Mount Ayr runs away with Pride of Iowa title

CORNING – It was all Mount Ayr Monday night as the Raiders ran away with the Pride of Iowa Championship, scoring 209 team points.

The point total totaled to be more than second place finisher Central Decatur and third place finisher Wayne combined.

The Raiders hardly found themselves outside of the top three, taking five of seven relays and taking five individual events.

“They just stepped up and delivered today, which was awesome to see considering it was great conditions to take advantage of,” said Brad Elliot. “The kids worked really hard to get to this point in the season so it was nice to see as we’ve started to taper our workouts that the rewards are happening for them.”

Hunter Haveman blew by everyone in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, posting an 11.61 in the 100 and a 23.32 in the 200.

Teammate Seth Shelman was hot on his heels in the 100, finishing with an 11.85 time. Connor Eaton nearly snuck the win out from under Haveman in the 200, falling off his pace by three hundredths of a second.

The Raiders placed back-to-back first and second in the 800 with Nathan Hauge running a 2:08.31 and Trae Ehlen running a 2:08.70.

“Hauge’s worked really hard. He’s a senior so it was cool to see him get the win in the 800 and have Ehlen follow him up. ... Both of those times were personal bests,” said Elliot.

Catching up

With Mount Ayr in complete control of nearly every event, several area schools put respectable and competitive times together.

Nodaway Valley’s Josh Baudler continued to use his cross country experience in his favor in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs, winning both with times of 4:45.06 and 10:09.52.

“We’ve got a lot of veterans here, our distance guys are doing a great job and it’s really bringing along the sprinters too,” co-head coach Taylor Ashman. “We’re really starting to come together as a team.”

NV’s 4x800 team of Tyler Breheny, Clay Hohertz, Mason Menefee and Baudler ran a competitive time of 8:52.12, just under four seconds off Mount Ayr’s lead.

Southwest Valley’s throwers continued to throw well as Hunter Poston and Tallen Myers took top billing in the discus. The two posted distances of 136 feet, 3 inches and 129-6 for the top throws.

Jacob Webb’s throw of 46-1 was the best in the shot put by over one foot. Poston’s distance of 43-11.5 was long enough for third place.

“Our field events were really awesome today,” said SWV head coach Cameron Kiner. “We won the shot and discus, got second in disc and then got third in shot. That was really cool.”

In similar fashion, Lenox also showed promise in the field events with a third place distance from Brad Larson in the long jump.

Larson’s jump of 17-5 was complimented by his 200 time of 24.53 and Trey Whipple’s fifth place discus throw of 118-2. The two scored the majority of team points for the Tigers.

“I was hoping our long jumper (Larson) would do good and he did alright,” said head coach Cole Bonde.

The Tigers also had success in the sprint medley as Drew Venteicher, Danny Ramirez, Colton Gordon and Larson ran a 1:45.89.

“Our sprint med took two seconds off their time today,” said Bonde. “That was really good. I was happy about that.”

East Union’s team had success in the sprints with Caleb Comstock running the 100 in 11.99 and the 200 in 23.85.

The Eagles’ 4x200 group of Anthony Smith, Kanyon Huntington, Joshua Hardy and Comstock were a few seconds from taking the win, posting a 1:40.61 time that was four seconds off the lead.

The distance medley team of Smith, Brody Kinyon, Hardy and Colton Mitchell ran a 4:19.64, fast enough for fifth place.