CPU's Gatrost emerges from first heat, wins state 800; Bach concludes distance sweep

DES MOINES — Wyatt Gatrost knelt on the ground, his head on the Drake Stadium infield.

He tried to will the seconds to go faster as the fast heat of the Class 3A boys' 800-meter ran neared completion.

'Please, please, please, pleasepleaseplease,' he whispered.

'Watching that heat was definitely harder than running mine,' Gatrost said. 'I was watching the clock, yelling for it to speed up.'

Then came the result — Ross Emmanuel of Fairfield came up just short of Gatrost's first-heat effort of 1:56.27. And that set off Gatrost, who leapt back to life, jumping and pointing toward the Center Point-Urbana supporters in the southeast corner of the stadium.

'Most of the time, it's a very hard thing to do, run when you're out there by yourself,' Gatrost said. 'But there's something about this place, the fans in the stands and the blue oval, that pushes you along.'

Pella grabbed the 3A boys' championship, compiling 62 points. Four of the top eight teams hail from the Wamac Conference, led by runner-up Vinton-Shellsburg (56 points). Mount Vernon was fourth with 45, CPU sixth with 40, Marion eighth with 29.

Vinton-Shellsburg didn't win an event, but five runner-up finishes this weekend staked them to silver overall.

'I think it just kind of showed what kind of kids we have,' said junior Tyler Bartz. 'We had high expectations. We wanted to be state champions.'

The Vikings scored a modest 16 points here last year, then won every meet but two this season, including a Wamac Conference championship.

'That's just the kind of confidence we built,' Bartz said. 'We kept working hard.'

Vinton-Shellsburg closed with second-place finishes in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.

Marion sophomore Myles Bach added the 1,600 title to his weekend collection; he claimed the 3,200 on Thursday.

'The second is just as sweet as the first,' he said, after completing the 1,600 in 4:29.89.

The race got off to a fairly slow start, and Bach was content to run with the pack until pouncing late.

'I didn't know what they were doing. I just ran with them,' Bach said.

CPU's JoJo Frost came within 1-hundredth of a second of winning his third title of the weekend. Lantz Reed of Boone won the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.42; Frost finished in 14.43.

STATE TRACK & FIELD: CLASS 3A BOYS

Teams (top 10) — 1. Pella 62, 2. Vinton-Shellsburg 56, 3. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 47, 4. Mount Vernon 45, 5. Boone 41, 6. Center Point-Urbana 40, 7. Estherville ELC 33, 8. Marion 29, 9. Dallas Center-Grimes 26, 10. North Polk 21.

Results (top 3, plus area)

800 — 1. Wyatt Gatrost (Center Point-Urbana), 1:56.27; 2. Ross Emmanuel (Fairfield), 1:56.31; 3. Payson Vande Lune (Pella), 1:57.64; 6. Josh Gerke (Cedar Rapids Xavier), 1:58.07.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Carlisle (Black, Crowley, Stephens, Wright), 57.87; 2. Glenwood, 58.19; 3. Mount Pleasant, 58.27; 4. Benton Community, 59.52.

100 — 1. Eli Hicks (Boone), 11.02; 2. Brady Wall (Sergeant Bluff-Luton), 11.10; 3. Nick Hyland (Vinton-Shellsburg), 11.40; 7. Nate Christensen (Solon), 11.32.

110 hurdles — 1. Lantz Reed (Boone), 14.42; 2. JoJo Frost (Center Point-Urbana), 14.43; 3. Austin Reed (Oskaloosa), 14.57; 7. Bryce Charipar (Cedar Rapids Xavier), 15.07.

200 — 1. Eli Hicks (Boone), 21.68; 2. Brady Wall (Sergeant Bluff-Luton), 21.97; 3. Chase Van Sant (Pella), 22.16; 7. Blake Hughes (Williamsburg), 22.40.

1,600 — 1. Myles Bach (Marion), 4:29.89; 2. Nic Peters (Estherville ELC), 4:30.73; 3. Jack Young (Mount Vernon), 4:33.16; 5. Jake Tener (Clear Creek Amana), 4:36.46.

400 relay — 1. Boone (Vodenik, Sherrard, Johnson, Hicks), 42.67; 2. Vinton-Shellsburg, 42.83; 3. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 43.09; 5. Benton Community, 43.62; 6. Solon, 43.73; 7. Williamsburg, 43.97.

1,600 relay — 1. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (Girres, Boekelman, George, Sanchez), 3:20.67; 2. Vinton-Shellsburg, 3:20.96; 3. Spirit Lake, 3:22.84; 5. Marion, 3:24.76.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com