Sports : Boys Track Team wins 5 events

TAMA – “Now the celebrating is done, and we have to get back to work for one more week.”

Those were the words of Vinton-Shellsburg boys’ track coach Aric Chvala Monday morning after his Vikings put on a performance of epic proportions Friday at the Class 3A District track and field meet at the South Tama High School track.

The Vikings, who finished second to Pella in the District team race, won five events – including three relays – grabbed three runner-up finishes and a pair of thirds to advance 10 entries to the blue oval at Drake Stadium for this weekend’s State meet.

The Vikes picked up a pair of titles in the field events. Senior shot-putter Grant Wittmer sent the iron ball flying 52 feet, five inches for a three-foot victory over Knoxville’s Ty Dunkin and four feet over Iowa football recruit Austin Blythe of Williamsburg.

Then, in the long jump, senior Taylor Leyden kept up his season of flying as he went long distance to a leap of 20 feet, 10 inches to with the title.

The Vikings won the first of their three relay titles in the 4x200 meters, as the foursome of Leyden, Clint Ferguson, Jordan Barnes and Jason Kirk flew to time of 1:31.81. Later the same quartet would grab gold in the 4x100 meters, in a time of 44.57.

But, perhaps the story of the night came in both the Vikings’ victory in the 4x400 relay as well as their runner-up finish in the medley relay and centered around the efforts of junior Travis Libbert.

Libbert was a part of the Vikings’ 4x800 relay team that narrowly missed qualifying for State, but came back to run the 800 meter anchor of the medley, edging out Benton Community for second place in a time of 3:44.26. Then, just for good measure, Libbert anchored the Vikings’ meet encore in the 4x400 relay in a time of 3:26.06, edging out runner-up Pella but just three one-hundredths of a second for the win.

“Travis was part of the 4x800 team that ran out of their minds and came up just short,” Chvala said. “But, to come back from that and battle like he did in the medley, and then turn around right after that and run an outstanding leg in one of the best 4x400 races I have ever seen, was truly one of the toughest things I have seen done.”

Libbert was joined in the medley by David Ervin, Brian Fischer and Barnes and in the 4x400 by Kirk, Ferguson and Williams.

Also picking up silver (and with it State berths) for the Vikings were freshman Kelyn Rickels, who was second in the high jump with a leap of six feet, along with Kirk in the 200 meter dash in a time of 23.04.

Ferguson grabbed a third-place finish in the 100 meters, entered the State field with a time of 11.71, while the shuttle hurdle relay team of David Richter, Matt Pettengill, Chase Whitnell and Will Hancock slipped in with a third-place finish and a State berth in a time of 1:03.27.

“Our kids knew how important this meet was, and what kind of effort they would have to give in order to make it where they wanted to go,” Chvala said. “If they compete like they did last Friday maybe there will be a little more to celebrate.”

The Vikings schedule at State is as follows:

THURSDAY

2:00 PM: High Jump (Kelyn Rickels)

2:40 PM: Shuttle Hurdle Relay Preliminaries

4:35 PM: 100 Meter Dash Preliminaries (Clint Ferguson)

6:40 PM: 200 Meter Dash Preliminaries (Jason Kirk)

FRIDAY

2:00 PM: Long Jump (Taylor Leyden)

4:00 PM: 4x200 FINAL

4:30 PM: Shot put (Grant Wittmer)

5:40 PM: Distance Medley Relay FINAL

6:20 PM: 4x100 Relay Preliminaries

7:00 PM: 4x400 Relay Preliminaries