Boys track and field team competes at Decorah, West Delaware

Waukon’s boys track and field squad competed in a pair of recent meets, although both events were quite different. Tuesday, April 12, the Tribe traveled to Decorah for competition. The Indians easily took second in the small competition. Later that week, April 14, Waukon faced some talented teams at the West Delaware Invitational. The Indians ultimately finished sixth in the 12-team field.

at Decorah...

April showers forced the Indians to postpone their trip to Decorah by a day, but wet weather still plagued athletes as they competed Tuesday, April 12 at the Viking track. Waukon ultimately finished second in a seven-team field with 91 points. Host Decorah ran away with the win with 187.

TEAM SCORES

Decorah 187, WAUKON 91, New Hampton 61, Waterloo Columbus 54, South Winn 45, MFL-MarMac 44, Central 42.

When the meet was finally run Tuesday, cold, wet, and sometimes windy conditions affected the Tribe. “Weather was certainly a factor,” said Waukon coach Joe O’Neill. The Indians had been pretty lucky so far. “This is the first meet we’ve had to deal with less than ideal weather. You could definitely tell by the times and distances that cold does play a part in track and field.”

Although Mother Nature hampered the Tribe’s performance, O’Neill was glad to see his charges working hard. “Overall we competed fairly well. With the weather we kind of turned this into a conditioning meet. We focused on having the kids run hard and get a good workout.”

The Tribe also had a chance to preview one of the team’s they’ll meet at the May 13 district competition. “Another good thing that came out of the night was that Waterloo Columbus was at the meet. They’re in our district and this is the only time we’ll get to see them run. It’s good to get a peek at what they have,” O’Neill mentioned.

In the field events, Waukon posted points in each event.

Senior Kyle McCormick leapt to the top of the field in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 8 inches. “On a warm night Kyle might’ve cleared 5’10” or gotten close to the six-foot mark,’ the coach added.

McCormick was joined in the placewinnings by sophomore Russ ReVoir, who topped 5 feet, 4 inches to finish fourth.

The duo of senior Ryan Snitker (18 feet, 1-1/4 inches) and sophomore Devan Kuehn (17 feet, 9-1/4 inches) posted respective finishes of fifth and sixth in the long jump.

In the throwing events, sophomore Tony Drew was fifth in the discus with a toss measuring 125 feet while sophomore Sean Rea was sixth in the shot put with a 40 foot, 8-3/4 inch effort.

On the track, Waukon’s lone victory came thanks to Snitker, who paced the field in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.78. “Ryan continues to run well for us this year,” the coach added.

Snitker and McCormick were also the only Indians to score runner-up titles. Snitker took the silver in the 200 in 24.49 while McCormick crossed the finish line in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.12.

“Kyle had a pretty good night and actually improved his time a bit in the high hurdles. He only brought it down a couple of hundreths of a second, but at this point that might be the difference between getting to the Drake Relays or not,” O’Neill added.

Waukon’s five third place performances were spread across the distances on the track.

In the half-mile, senior Eric Osterhaus was third in 2:08.00 after teaming up with junior Lee Waters and seniors Junior Swart and Kendal Sickels for a bronze finish in the 4x8000 in 8:44.69.

“The 4x800 improved its time at Decorah. Before, the fastest time was 8:50 and these guys cut about six seconds off that,” the coach noted. “The 4x800 is an event that can be hard to put together on a consistent basis since Eric can contribute in the 1600 and 3200, too. It’s nice to see the relay run well with him in it.”

Senior Adam Schon was third in the 400 dash in 56.22 while the 4x100 relay also scored a bronze finish. Sophomores Jeremiah Volbrecht and Mike Rausch joined with senior Jesse Volbrecht and freshman Ted Kelly to post a 47.53 effort.

Posting fourth place finishes were sophomore Jimmy Larson (400 hurdles, 1:03.15) and the medley relay (4:08.00).

Sophomore Jeremy Hirth was fifth in the 400 in 56.86.

Finishing sixth for the Indians were Schon (200, 25.21), sophomore Hans Walleser (1600, 5:25.97), Swart (800, 2:12.50), and the 4x400 relay (3:42.54)

Indian results from Decorah are as follows:

Shot put - 6. Sean Rea 40’8-3/4”; Levi Tinderholt 37’5”.

Discus - 5. Tony Drew 125’0”; Sean Rea 106’10”.

High jump - 1. Kyle McCormick 5’8”; 4. Russ ReVoir 5’4”.

Long jump - 5. Ryan Snitker 18’1-1/4”; 6. Devan Kuehn 17’9-1/4”.

3200m - Isaac Fenn 11:20.53.

110m high hurdles - 2. Kyle McCormick 15.12; Russ ReVoir 18.00.

100m - Ted Kelly 12.21.

4x800 - 3. Eric Osterhaus, Lee Waters, Junior Swart, Kendal Sickels 8:44.69.

200m - 2. Ryan Snitker 24.49; 6. Adam Schon 25.21.

1600m - 6. Hans Walleser 5:25.97; James Emerson 5:45.71.

4x200 - 3. Kyle McCormick, Jesse Volbrecht, Mike Rausch, Devan Kuehn 1:41.14.

400m - 3. Adam Schon 56.22; 5. Jeremy Hirth 56.86.

400m hurdles - 1. Ryan Snitker 56.78; 4. Jimmy Larson 1:03.15.

Medley relay - 4. Kyle McCormick, Jesse Volbrecht, Nic Lloyd, Kendal Sickels 4:08.00.

800m - 3. Eric Osterhaus 2:08.00; 6. Junior Swart 2:12.50.

4x100 - 3. Jeremiah Volbrecht, Jesse Volbrecht, Mike Rausch, Ted Kelly 47.53.

4x400 - 6. Adam Schon, Nic Lloyd, Jeremy Hirth, Ryan Snitker 3:42.54.

Junior Varsity...

Waukon’s junior varsity athletes also competed in a full schedule at Decorah. Their results are listed below. (Places were not available.)

Shot put - Mike Miller 35’3”; Kale McCormick 35’2-1/4”.

Discus - Jake Harvey 99’7”; Zach Howe 93’3”.

High jump - Jeremiah Volbrecht 5’8”; Marcus Tweedy 5’0”.

Long jump - Jimmy Larson 16’2”; Jeremy Hirth 12’11-1/2”.

110m high hurdles - Jeremiah Volbrecht 17.94; Marcus Tweedy 18.63.

100m - Jon Seibert 12.38; Devan Kuehn 12.61.

4x800 - Ryan Pederson, Dan Mathis, Nathan Meyer, Luke Deal 9:44.49.

200m - Ted Kelly 25.66; Colin Egan 27.34.

1600m - Jason Bartling 6:01.28.

4x200 - Will Kramer, Ryan Jones, Dillen Mellick, Vaughn Gesing 1:47.73.

400m - Jon Seibert 58.40; Brett Hermanson 1:02.61.

400m hurdles - Russ ReVoir 1:07.90.

Medley relay - Will Kramer, Mike Rausch, Dillen Mellick, Luke Deal 4:21.37.

800m - Lee Waters 2:12.80; Dan Cook 2:19.20.

4x100 - Vaughn Gesing, Ryan Jones, Jimmy Larson, Will Kramer 51.84.

4x400 - Ryan Anderson, Colin Egan, Matt McMillan, Marcus Tweedy 4:05.09.

at West Delaware...

A large, competitive field greeted the Tribe Thursday, April 14, when they competed at the West Delaware Invitational in Manchester. The Indians ultimately finished sixth with 36 points. Decorah once again took the win, accumulating 95 points for the night.

TEAM SCORES

Decorah 95, North Fayette 62, DeWitt 51, Center Point-Urbana 51, West Delaware 43, WAUKON 36, Western Dubuque 32, Marion 31, Maquoketa 22, Maquoketa Valley 12, Anamosa 7, Oelwein 1.

Great weather allowed participants to completely focus on their events. Temperatures were high and wind was virtually nonexistent for the night.

O’Neill pointed out that the Indians competed in a strong field and had plenty to focus on while facing some talented area athletes.

“West Delaware’s meet is always nice for the simple fact that we get to see some teams that we don’t compete against any other time this season. There are a lot of quality track programs and the field was very competitive. Medals and points were tough to come by.”

Although they weren’t easy to attain, Waukon did have some athletes earn medals.

Osterhaus was the lone Indian to capture a championship finish. The senior paced the 1600-meter field, breaking the tape in 4:36.0. “This was Eric’s first chance to run the mile fresh. We wanted to to see what kind of time he could put up and his time is actually borderline for getting into the Drake Relays. He’s got one more shot to see if he can do that,” O’Neill noted.

Hot on Osterhaus’ heels in the mile was Swart, who took second in 4:45.19. “Junior was able to run the mile fresh, too, and finished just behind Eric. It was nice to see us go one-two in a meet of this size,” the coach added.

In the hurdle events, Waukon collected a pair of silver medals.

McCormick ran a season-low 14.78 in the 110 hurdles, making a trip to Drake seem more likely. “Kyle bettered his time in the high hurdles and he’s in a pretty comfortable position to get into Drake,” O’Neill stated.

Snitker took the runner-up place in the 400 hurdles, posting a 55.37 effort.

McCormick owned the Tribe’s only third place finish. He cleared 5 feet, 10 inches in the high jump. ReVoir gave the Tribe two placewinners in the event, taking sixth with a 5 foot, 8 inch effort.

Osterhaus took fifth in the 800 with a 2:07.86 run while Snitker finished just as high in the 200 after a 23.61 dash. “Ryan got into the finals of a very competitive field and scored some good points for us,” the coach said.

The Indians’ only relay squad to score was the 4x400. Lloyd, ReVoir, Larson, and Hirth joined forces to take sixth in 3:44.50.

“Our quarter-milers as a whole ran well. (Sprinting coach) Ted Snitker was really impressed with the times. A lot of these guys are young and it’s sometimes hard to get the younger kids to run consistently. Some of these guys ran a couple of 400s and came back to run just as well or even better in the second 400. We like to see them hold on for the second one. It shows that the conditioning is coming along,” O’Neill added.

Results from the West Delaware Invitational are as follows:

Shot put - Sean Rea 41’1”; Levi Tinderholt 38’8”.

Discus - Tony Drew 121’; Sean Rea 103’.

High jump - 3. Kyle McCormick 5’10”; 6. Russ ReVoir 5’8”.

Long jump - Ryan Snitker 18’6”; Devan Kuehn 18’1”.

3200m - Jason Bartling 12:35.43.

110m high hurdles - 2. Kyle McCormick 14.87; Russ ReVoir 17.28.

100m - Ted Kelly 12.08; Jeremiah Volbrecht 12.17.

4x800 - Dan Cook, Kendal Sickels, Isaac Fenn, Lee Waters 9:08.98.

200m - 5. Ryan Snitker 23.61; Adam Schon 24.76.

1600m - 1. Eric Osterhaus 4:36.0; 2. Junior Swart 4:45.19.

4x200 - Jeremiah Volbrecht, Mike Rausch, Jeremy Hirth, Jesse Volbrecht 1:39.17.

400m - Adam Schon 54.43; Jimmy Larson 56.90.

400m hurdles - 2. Ryan Snitker 55.37.

Medley relay - Jesse Volbrecht, Mike Rausch, Nic Lloyd, Lee Waters 3:58.73.

800m - 5. Eric Osterhaus 2:07.86; Junior Swart 2:09.

4x100 - Kyle McCormick, Jesse Volbrecht, Ryan Snitker, Adam Schon 46.47.

4x400 - 6. Nic Lloyd, Russ ReVoir, Jimmy Larson, Jeremy Hirth 3:44.50.

Junior varsity...

Waukon had junior varsity athletes compete in field events and relays at the Hawks’ Invitational.

Junior varsity results are listed below. Places were not available.

Shot put - Kale McCormick 38’1-1/2”; Mike Miller 37’2-1/2”.

Discus - Zach Howe 105’4”; Jake Harvey 100’7”.

Long jump - Jimmy Larson 16’9”.

4x800 - Luke Deal, Dan Mathis, Ryan Pederson, Hans Walleser 9:49.23.

4x200 - Will Kramer, Russ ReVoir, Dillen Mellick, Devan Kuehn 1:43.57.

Medley relay - Ted Kelly, Will Kramer, Dillen Mellick, Kendal Sickels 4:03.65.

4x100 - Devan Kuehn, Jeremiah Volbrecht, Will Kramer, Ted Kelly 48.51.

The Indians were scheduled to race at Decorah Monday night. Waukon’s next meet will be Tuesday, April 26 at Osage. The competition is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.