DES MOINES — A pair of school records fell here Thursday during the Class 1A portion of the 2015 Co-ed State Track Meet at Drake Stadium.
Mount Ayr junior Kyle Dolecheck broke a 45-year-old school record in the 400 meter dash and Murray sophomore Jack Jones broke the school record in the long jump.
Both athletes earned medals with their performances.
Dolecheck ran a big PR for fourth place in the 400 meter dash, running 49.59 to break the 50-second barrier for the first time in his career.
That time, when converted to hand time by taking .24 seconds off, breaks the 1970 school record of 49.4 set by Ed Defenbaugh.
“It’s a 45-year-old record set by Ed Defenbaugh, so for a kid to come in like that and almost run close to a second faster than his PR there is great,” Mount Ayr head coach Brad Elliott said. “We wondered what a big event might do for him. He hadn’t been tested that much in the 400 this year. So to run against that caliber of opponent like that put him in a spot where he was able to improve his time.”
Dolecheck got out strong through 200 meters and hoped his stamina from running the 800 meters would be able to carry him through the final 200 meters.
He made a push down the homestretch into second place and was gaining ground on Lawton-Bronson’s Brett Prenger, but was caught in the final 5 meters by Bryce Newcomb of GMG and Mitchell Fritz of Alta/Aurelia.
It’s the second straight year Dolecheck has finished fourth in the 400 meter dash.
“I wanted to do better, but fourth gets us some points and gets us started for the weekend,” Dolecheck said.
Mount Ayr hopes to contend for a team trophy again this year after winning the Class 1A state championship last year with a Class 1A record 77 points.
The Raiders sit in 14th place with five points after Thursday’s events. They have several events on the track Friday and Saturday with the potential to score big points.
Jones record
Jones, meanwhile, vaulted himself into finals of the long jump competition on his final attempt during prelims.
The Murray sophomore, who was in the first flight, made an adjustment to his approach prior to his final prelim jump, and it paid off with a PR and school record jump of 20-6.50.
That was good enough to win the first flight and qualify him in sixth place to finals.
“I was kind of frustrated on the first two jumps,” Jones said. “The first one wasn’t as far as I’d liked and I scratched on the second one. I noticed I had kind of been lunging out a little bit to get to the line, so I scooted up probably 6 inches and got right where I wanted to be on the board.”
Jones ended up finishing seventh with his mark of 20-6.50, earning a medal in his first career trip to the state meet.
“Just to be competitive, be somewhere at least top 15 or so,” Jones said about his goals. “Just mainly get a good jump out there.”
His jump broke the Murray school record of 20-3.50 set in 1990 by Mike Carper.
“We were happy that he just went past his best,” Murray head coach Keith Shields said. “He set a PR up here today. Making finals and finishing seventh place, just an awesome job. He was pretty consistent in the high 19s most of the year, but the last couple of weeks has went up over 20 feet two or three times. We’re real excited for how he finished up here today.”
2015 Co-ed State Track Meet
CLASS 1A
Boys
Thursday
Long jump — 1. Bryce Newcomb, GMG, 21-9.25; 7. Jack Jones, Murray, 20-6.50.
Shot put — 1. Keegan Tritle, Lisbon, 57-2; 19. Joe Ricker, Mount Ayr, 45-1.50.
3,200 meters — 1. Gable Sieperda, Central Lyon, 9:59.80; 13. Shane Breheny, Nodaway Valley, 10:30.34.
4x800 relay — 1. Alta/Aurelia, 8:11.29; 11. Mount Ayr (Grant Staats, Rhett Murphy, Mitchell Jennett, Trevor Anderson), 8:31.35; 15. Nodaway Valley (Jared Corder, Heath Downing, Ryan Jensen, Tanner Armstrong), 8:36.38.
400 meter dash — 1. Brett Prenger, Lawton-Bronson, 48.47; 4. Kyle Dolecheck, Mount Ayr, 49.59; 12. Grant Staats, Mount Ayr, 52.34.