CLARINDA — The Creston boys track team kicked off its season here Tuesday at the Hawkeye 10 Conference Southern Division Meet.
With half of the Creston team being comprised of freshmen, head coach Pat Schlapia used Tuesday’s meet with unlimited entries as a chance for his team to get some time trials in.
“We used a lot of our individual open events for time trials,” Schlapia said. “With it being unlimited entries, it was nice to get everybody into some competition. We weren’t concerned as far as overall team placing. We just wanted to get some times down for our older ones and we wanted to find out about our freshmen.”
The running events were completed in just under 2 hours, with only five teams competing in the meet, making for short recovery times.
Jay Wolfe started his senior campaign by running away with the 800 meter championship and dipping below the 2-minute mark in the event.
Wolfe ran splits of 59 seconds and 1:00 for a 1:59.54, cruising to the victory. Senior teammate Bryce Briley came in second at 2:13.04. Junior Nick Walsh finished fourth in 2:20.04, but only two athletes from each school counted for team points.
“That was nice to see Jay being able to go sub-2 right off the bat,” Schlapia said. “Bryce ran his first open 800 of his career. He ran a nice race. With the quick turnaround, there’s still some mental work we’re going to work on. I think he did a fine job.”
Both Wolfe and Briley combined with Walsh and freshman Dalten Bierle for Creston’s only other event victory of the night, winning the 4x800 relay.
Briley split 2:04 on the leadoff leg, followed by a 2:19 from Bierle, 2:16 from Walsh and Wolfe anchored in 2:03, as the Panthers ran 8:45.36.
“Basically, Bryce broke out of the pack on the second 200,” Schlapia said. “With Dalten and Nick getting their first taste of the 4x800, they had to fight off guys trying to cut the gap on them. They were able to maintain first place. Jay was able to coast and save for the upcoming events. That was a good start for that group.”
In total, Creston had eight placewinners.
The 4x400 relay team, which consisted of the same group as the 4x800 relay, finished third in 3:48.73.
The 4x200 relay team of Alex Tamerius, Joe Eblen, Chris Foster and Seth Maitlen placed fourth in 1:43.94.
“That was nice to see those guys in the hunt there,” Schlapia said. “We’ve got three experienced ones coming back, along with Joe. All our relays, the more familiar we are with each other and the more work we can do with batons will help us.”
Maitlen in the 100 meter dash and freshman Cody Wagner in the 200 meter dash each placed fifth. Maitlen crossed the line in 12.34 seconds, with Wagner running 25.47 in the 200.
Freshman Trevor Downing finished sixth in the shot put, but jumped up to fifth, scoring a point, with Glenwood having three in the top five. Downing threw 38 feet, 5.50 inches, with Cody Tanner finishing close behind at 37-1.50.
Freshman Dylan Linch just missed placing in the 3,200 meters, running 12:56.45 for sixth place.
“With the 20 that competed, it gave us a chance to get out and compete against some other schools instead of practicing on our own,” Schlapia said. “But it does show we have a lot of hard work in front of us. We did see a lot of positive things.”
Creston returns to action 4:30 p.m. Friday at Winterset.
Hawkeye 10 Conference Southern Division Meet
At Clarinda
Team standings — 1. Glenwood 145, 2. Clarinda 76, 3. Shenandoah 66, 4. Red Oak 52, 5. Creston 31.
Discus — 1. Kyle Griffin, Glen, 130-4; 8. Cody Tanner, Crest, 108-2; 11. Trevor Downing, Crest, 102-4; 12. Tucker Flynn, Crest, 95-10; 29. Shaun Irelan, Crest, 48-5.
Shot put — 1. Jared DeVoe, Clar, 46-1; 6. Trevor Downing, Crest, 38-5.50; 11. Cody Tanner, Crest, 37-1.50; 15. Tucker Flynn, Crest, 33-9; 30. Shaun Irelan, Crest, 17-5.
High jump — 1. Gabe Nelson, RO, 5-8.
Long jump — 1. Jett Kettwick, Clar, 20-8.75; 13. Nathan Cox, Crest, 13-2.
3,200 meters — 1. Josh Sunberg, RO, 10:45.82; 6. Dylan Linch, Crest, 12:56.45; 10. Trey Gift, Crest, 13:50.91; 13. Ben Bargstadt, Crest, 15:23.75.
4 x 800 relay — 1. Creston (Bryce Briley, Dalten Bierle, Nick Walsh, Jay Wolfe), 8:45.36.
Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Glenwood, 1:02.75.
100 meters — 1. Mavrick Decker, Glen, 11.51; 5. Seth Maitlen, Crest, 12.34; 6. Chris Foster, Crest, 12.54; 10. Alex Tamerius, Crest, 12.84; 15. Joe Eblen, Crest, 13.37; 22. Elijah Johnson, Crest, 16.74.
400 meters — 1. Logan Roberts, Shen, 53.37; 6. Cody Wagner, Crest, 57.78; 10. Cole Higgins, Crest, 1:03.42; 12. Travis Purdy, Crest, 1:10.60; 14. Nathan Cox, Crest, 1:15.58.
4 x 200 relay — 1. Glenwood, 1:32.17; 5. Creston (Alex Tamerius, Joe Eblen, Chris Foster, Seth Maitlen), 1:43.94.
110 high hurdles — 1. 1. Dane Kruse, Glen, 15.21.
1,600 meters — 1. Logan LeRette, RO, 4:48.46; 9. Dylan Linch, Crest, 6:09.14; 11. Trey Gift, Crest, 6:28.77; 12. Ben Bargstadt, Crest, 6:42.59.
200 meters — 1. James Fuller, Glen, 22.35; 8. Cody Wagner, Crest, 25.47; 12. Chris Foster, Crest, 25.93; 12. Seth Maitlen, Crest, 25.93; 25. Joe Eblen, Crest, 27.85; 28. Cole Higgins, Crest, 28.03; 32. Cody Tanner, Crest, 30.66.
400 low hurdles — 1. Caleb Petersen, Glen, 58.89.
1,600 medley relay — 1. Glenwood, 3:57.07.
800 meters — 1. Jay Wolfe, Crest, 1:59.54; 2. Bryce Briley, Crest, 2:13.04; 4. Nick Walsh, Crest, 2:20.04; 7. Dalten Bierle, Crest, 2:30.13; 8. Cole Higgins, Crest, 2:35.60; 9. Cody Wagner, Crest, 2:37.20.
4 x 100 relay — 1. Glenwood, 45.26; 7. Creston (Alex Tamerius, Joe Eblen, Chris Foster, Seth Maitlen), 50.68.
4 x 400 relay — 1. Glenwood, 3:40.00; 3. Creston (Bryce Briley, Dalten Bierle, Nick Walsh, Jay Wolfe), 3:48.73.