Lisbon's Tritle claims state title, school record on final throw

DES MOINES — Lisbon standout thrower Keegan Tritle slipped from second to fourth in the span of two opponents' heaves as Thursday's Class 1A state track and field shot put finals wound down.

Uh-oh?

Nope.

'I knew as soon as that happened I had to get going,' said Tritle, who repeated as champion thanks to yet another school-record smashing effort on his final throw. 'I had to pick it up.'

Tritle launched the shot 56-feet and 3.5 inches to relegate AGWSR's Clay Meinders to the runner-up spot for the second year in a row.

Meinders also fell victim to a last-gasp, school-record throw from Tritle last May, but that winning heave traveled just over 53 feet that time.

So Tritle's best — as expected — keeps getting better.

'Clay is an awesome competitor,' said Tritle, who will finally transition to baseball season in the coming days. 'He's pushed me all year and motivated me all year. I've been weight training since November and I've been pushing myself harder and harder every day to better that mark.'

As soon as Tritle unleashed the shot put he knew he'd once again secured gold on his final throw.

'I could feel it come off my hand right, it came off my cheek right and I just watched it,' Tritle said. 'I was just waiting for it to land … I knew it was a good one.'

Great, even.

With more to come?

'Hopefully next year will be a 60-footer,' Tritle said. 'A state meet record and a school record again.'

Tritle's progression hasn't gone unnoticed by college coaches. Northern Iowa's shown keen interest, he said.

So have other schools ranging from Division I to III.

'I think track's where it's at now,' Tritle, a former four-sport star, said.

But first there's baseball.

Tritle plays right field and extra hits.

Naturally, he's a natural in one purely power-based element of the game.

'Home runs,' Tritle said.

NEAR RECORD: Belle Plaine's 3,200-meter relay team notched two second-place finishes Thursday — one to Mount Ayr and one to themselves.

Plainsmen Josh Long, Robert Brown, Orie Brown and Trey Squiers clocked in at 8:17.07.

'Missed it by one second,' Long told his teammates.

That would be the school record, but their time would have won state last season by four seconds.

'Good time to PR,' Squiers said.

CALLED SHOT: Turkey Valley junior Ryan Izer notched third in the grueling 3,200 run, posting a personal-best time of 9:54.38.

That's good, but …

'Next year's first place, yep,' Izer said. 'A lot more training needs to be done, though. I didn't train as well as I should have in the offseason.'