Solon Ham-mers it home

DES MOINES — The Solon Spartans force-fed the rest of the Class 3A boys' field a steady diet of Ham.

Connor Ham won a pair of events and anchored a second-place relay as Solon emerged from a balanced pack of teams to capture the 3A title Saturday at Drake Stadium.

'It's always a comfort factor when you have athletes like him, and like Jordan Wymer and Dalton Ferguson, on your side,' Solon Coach Mark Sovers said.

Ham, a junior, won successive races, the 110 hurdles and the 200. And ultimately, that put the Spartans over the top.

Solon finished with 50 points to outscore Wamac Conference rival Center Point-Urbana (42.5). Algona was third with 40.

'The turnaround made it interesting,' Ham said. But I'm pretty used to it; I run four events most nights.'

As for the team title?

'That's why we're here,' he said.

Ham won the highs in 14.16 seconds, then came back a few minutes later to capture the 200 in 22.14.

The runner-up finish in the 400 relay wrapped up the title.

It was a much happier ending than Ham's last appearance here. He fell in the high hurdles at the Drake Relays.

'Once that was done, it was done,' Ham said. 'This was a whole new chapter, and it was amazing.'

Center Point-Urbana jumped from eighth place to second by winning the 1,600-meter relay in Saturday's finale.

Nick Thibault, Michael Marshall, Levi Gatrost and Brandon Kinsey ran it in 3:23.79.

South Tama's Dylan Kalinay was second in the 100, third in the 110 hurdles, and fifth in the 200 and 400 relay Saturday.

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