Mustangs, indeed: Mount Vernon has a full stable in the long-sprint relays

VAN HORNE — Jensen Meeker gave a cautionary tale:

“I’m not good at this,” he said as he tackled the first question.

A teammate chimed in with accurate assistance:

“He’s just a dog, man. Just a dog!”

Meeker and his long-sprint stablemates capped a stirring performance at the Bobcat Invitational track and field meet Thursday night at Bobcat Field, vaulting to No. 3 in the state in the boys’ 1,600-meter relay.

Caden Stimmel, Zach Fall, Brady Erickson and Meeker ran it in 3 minutes, 22.96 seconds.

The Drake Relays are two weeks away, and the Mustangs have every appearance of a contender in that event.

“We’re going big,” Meeker said. “Our distance medley relay is No. 2, the 4-by-4 is up there now. We’re going to try to (qualify) in the 4-by-8 ...

“We’re gonna go big.”

The Mustangs set school records in two events Thursday — the sprint medley relay (1:36.19) and the 800-meter relay (1:30.14), the latter of which climbed to No. 9 in the state.

Mount Vernon captured the boys’ team race with 105 points; Benton Community and Cedar Rapids Xavier tied for second with 89.

Xavier’s Grayson Hartman ran his second gem in the 110-meter hurdles in three days. He ran 14.42 at Cedar Rapids Prairie on Tuesday, then followed that with 14.48 into a healthy wind Thursday.

“I ran 15.4 at Mount Mercy (earlier this season). It was my first race, and my head wasn’t right,” Hartman said. “I had five days until my next race, and it gave me time to get my mind right.

“About three hurdles in the race tonight, I felt amazing. I want to feel that way for all 10. I have my goals set high.”

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Led by sophomore sprinter Ailea Wetjen, Williamsburg captured the girls’ title, outscoring Xavier, 146-129.

Wetjen won the 100 (13.63 seconds), the 200 (27.21), anchored the Raiders’ winning 400 relay (51.97) and ran on the victorious 1,600 relay (4:15.49).

She was anything but comfortable after the 4x100.

“After the 200, I thought I was going to throw up. I still don’t feel great,” Wetjen said. “But I’m really happy with all of my races. The 4-by-1 is my favorite. Relays are always fun. Even if you mess up, the other girls can bring you up.”

Center Point-Urbana’s Taylor Luscomb swept the girls’ throwing events.

She’s a thrower, not a gamer. But Luscomb is a creature of habit, so ...

“I started wearing this last year, and I felt it brought me good luck,” Luscomb said, referring to her purple Pac-Man T-shirt. “I was shopping with my mom at Old Navy, and got it.”

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So now it’s part of Luscomb’s wardrobe, and her routine.

“Take it off, throw, put it back on,” she said.

Luscomb improved with every throw in the shot put, capping the competition with a heave of 39 feet, 8 inches.

“My coach gives me things to focus on ... make sure I really punch it,” said Luscomb, a South Dakota State commit. “I can feel it when my feet are right. I can really get it going.”

Luscomb won the discus with an effort of started the competition with an effort of 108-5.

BOBCAT INVITATIONAL

(At Van Horne)

Girls Results

Teams — 1. Williamsburg 146, 2. C.R. Xavier 129, 3. Center Point-Urbana 87, 4. Benton Community 80, 5. Iowa City Regina 65, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 50, 7. Independence 43, 8. Waterloo Columbus 28, 9. C.R. Prairie 27, 10. (tie) Iowa Valley and Oelwein 25, 12. Belle Plaine 14, 13. Benton Community JV 12.

High jump – 1. Sydney Maue (CPU), 5-2; 2. Ava Van Berkem (CRX), 5-0; 3. Reese Naeve (ICR), 4-10.

Long jump – 1. Sophia Keys (WatC), 16-8 1/2; 2. Ava Maloney (CPU), 16-7; 3. Jaclyn Meyer (CRX), 15-3 1/2.

Shot put – 1. Taylor Luscomb (CPU), 39-8; 2. Elle Ridgeway (Wmsbg), 36-6; 3. Sophia Kreutner (V-S), 36-4 1/2.

Discus – 1. Taylor Luscomb (CPU), 108-5; 2. Lydia Kriegel (IV), 107-0; 3. Sophie Simon (CPU), 105-4.

Sprint medley relay – 1. C.R. Xavier (Conlon, Weiss, Durin, Arnold), 1:57.04; 2. Independence, 1:57.67; 3. Williamsburg, 2:01.04.

3,000 — 1. Jaida Lyons (BC), 12:06.56; 2. Mia Deegan (CRX), 12:16.05; 3. Tori Yunggebauer (Wmsbg), 12:17.36.

3,200 relay — 1. Williamsburg (DeWitt, McMenomy, Bemer, Phillips), 11:03.71; 2. C.R. Xavier, 11:10.68; 3. Iowa Valley, 11:46.06.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Xavier (Meyer, Van Berkem, Arnold, Durin), 1:10.93; 2. Benton Community, 1:13.74; 3. Independence, 1:13.86.

100 — 1. Ailea Wetjen (Wmsbg), 13.63; 2. Laine Hadsall (CPU), 13.72; 3. Kate Weiss (CRX), 13.92.

Distance medley relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Burkhart, Maloney, Wade, Katcher), 4:36.62; 2. Benton Community, 4:48.18; 3. Independence, 4:51.00.

400 — 1. Shannon Finn (Wmsbg), 1:03.69; 2. Reaghan Ressler (Ind), 1:04.40; 3. Alyssa Steinback (BP), 1:05.35.

800 relay — 1. Benton Community (Nolte, Lohrer, Kelly, Nelson), 1:53.53; 2. Williamsburg, 1:54.58; 3. Iowa City Regina, 1:55.70.

100 hurdles — 1. Naomi Durin (CRX), 16.09; 2. Reese Naeve (ICR), 17.03; 3. Macy Westendorf (Oel), 17.21.

800 — 1. Macey Marovets (Wmsbg), 2:23.50; 2. Jaida Lyons (BC), 2:35.71; 3. Abbie Jones (BC), 2:41.58.

200 — 1. Ailea Wetjen (Wmsbg), 27.71; 2. Makenna Hughes (Wmsbg), 28.30; 3. Sophia Keys (WatC), 28.40.

400 hurdles — 1. Emma Arnold (CRX), 1:08.76; 2. Hannah Hughes (CRP), 1:10.39; 3. Alyssa Steinback (BP), 1:12.61.

1,500 — 1. Deni Katcher (CPU), 5:19.22; 2. Tori Yunggebauer (Wmsbg), 5:35.22; 3. Mia Deegan (CRX), 5:36.00.

400 relay — 1. Williamsburg (Stohlmann, Finn, Hughes, Wetjen), 51.97; 2. Center Point-Urbana, 52.18; 3. C.R. Xavier, 52.43.

1,600 relay — 1. Williamsburg (Marovets, Hughes, Wetjen, Finn), 4:15.49; 2. Benton Community, 4:25.25; 3. C.R. Xavier, 4:26.41.

Boys Results

Teams – 1. Mount Vernon 105, 2. (tie) Benton Community and C.R. Xavier 89, 4. Williamsburg 73, 5. Oelwein 47, 6. Independence 44, 7. Center Point-Urbana 41.5, 8. Vinton-Shellsburg 40, 9. English Valleys 39, 10. Belle Plaine 38.5, 11. (tie) Iowa Valley and Union Community 38, 13. Waterloo Columbus 14, 14. C.R. Prairie 13.5, 15. Iowa City Regina 13, 16. Janesville 7.5, 17. Valley Lutheran 6, 18. Benton Community JV 5.

High jump – 1. Caleb Haack (IV), 5-10; 2. (tie) Brady Kurt (Ind), and Eli Patterson (BC), 5-8.

Long jump – 1. Coleton Beasler-Weber (CRX), 20-10; 2. T.Y. Pour (CRP), 20-3; 3. Carter Andrews (CPU), 20-2 ¼.

Shot put – 1. Derek Weisskopf (Wmsbg), 49-3; 2. Brady McDonald (Ind), 48-1 1/2; 3. Tory Walsh (V-S), 47-0 1/2.

Discus – 1. Brennen Blegen (BC), 159-6; 2. Zach Sidles (Ind), 151-4; 3. Andrew Sholes (CPU), 140-5.

Sprint medley relay – 1. Mount Vernon (Rhomberg, Bentley, Erickson, Meeker), 1:36.19; 2. Benton Community, 1:37.62; 3. Williamsburg, 1:38.24.

3,200 — 1. Grady Olberding (MtV), 10:47.61; 2. Gage Heyne (EngV), 11:11.71; 3. Aidan O'Neil (ICR), 11:17.42.

3,200 relay — 1. Vinton-Shellsburg (Page, Fairbanks, Blix, Torres), 8:43.77; 2. Williamsburg, 8:44.78; 3. Mount Vernon, 8:49.21.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Xavier (Camacho, Hacke, Beasler-Weber, Hartman), 1:02.72; 2. Belle Plaine, 1:06.26; 3. Independence, 1:06.28.

100 — 1. Aidan McDermott (CRX), 11.64; 2. Owen Douglas (Wmsbg), 11.90; 3. Carson Bruns (BC), 11.96.

Distance medley relay — 1. C.R. Xavier (Hartman, McDermott, Rexroth, Camacho), 3:44.96; 2. Belle Plaine, 3:49.71; 3. Oelwein, 3:59.60.

400 — 1. Josh Osborn (EngV), 52.46; 2. Mason Mullen (Union), 52.94; 3. Sam Rich (Wmsbg), 53.75.

800 relay — 1. Mount Vernon (Rhomberg, Erickson, Meeker, Stimmel), 1:30.14; 2. Williamsburg, 1:30.62; 3. Benton Community, 1:31.65.

110 hurdles — 1. Grayson Hartman (CRX), 14.48; 2. Garet Kiel (Oel), 15.65; 3. Logan Rosauer (Union), 15.91.

800 — 1. Zach Fall (MtV), 2:01.27; 2. Sam DeMeulenaere (BP), 2:02.32; 3. Grady Olberding (MtV), 2:04.21.

200 — 1. Sam Wallace (BC), 22.78; 2. Evan Kearney (IV), 22.86; 3. Jevin Rexroth (CRX), 23.65.

400 hurdles — 1. Easton Patterson (BC), 58.88; 2. Christopher Meyer (Ind), 59.23; 3. Ryne Moeller (MtV), 59.83.

1,600 — 1. Conall Sauser (Oel), 4:42.95; 2. Alex Torres (V-S), 4:47.01; 3. Elijah Blix (V-S), 4:47.86.

400 relay — 1. Williamsburg (Huedepohl, Cockrell, Steckly, Douglas), 44.29; 2. Benton Community, 44.45; 3. C.R. Xavier, 45.38.

1,600 relay — 1. Mount Vernon (Stimmel, Fall, Erickson, Meeker), 3:22.96; 2. Center Point-Urbana, 3:29.98; 3. C.R. Xavier, 3:35.24.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com