Wolves & Spartans compete at Bob Clark Relays

IKM-Manning Girls
Tuesday night, the IKM-Manning Wolves girls track and field team finished strong at the Bob Clark Relays taking fourth place with 89 points, finishing 25 points behind the winner Tri-Center.
Junior Raegan Garrison set the tone with a strong performance in the 3000 run, taking second place with 11:36.09, just 6.06 seconds behind Kylie Rochholz of Panorama who won the event with 11:30.03. Despite coming in second, Garrison still set a new personal record.
“The girls started the meet with Raegan Garrison placing 2nd in the 3000 with a huge PR for her,” said Wolves Head Coach Emma Konkler-Petersen. “This gave us a lot of momentum going forward the rest of the meet.”
Another event that included a personal record was the 4x800 relay team which featured Taylor Beckendorf, Alikxa McGinn, Addisyn Bandow, and Garrison winning the event with 10:55.59, beating out ACGC who came in second place with a time of 11:16.46.
The shuttle hurdle relay team took second place with 1:13.46 featuring Grace Carroll, Abby Wanser, Anna Stangl, and Abby Neilheisel finishing right on the tails of Tri-Center who beat them by less than a second with 1:13.21.
The distance medley team had Carroll, Laynie Gawley, Bandow, and Oriah Meiners finishing second as well, with a time of 4:45.89, 4+ seconds behind Audubon who won the event with 4:41.49.
“The 4x800 went on to take 1st in the meet followed by the shuttle hurdle relay taking 2nd with a huge PR for that group as well,” Konkler-Petersen said. “They are a group that is continuing to progress well as the season has gone on. The distance medley ran a good race placing 2nd with Audubon just ahead of them to push them.”
Towards the end of the night, the 4x200 team earned a first place finish with a personal record of 1:54.04, won by Beckendorf, Caylie Rasmussen, Meiners, and Carroll, beating out Tri-Center who came in second place with a time of 1:55.68.
The Wolves next event will be Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at ACGC High School where they will be one of eight schools competing.
IKM-Manning Boys
The IKM-Manning Wolves boys track and field team took a fourth place finish Tuesday at the Bob Clark Relays in Audubon with 77 points, 40 behind AGCG who won the event with 117.
“I thought we competed very well,” said Wolves Head Coach Kyle Vanderhorst. “We set a lot of personal bests as individuals and ran multiple season bests in our relays. It was a great meet that had a bunch of great competition.”
In the 200m dash event, Ross Kusel and Jase Lueth took fourth and fifth place finishes with times of 23.79 and 23.82, finishing less than a second behind Exira-EHK Senior Cash Emgarten, who won the event with 23.07.
“Both of those guys have been two of our top scorers all season long and ran really well in a race that was full of great sprinters,” Vanderhorst said.
During relays, the Wolves took some high finishes including first place in the 4x800 featuring Lane Sams, Ben Ramsey, Abe Polzien, and Isaac Blankman with a time of 8:39.82, beating out Clarinda who came in second place with 8:58.47.
In the distance medley, the Wolves finished third with Lueth, Kusel, Polzien, and Sams with 3:47.89, just 2.04 seconds behind the winner, Tri-Center. The 4x200 team finished second with 1:35.73 that had Lueth, Polzien, Kusel, and Davis Rasmussen, just 2.11 seconds behind ACGC who won the event.
In the 4x100, IKM-Manning had another strong finish with Lueth, Max Butler, Polzien, and Rasmussen taking fourth place with a time of 46.36, just 1+ second behind ACGC who won the event.
“Our relays ran well. Our 4x8 cut off five seconds and has been a strong unit for us all season long,” Vanderhorst added. “Our Distance Medley was able to shave off three seconds and our 4x2 also ran a season best. It is good to see the progress in those events with the conference meet and state qualifying meet right around the corner. We need to keep working on handoff execution and stay healthy as we head into the stretch run of the season.”
The Wolves will return to action at the ACGC Invitational Thursday at 4:30 p.m. going up against eight other schools.
“It is a great meet for us because AC/GC allows multiple entries in most events,” Vanderhorst said. “It allows us to see some final combinations before the conference meet as well as getting our younger athletes more opportunities to race/throw/jump against athletes from other schools. AC/GC, Audubon, and Panorama will have great teams there and we hope to compete to the best of our abilities on Thursday evening.”
Exira-EHK
Thursday night at Audubon, the Exira-EHK Spartans boys track and field team finished 10th with 42 points. Spartan head coach Kevin Brown was pleased with what he saw specifically from a few events, including some personal records.
“I enjoyed seeing our sprint medley and 4x100 hit season bests last night,” he said. “Austin Rasmussen had a personal best in the mile, and is only a few seconds from breaking five minutes. Anthony Young also had a personal best in the discus. Coach Tony [Santisteban] has spent a lot of time with our throwers this season and it's showing.”
Senior Spartan Cash Emgarten continues to run strong in the 100 and 200m dash finishing with times of 11.02 and 23.07.
“Cash looked better out of the blocks in his 100 and 200 in Audubon,” Brown said. “He is putting in the extra work in the weight room and on the track to see his times improve throughout the season. The expectation is that he is on the starting line for the finals in both events at state.”
Other Spartan highlights included the 800 sprint medley team which featured Alex Hansen, Bryce Brabham, Jonas LaCanne, and Emgarten finishing fourth with a time of 1:42.17, 3+ seconds behind Panorama who won the event with 1:38.96.
The 4x200 team which featured Levi Jessen, Ben Baggett, John Ty, and Owen Juhl finished with a time of 1:56.29. The event was won by ACGC with a time of 1:33.62. The 4x100 team that featured Emgarten, Brabham, LaCanne, and Hansen finished sixth with 47.64, just a few seconds behind ACGC, who won with 44.70.
“Blocks, hand offs, and running mentally strong are three things we need to continue to work on as the season progresses,” Brown added.
LaCanne also competed in 110 hurdles taking ninth overall with a time of 16.85, but only finishing 1+ second behind Peyton Cook of Griswold who won the event. He also got fourth place in 400 hurdles with a time of 1:00.17, finishing 4+ seconds behind Jack Follmann of CAM with 55.75.
The Spartans next event will be Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at AGCG High School competing against eight other schools.
“We haven't had a Tuesday/Thursday meet all season,” Brown said. “Our plan is to load up the guys and get some personal bests leading up to the conference meet. ACGC, Audubon, and IKM-Manning all have talented programs, so it should be some good competition.”