Alex Figueroa manages the pain, wins 4 events at Pacha Relays

TIFFIN — One surgery is behind. Another most likely lies ahead.

In the meantime, Alex Figueroa simply deals with the pain and does what he can, which is still quite a bit.

“I’ve gotten better at managing it, handling it,” he said. “I do a lot of short, short workouts. If the guys run 10 reps, I might do six.”

Despite the pain and the limited conditioning, Figueroa — a senior at Clear Creek Amana — is one of the fastest guys around. He won four events at Thursday’s Pacha Relays.

He was a member of the Clippers’ winning sprint medley relay, captured the 100 (actually more like 95, due to a clerical error in which sprinters started at the wrong line) and 200, then anchored CCA to victory in the 400-meter relay.

“After the 100, I was feeling really good, but I knew I couldn’t get too big of a head,” he said.

Pain can humble you in a hurry, and Figueroa is battling compartment syndrome — a painful condition that occurs when pressure within the muscles builds to high levels — in his legs.

“The only way to fix it is surgery,” he said. “I’m pretty much day to day.”

Figueroa had an unrelated surgery after football season, and didn’t run for three months after that.

The Clippers won 11 of 19 events and scored 156 points, outdistancing Solon by 10.5.

Solon rolled to the girls’ title, tallying 179 points. Davenport Assumption was the runner-up with 136.

Emma Bock anchored three winning relays for the Spartans.

“I don’t usually run the 4-by-2, so I was really excited about that,” Bock said. “I always enjoy running relays, winning something together.”

Tipton distance ace Caleb Shumaker survived a grueling day, winning the boys’ 3,200 and 1,600 and running a pair of 800s.

“I really like to treat these meets like competitive workouts,” he said. “This is a good workout for my legs.

“I’m tired, but more than anything, I’m hungry. There’s a Clif bar calling me. Then I’ll run a 2-mile cooldown so my legs don’t feel like Jell-O when I get off the bus.”

CCA girls’ coach Jane Astor, who will retire at the conclusion of the season after 32 years, was recognized midway through the meet. The school’s Creek Classic will be renamed the Jane Astor Relays.

PACHA RELAYS

At Tiffin

GIRLS RESULTS

Teams — 1. Solon 179, 2. Davenport Assumption 136, 3. Williamsburg 105, 4. Clear Creek Amana 89, 5. Tipton 71, 6. Iowa City Regina 69, 7. Mount Vernon 67, 8. Durant 18.

Shot put — 1. Lauren Pope (Wmsbg), 39-2; 2. Anna Wohlers (DavA), 38-9; 3. Leah Kollar (Sol), 36-6; Discus — 1. Ava Conrad (Sol), 119-8; 2. Anna Wohlers (DavA), 117-10 1/2; 3. Liz Bierman (Tip), 104-2; High jump — 1. Kaia Holtkamp (Sol), 5-2; 2. Peyton Seberg (DavA), 5-0; 3. Inga Dovre (Wmsbg), 4-10; Long jump — 1. Sydney Barton (Tip), 15-10; 2. Callie Levin (Sol), 15-9; 3. Peyton Seberg (DavA), 15-7.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Davenport Assumption (McConnell, Combs, Lynch, Jennings), 1:55.03; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:56.92; 3. Williamsburg, 1:57.80; 3,000 — 1. Kiersten Conway (Sol), 11:47.00; 2. Annalee Bartels (ICR), 11:51.10; 3. Savanna Busch (Wmsbg), 12:33.80; 3,200 relay — 1. Solon (Holtkamp, Quillin, Federspiel, Bock), 10:09.00; 2. Mount Vernon, 10:34.08; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 10:45.85; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Mathis, Smiddy, Jiras, Kabolo), 1:07.47; 2. Iowa City Regina, 1:08.82; 3. Solon, 1:11.32; 100 — 1. Laney Fitzpatrick (DavA), NT; 2. Alaina McConnell (DavA), NT; Mia Duckett (Sol), NT; Distance medley relay — 1. Tipton (Bierman, Bierman, Nerem, Edens), 4:36.86; 2. Clear Creek Amana, 4:37.44; 3. Iowa City Regina, 4:38.94; 400 — 1. Laney Fitzpatrick (DavA), 1:02.44; 2. Kaia Holtkamp (Sol), 1:03.48; 3. Kate Dougherty (MtV), 1:05.18; 800 relay — 1. Solon (Duckett, Stahle, Levin, Bock), 1:47.67*; 2. Williamsburg, 1:48.20; 3. Davenport Assumption, 1:51.02; 100 hurdles — 1. Annie Gahan (ICR), 15.98; 2. Silvana Kabolo (CCA), 16.23; 3. Emma Mathis (CCA), 16.49; 800 — 1. Morgan Jennings (DavA), 2:28.42; 2. Berlyn O’Connor (ICR), 2:30.64; 3. Alivia Edens (Tip), 2:36.63; 200 — 1. Laney Fitzpatrick (DavA), 25.90*; 2. Alaina McConnell (DavA), 26.57; 3. Sophia Stahle (Sol), 26.93; 400 hurdles — 1. Peyton Naeve (ICR), 1:11.43; 2. Mia Stahle (Sol), 1:12.19; 3. Tayler Long (Wmsbg), 1:13.71; 1,500 — 1. Kiersten Conway (Sol), 5:14.57; 2. Skylar Hoffman (DavA), 5:20.42; 3. Haidyn Barker (CCA), 5:20.60; 400 relay — 1. Davenport Assumption (Lynch, Seberg, Combs, McConnell), 50.93*; 2. Solon, 51.53; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 51.96; 1,600 relay — 1. Solon (Holtkamp, Federspiel, Stinocher, Bock), 4:05.12*; 2. Williamsburg, 4:10.12; 3. Davenport Assumption, 4:10.21.

*meet record

BOYS RESULTS

Teams — 1. Clear Creek Amana 156, 2. Solon 145.5, 3. Tipton 86, 4. Monticello 83, 5. Mount Vernon 61.5, 6. Anamosa 54, 7. Williamsburg 51, 8. Davenport Assumption 47, 9. Durant 31, 10. Benton Community 18, 11. (tie) CCA JV and Iowa City Regina 4.

Shot put — 1. Luke Peters (Wmsbg), 49-0; 2. Nile Schuett (Tip), 48-6; 3. Zach Harp (Sol), 45-9; Discus — 1. Tyler Maro (DavA), 146-5; 2. Zach Harp (Sol), 143-9; 3. Nolan McLean (Ana), 138-3 1/2; High jump — 1. Caden Ungs (Monti), 6-2; 2. Colton Hoffman (Sol), 6-0; 3; Derek Weiskopf (Wmsbg), 6-0; Long jump — 1. Ben Swails (CCA), 20-10 1/2; 2. Kade Kreinbring (DavA), 20-10; Nolan DeLong (Dur), 20-8 3/4.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Rosenberg, Figueroa, Freeman, Johnson), 1:37.45*; 2. Solon, 1:37.49; 3. Mount Vernon, 1:40.30; 3,200 — 1. Caleb Shumaker (Tip), 9:54.14*; 2. Brandon Barker (CCA), 10:26.86; 3. Harrison Garber (Wmsbg), 10:53.30; 3,200 relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Zillyette, Jensen, Barker, Johnson), 8:34.96; 2. Tipton, 8:41.65; 3. Mount Vernon, 8:48.32; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Swails, Shlemme, Rachman, Rosenberg), 1:04.74; 2. Solon, 1:04.78; 3. Anamosa, 1:06.11; 100 — 1. Alex Figueroa (CCA), NT; 2. Colton Hoffman (Sol), NT; 3. Nolan DeLong (Dur), NT; Distance medley relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Swails, Freeman, Zillyette, Johnson), 3:47.72; 2. Monticello, 3:51.82; 3. Tipton, 3:55.73; 400 — 1. Brayden Rickertsen (Sol), 52.12; 2. Cash Jensen (CCA), 53.42; 3. Keyan Gisleson (CCA), 53.53; 800 relay — 1. Solon (Eidahl, Timmons, Gerdin, Hoffman), 1:35.14; 2. Mount Vernon, 1:35.77; 3. Clear Creek Amana, 1:36.75; 110 hurdles — 1. Harrison Rosenberg (CCA), 15.24; 2. Caden Ungs (Monti), 15.48; 3. Brady Mullen (Sol), 15.77; 800 — 1. Carter Kurt (Monti), 2:04.79; 2. Ben DeValk (Sol), 2:05.85; 3. Caleb Shumaker (Tip), 2:06.74; 200 — 1. Alex Figueroa (CCA), 22.92; 2. Nolan DeLong (Dur), 22.92; 3. Brayden Rickertsen (Sol), 23.14; 400 hurdles — 1. Gavin Zillyette (CCA), 56.97; 2. Jake Coon (MtV), 1:00.69; 3. Ty Jesenovec (Monti), 1:00.72; 1,600 — 1. Caleb Shumaker (Tip), 4:39.77; 2. Ben DeValk (Sol), 4:40.54; 3. Brandon Barker (CCA), 4:46.75; 400 relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Rosenberg, Swails, Freeman, Figueroa), 43.95; 2. Davenport Assumption, 44.02; 3. Solon, 45.18; 1,600 relay — 1. Clear Creek Amana (Zillyette, Jensen, Gisleson, Johnson), 3:31.91; 2. Mount Vernon, 3:33.17; 3. Durant, 3:33.33.

*meet record

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com