Center Point-Urbana 3A title sealed on final event

DES MOINES - Center Point-Urbana's JoJo Frost stood on the infield at Drake Stadium, with his jersey clenched tightly in his teeth.

When his jersey wasn't in his mouth, the sophomore was jumping up and down and hitting the ground, as were the rest of his teammates. Frost, senior Michael Marshall and junior Wyatt Gatrost were shouting at their 1,600-meter relay anchor, senior Brandon Kinsey.

'There was just a lot of stuff going through my mind,” Frost said. 'I was yelling, ‘Come on Brandon! Come on!' It's the best feeling I've ever had.”

Kinsey anchored the relay home to the state title in 3:21.19, which was Center Point-Urbana's third straight. The win also meant the Stormin' Pointers clinched the Class 3A team title with 56 points, edging Mount Pleasant (54) and Algona (53).

'This is what we've dreamed about since the first day of track practice and now it's finally here,” Kinsey said.

Center Point-Urbana assured itself the team title with a win in the 1,600 relay as long as Algona placed third or below. They were fifth. And it didn't take long for the CPU relay squad to realize what it meant, especially when they took care of all they could on their end.

'We just knew we had to control what we could control and we went and did it,” Gatrost said.

Solon's Connor Ham collected his third-straight title in the 110-meter hurdles and his second straight in the 200-meter dash. Ham ran with a tight quad, winning the hurdles in 14.30 and the 200 in 22.35.

'I just wanted to defend my title,” Ham said. 'It was my last chance to wear this uniform for Solon so I thought I'd try to go out right.”

The Spartan senior edged Mount Pleasant senior Cole Phillips in the hurdles by .07 seconds and said he didn't really feel like he hit his stride until the middle of the race. Ham became just the fifth runner in Iowa to win three championships in the 110-meter hurdles.

'I'm a second-half runner,” Ham said. 'I never really lost hope, but I think (Phillips) nicked one and that slowed him down a little bit and I couldn't find a hurdle not to hit. I guess we were just kind of on the same trip there, but it worked out.”

The Williamsburg 400-meter relay squad of Noah Heitshusen, Josh Koeppel, Mitchell Stahl and anchor Blake Hughes picked up a state championship in 43.03. Solon was third in 43.69 while Vinton-Shellsburg was fourth in 43.77.

Hughes overtook Bishop Heelan's Odessa Clark on the homestretch to secure the crown.

'I knew I could get him,” Hughes said. 'With the state title on the line, I knew there was no way I was going to let him beat me.”

Center Point-Urbana also got runner-up finishes from Josh Yeager in the 1,600-meter run and Gatrost in the 800-meter run. Gilbert's Thomas Pollard set a meet record in his championship run in the mile (4:09.67) by six seconds. Yeager timed in at 4:25.03 while Gatorst clocked 1:56.80 in the 800.

Hughes was fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.51) while Washington and Williamsburg were seventh and eighth in the shuttle hurdle relay, respectively.

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