospital bed after receiving surgery on a collapsed lung.

The health scare, and recovery process, gave him a fresh outlook on track as a sport.

“You complain a lot about it until you can’t do it anymore,” Wallis said. “It’s not, ‘Oh, I have to run,’ — you get to run. You never know if you’re ever going to do it again.”

Wallis, Brody Zinkula, Brayden Davie and Tate Jirovsky clocked a preliminary time of 3:26.95, a season best for the quartet, to qualify for the 4:26 p.m. final on Saturday. South Hamilton had the top prelim time at 3:18.46.

The Spartans were fifth in the finals last year in the event after qualifying seventh in that prelim race. Jirovsky, Zinkula and Davie ran that with Tyler Venenga, now a Spartan senior, while Wallis was sidelined.

What first presented as an illness two days before the state-qualifying meet in 2023 was later discovered to be a “bleb,” an air-filled blister, on Wallis’ right lung that required a week-long hospital stay to resect the bleb and otherwise restore Wallis’ lung to proper condition.

“The only thing I really wanted to do last year was get down here and experience this,” Wallis said.

He was able to be there for his teammates by the end of state track week last year, albeit as a spectator — but there’s no substitute for the real thing.

He’s carried his weight in a 4×800 that set a new season best time yesterday in 10th, and on Friday was part of a school-record-breaking distance medley team before returning to advance out of the 4×400 prelims.

Not bad for a belated birthday present for Brayden’s mother, Laurie.

“We’re glad to be qualified,” Wallis said. “Hopefully we can pop a good time tomorrow and place better than our seed.”

The distance medley quartet of Grant Newton, Davie, Wallis and Venenga ran 3:35.24 for 10th place in Class 2A to break a record that has held since 2006. The Spartans also scored a school record and a state medal in the 4×200 relay as Devin Hinders, Newton, Zinkula and Davie ran 1:30.65 to improve on their own school record.

“We’ve worked together and had faith in each other,” Zinkula said. “It helps when everybody else is moving fast, too. We just wanted to break that record again.”

Jirovsky added an individual medal with a fifth-place run in the 400 hurdles, which again broke a school record he already owned, which now sits at 55.09.

“I wanted sub-55, but I’m happy with how I ran,” Jirovsky said. “I’ve been fortunate to have great coaches, but especially coaches [Chris] Conger and [Jeff] Dole, he was the previous record holder, and I’m thankful that he’s been an unselfish man to help me ultimately get to where I am.”

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The third-place spot on the podium for the 2A girls high jump was a little crowded on Friday.

Grundy Center’s Allison Koch and West Marshall’s Kylee Schuler were part of a logjam at the bronze medal spot, with five different girls having identical field series that all ended at 5-foot-2.

The two area jumpers, along with Woodward-Granger’s Alaysia McCord, Ogden’s Samantha Lass and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s Molly Shafer all piled on to the podium at midfield at Drake Stadium for their photo op, along with runner-up Reese Naeve of Iowa City Regina and champion Rachel Schany of Emmetsburg.

It’s a memorable day in more ways than one for Koch and Schuler, a sophomore and junior, respectively, to end their high jump seasons.

Koch was 19th last year after clearing 5-feet even and credited senior Carlie Willis, who she jumped with at state last year, for helping to push her to new heights.

“I’ve worked really hard this season and Carlie has pushed me and supported me the whole way,” Koch said. “And the girls here, we support each other but we also push each other to be our best.

“I’m always focusing on carrying my speed through my approach and getting myself past my mental, putting everything else away and staying confident in what I can do.”

Schuler also got a big confidence boost on Friday. She was 17th as a freshman in 2022.

“I just wanted to make it past the starting height, I’m not going to lie,” Schuler said. “I’ve definitely been down on myself a little bit, but seeing that I can compete with these other people, it feels good that I can keep up with them. It was one of my biggest dreams to place, no matter where.”

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Around the area in 2A: East Marshall senior Morgan Neuroth posted her best finish in four tries at the 400 hurdles at state with a 1:07.30 time for ninth place that was 0.17 short of a medal. She had finished no better than 20th in her previous three state trips in this event. “I didn’t run my best today, but it’s still a great way to go out for my senior year,” Neuroth said. “I’ve worked hard for this, getting my mind right, fueling my body with the right things to get me in good enough shape to do this.” … West Marshall’s boys 4×400 team of Dylan Thompson, Erick Rosas Canchola, Brevon Gibson and Jace Eich ran 3:29.82 for 14th in the 2A prelims. … The Grundy Center girls were 16th in the 4×400 prelims as Raelyn Steinmeyer, Laney Dole, Karlee Lynch and Ellery Luhring finished in 4:12.42. … The Grundy Center girls 4×100 finished 24th in 52.08 with Carlie Willis, Shirley Monaghan, Allison Koch and Ava Heeren on the carry. … Heeren, Dole, Luhring and Lynch started the day with an 18th-place run in the 2A girls distance medley in 4:23.66. … Grundy Center’s boys 4×100 was 22nd in 44.41 with the foursome of Devin Hinders, Ryker Thoren, Grant Newton and Justin Knaack. … Tiernan Vokes placed 23rd in the boys 110 hurdles prelims in 16.40.