Iowa state track 4A boys’ results: Drew Bartels is a gold standard Friday — twice

DES MOINES — It’s not just bulletin-board material any more. It’s reality.

“I have a lot of sticky notes in front of my desk,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Drew Bartels said. “Every time I do school work, I see them.”

Among those little items of motivation, one read Long Jump State Champion.

Nailed it. And then some.

Bartels was the undisputed king of Drake Stadium for a glorious hour late Friday afternoon. Shortly after sailing to the Class 4A boys’ long jump championship, he made it a double, pacing the field in the 400-meter hurdles.

“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. "I expected to be here in four events. That didn’t happen, so my goal became to win two or three of them.”

A University of Northern Iowa recruit, Bartels entered the postseason as the state’s top-ranked competitor in the long jump, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and shuttle hurdle relay.

The high hurdles went off the table when Bartels misstepped midway through that event at the state-qualifying meet last week. But a title triple remains very much in play. He will anchor Kennedy’s shuttle hurdle unit Saturday.

In a somewhat cruel twist, the prelims of the highs were going by Bartels as he took his first jump Friday.

“It kind of bugged me,” he said.

So he went out and marked 23 feet, 5 1/2 inches on his opener. It was the first of five 23-footers he landed throughout the event, topped by 23-6 on his fifth leap.

Bartels, and all long jumpers Friday afternoon, had a generous tail wind on their approach.

“I used it to my advantage,” he said. “If I hit it hard, the wind will do the rest for me. You’ve got to pop up, and the wind will take you.”

Bartels didn’t have long to celebrate before taking the blocks in the 400 lows, then ran a clean race and won comfortably, in 52.49 seconds.

“It’s all pretty cool,” Bartels said. “As a sophomore, I came here and I wasn’t anything special. I wasn’t very good. I made it my goal to win a championship my senior year.

“Now I’m done for the day. My legs are dead. We’re going to order pizza.”

Cedar Falls owns control of the 4A boys’ team race heading into the final day. Through 10 events, the Tigers have 55 points in the bank. Ames is second with 31.5.

Linn-Mar is fifth with 22, Kennedy sixth with 20, Iowa City Liberty tied for seventh with 18.

Despite running in the second heat, Liberty finished second in the distance medley relay.

Michael Miller, Luke Meyers, Jack Kinzer and Bo Gryp ran in 3:31.07. Cedar Falls shaded that in the final heat, in 3:25.84, but nobody else did.

“Cedar Falls is so tough,” Gryp said. “They have excellent 400 and 800 runners. But getting second, that’s huge. It’s crazy.”

STATE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Des Moines

CLASS 4A BOYS

Teams (through 10 events) — 1. Cedar Falls 55, 2. Ames 31.5, 3. (tie) West Des Moines Dowling and Waukee 30, 5. Linn-Mar 22, 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 20, 7. (tie) Ankeny Centennial, Dubuque Senior, Iowa City Liberty and West Des Moines Valley 18.

Shot put — 1. Matt Kapustka (Waukee), 60-6 1/4; 2. Braeden Edwards (West Des Moines Valley), 56-6 1/4; 3. Joe Simpson (Clinton), 54-3 1/2; 4. Raphael Hamilton (Iowa City High), 52-10 3/4; 7. Luke Gaffney (Linn-Mar), 52-9 1/2.

Long jump — 1. Drew Bartels (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 23-6; 2. Tay Norman (Waterloo West), 22-10 3/4; 3. Malik Allen (Waukee), 22-8 1/4; 6. Prosper Kapongo (Cedar Rapids Jefferson), 22-2 3/4.

800 relay — 1. West Des Moines Valley (Elston, Mahoney, Johnson, DouBrava), 1:27.06; 2. Ankeny Centennial, 1:27.49; 3. West Des Moines Dowling, 1:28.80; 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 1:29.25.

400 hurdles — 1. Drew Bartels (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 52.49; 2. Joel Burris (Cedar Falls), 53.21; 3. Bill Mukhtar (Waukee), 53.25; 5. Abass Kemokai (Linn-Mar), 55.15; 7. Michael Guckenberger (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 56.15.

Distance medley relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Gee, Campbell, Eastman, Tomlyanovich), 3:25.84; 2. Iowa City Liberty, 3:31.07; 3. Ames, 3:31.17; 4. Iowa City High, 3:32.74; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 3:37.06.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com