Boys open outdoor track season with 4th place finish at Waukon Early Bird meet

TEAM SCORES

Charles City 134, New Hampton 102.5, North Fayette 90, Waukon 85, Wapsie Valley 70, MFL-MarMac 28, Valley 12, Oelwein 5.5

The Indians had a great night to run. Waukon coach Joe O’Neill mentioned, “The weather was very nice. It was a little on the windy side, but I think the weather was as good as we could hope for for March.”

Waukon was able to get all their athletes into an event, another positive early in the year. “We had a chance to get a lot of kids into races,” O’Neill noted. “We still have a lot of freshmen and sophomores that we don’t know a lot about yet. It’s good to see how they stack up against each other. We’re hoping a few can help us as the season moves along.”

The coach also noted that his charges were ready for the outdoor competitions to start. “The kids were ready to be done with the indoor part of the season.”

O’Neill pointed out that for two athletes in particular, the start of the outdoor season had been greatly anticipated. “(Seniors) Ryan Snitker and Kyle McCormick have goals of getting to the Drake Relays and Thursday they both got to run the events they’re hoping to qualify in. They were anxious to see their times early in the season,” O’Neill stated. “They still have to improve, but for the first meet I’m very pleased with their efforts.”

The pair are working on qualifying in their respective hurdle events and had some of the night’s top finishes.

McCormick scored the Indians’ lone golden finish, skimming through the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.26. He added a runner-up finish in the high jump, clearing 5’8”, and joined with sophomores Devan Kuehn and Jeremy Hirth and senior Junior Swart to earn second in the medley relay in 4:10.

Snitker also enjoyed success on the oval, contributing a pair of silver finishes as well as a third. The senior cruised to second in the 400-meter hurdles in 56.45. Snitker’s 23.87 run in the 200 meters was good enough for third.

In the meet’s final event, Snitker matched talents with senior Adam Schon and sophomores Nic Lloyd and Jeremy Hirth to finish second in the 4x400 in 3:39.

In the distance races, Waukon earned its share of front end finishes, too. Senior Eric Osterhaus collected a silver finish in the 800 meters in 2:13. Earlier in the meet, Osterhaus teamed up with seniors Kendal Sickels and Junior Swart and junior Lee Waters to scored a runner-up finish in the 4x800 relay in 8:50.

O’Neill and the Waukon coaches were glad to see fine finishes in the 4x400 and 4x800 events. “These are two relays we’re hoping to be competitive in down the road. It’s nice to see them run well for us early in the season,” the coach pointed out.

A couple of Indians finished just short of a medal in the quarter-mile events. Schon took fourth in the 400 in 56.75 while sophomore Jimmy Larson was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 62 seconds.

Schon was also fifth in the 200 (24.36).

Sophomore Luke Weber (11:13) was sixth in the 3200-meter run, as was the 4x200 squad of McCormick, Kuehn, and sophomores Mike Rausch and Will Kramer (1:42).

After a good night on the track, the Tribe had only two placewinners in the field events. Waukon was pleasantly surprised with freshman Marcus Tweedy’s fifth place standing in the high jump. He cleared 5’4” to make his way to a strong finish. “Marcus was a good surprise in the high jump. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of high jumpers scoring for us in meets this year,” O’Neill mentioned.

Other than the high jump, the Tribe’s showing in the field came up short of points, although O’Neill did single out a few performances.

In the throwing events, weather was a factor. “With the conditions being the way they’ve been early this season, our throwers haven’t had much practice outside,” the coach stated.

Sophomore Tony Drew had the Tribe’s best discus toss with 122 feet, three inches. “Tony had been throwing pretty consistently for us last year. One hundred and twenty-two feet is a pretty good toss for the first meet of the year. It’s nice to see him pop one off like that on his first chance,” O’Neill remarked.

Indian results from the Waukon Early Bird meet are as follows:

Shot put - Sean Rea 40’7”; Dylan Newton 40’1”; Levi Tinderholt 39’7”; Tyler Oder 36’7”; Mike Miller 36’6”; Kale McCormick 34’0”; Jake Harvey 33’10”; Zach Howe 33’4”; Corey Decker 32’7”; Tyler Hanson 32’6”; Daniel Snitker 31’10”; Matt Tobin 28’4”; Shawn Gordon 19’2”.

Discus - Tony Drew 122’3”; Jake Harvey 106’11”; Corey Decker 99’8”; Sean Rea 97’10”; Josh Brink 77’7”; Matt Tobin 64’11”.

High jump - 2. Kyle McCormick 5’8”; 5. Marcus Tweedy 5’4”; Russ ReVoir 5’2”; David Burrett NA.

Long jump - Jimmy Larson 17’3”; Devan Kuehn 17’2-1/4”; Jeremy Hirth 16’5”; Miles Johanningmeier 15’2-1/4”; Matt Hammel 12’3/4”; Nick Howe 11’11”.

3200m - 6. Luke Weber 11:13; Dan Mathis 12:53; Nathan Meyer 14:20.

110m high hurdles - 1. Kyle McCormick 15.26; Russ ReVoir 18.06; Marcus Tweedy 19.09; Ryan Anderson 21.22.

100m - Jon Seibert 12.48; Andrew Decker 12.55; Ryan Christensen 13.52; Mike Miller 13.74; Reed Kious 14.76; Nick Howe 15.71.

4x800 - 2. Kendal Sickels, Eric Osterhaus, Lee Waters, Junior Swart 8:50; Luke Deal, Isaac Fenn, Ryan Pederson, Jason Bartling 10:14.

200m - 3. Ryan Snitker 23.87; 5. Adam Schon 24.36; Mike Rausch 25.83; Jeremy Hirth 25.91; Will Kramer 27.35; Dylan Mellick 27.35.

1600m - Hans Walleser 5:31.70; James Emerson 5:58.66.

4x200 - 6. Kyle McCormick, Mike Rausch, Devan Kuehn, Will Kramer 1:42; Nic Lloyd, Ryan Jones, Dylan Mellick, Andrew Decker 1:46; Colin Egan, Marcus Tweedy, Frank Weymiller, Ryan Anderson 1:50; David Burrett, Roman Lensing, Nick Kruger, Derek Drew 1:54.

400m - 4. Adam Schon 56.75; Jon Seibert 60.87; Miles Johanningmeier 1:04.23.

400m hurdles - 2. Ryan Snitker 56.45; 4. Jimmy Larson 1:02.

Medley relay - 2. Kyle McCormick, Devan Kuehn, Jeremy Hirth, Junior Swart 4:10; Nic Lloyd, Ryan Jones, Russ ReVoir, Lee Waters 4:13; Colin Egan, Frank Weymiller, Matt McMillan, Isaac Fenn 4:23.

800m - 2. Eric Osterhaus 2:13; Kendal Sickels 2:20; Luke Deal 2:31; Hans Walleser 2:33; Ryan Pederson 2:36.

4x100 - Andrew Decker, Will Kramer, Devan Kuehn, Jon Seibert 50.30; Mike Rausch, Ryan Jones, Tony Drew, Corey Decker 51.96; Luke Jones, Mike Miller, Cody Snitker, Dylan Newton 52.60; Ryan Christensen, Levi Newton, Nick Kruger, Derek Drew 56.51.

4x400 - 2. Adam Schon, Nic Lloyd, Jeremy Hirth, Ryan Snitker 3:39; Junior Swart, Lee Waters, Eric Osterhaus, Kendal Sickels 3:54; Marcus Tweedy, Dylan Mellick, Jimmy Larson, Russ ReVoir 3:59; Ryan Anderson, Colin Egan, Luke Deal, Ryan Pederson 4:16.

Next on the schedule for the Tribe was Tuesday’s meet at West Union. Later this week, Waukon will travel to Waverly for the April 8 Go-Hawk Invitational. Monday, April 11, the Indians take to the track at Decorah. Competition starts at 5 p.m. both nights.