Wolverines pass test of 2A with flying colors

TREYNOR — The jump to Class 2A meant Nodaway Valley had little room for average.

At last Thursday’s state-qualifying track and field meet, the Wolverines answered with anything but average.

Facing faster times, longer throws and higher jumps than they had been accustomed to in Class 1A, Nodaway Valley delivered some of its strongest performances of the season and qualified six events for this week’s state track meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Automatic qualifiers, by finishing in the top two at state qualifying, were the girls 4x800m relay, girls distance medley relay, senior Izzy Eisbach in the 1500m run and the boys distance medley relay. Senior Emma Boswell added at-large berths in both the high jump and long jump.

“Just being in 2A, you know, we knew it wasn’t going to be impossible to make it to state, but the times are definitely faster and the throws are farther and the jumps are higher,” NV head coach Brett Welsch said. “We had a little lull there this season with our times. I told our assistant coaches that come conference, everyone will be excited and everyone will run well. At state qualifying, everyone runs hard and it’ll be fine.”

Welsch ended up being right. He saw strong splits in the relays that advanced to state, helping the Wolverines turn in a successful night.

In the girls 4x800m relay, Abby Nelson, Allie Cornelison, Eisbach and Kylie Nelson ran season best time of 10:24.50 to place second behind Treynor, which won in 10:08.41. The Wolverines also held off a push from third-place Shenandoah.

Sprinters Kylie Nelson and Boswell helped set the tone in the girls distance medley with strong 200m splits to start the race. Abby Nelson followed with a strong 400m split of about 1:02 or 1:03 before handing off to Eisbach, who ran about 2:22 on the 800m anchor leg, a personal record. The group ran a season best 4:23.27.

Crisp handoffs were key in the boys distance medley. Welsch said the Wolverines “ran out of their minds” and claimed second with “no problem.” Cassius Burnside, Logan Lantz, Titan Foster and Gabe Winkelmann ran a season-best and school-record time of 3:40.70. Tri-Center won the event in 3:39.61.

Foster ran a 51-second split, while Winkelmann split 2:01. Burnside also ran well, and Welsch said he is excited for Lantz, a freshman, to get to go to state with the other three.

Eisbach was second in the 1500m by nearly nine seconds, finishing in 5:03.49. Panorama’s Kylie Rochholz won in 4:54.54. Welsch said Eisbach would like to break Megan Winkelmann’s school record in the event — a 4:51.60 set in 2003.

Welsch said there were certain meets this season when he held Boswell out of the high jump to keep her fresh. Throughout the season, she was able to make minor adjustments that made her stronger by the end.

At state qualifying, Boswell cleared 5-00, placed fifth and earned a state berth while tying a school record. Willow Ray of West Central Valley cleared 5-05 to win the event by an inch over Clarinda’s Ellery Bird.

Boswell also took sixth in the long jump, leaping 16-6.75 to qualify for state. Underwood’s Isabella Buckholdt won with a jump of 18-2.50.

Burnside placed sixth in the 200m dash but broke a school record with his time of 23.06.

A few boys events that didn’t advance ended the season with personal records, including Trevyn Colton’s 200 (26.20), Logan Stanton’s long jump (18-08) and Clay Raasch’s discus (72-01).

Looking forward

The state track meet is Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Classes 2A and 3A are in session together Thursday and Friday afternoons, while all classes compete Saturday.

Nodaway Valley will open state competition Thursday, with Boswell competing in the long jump at 4:30 p.m. and the girls 4x800m relay running at 5 p.m.

The distance medley relays will open Friday’s schedule for NV, with the girls running at 2:40 p.m. and the boys at 3:20 p.m. Boswell will compete in the girls high jump at 4:30 p.m. that day.

Eisbach will close the state meet for Nodaway Valley by running in the 1500m at 2:40 p.m. Saturday.

Welsch said the girls will lose key senior leaders at the close of the season, but he likes how this year’s state qualifiers have helped set the bar for both teams going forward.

“The girls, we need to get some girls out. We’ll be young, but we’ve got to start somewhere to get some numbers,” Welsch said. “The boys are already young, and that makes me super excited to get them to state to compete and keep building some momentum that we’ve developed.”