‘That was crazy:’ Quentin Nauman’s 1:47.49 split carries Western Dubuque to the 3A boys’ distance medley title

DES MOINES — Drew Burds spoke for the thousands of witnesses inside Drake Stadium:

“That was crazy.”

Even with Quentin Nauman involved, that was crazy.

“This has to be my No. 1 (moment) here,” Nauman said after his jaw-dropping 1:47.49 800-meter anchor split brought Western Dubuque from seventh place to first in the Class 3A boys’ distance medley relay at the state track and field meet Friday morning at Drake Stadium.

Read that again: 1:47.49. True, it’s a split and not an open event, but consider that no boys in Iowa history have broken 1:50.

Western Dubuque’s composite time was 3:24.52, nearly four seconds ahead of runner-up Des Moines Christian.

Burds, Ben Wernimont and Symon McDermott ran the first three legs for the Bobcats.

“We just wanted to give (Nauman) the baton and a chance,” McDermott said.

Added Wernimont: “We knew that he knew what he was doing.”

Thirty meters back when he got the baton, Nauman made the deficit up quickly. He was on the shoulder of DMC’s Caleb Tan Pas by the time 400 meters remained, then sprinted out solo with 200 to go.

“Symon told me last night that he wanted to win a state title,” Nauman said, before delivering a few hours later.

Nauman’s heroics — and a second-place shot put finish by Garret Kluesner — moved Western Dubuque into the 3A boys’ team race after 10 events.

The Bobcats have 30 points in the bank, with Gilbert (28), Newton (27) and Pella (26) right in the mix.

Area contestants have won seven of the 10 3A boys’ events. The final nine events are Saturday.

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Like Nauman, Center Point-Urbana’s Nathan Miller and Clear Creek Amana’s Landon Prince became double-champions Friday.

Miller added gold in the 400-meter hurdles to the open-400 title he won Thursday. His 51.04-second effort Friday is a 3A state-meet record and ranks No. 2 on the all-time, all-class chart.

“Unbelievable,” Miller said. “Down the stretch, I just wanted to be me and just finish.

“I had heard of (former 3A record-holder Greg Offerman of Charles City). I never thought I’d be the one to break it.”

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Prince is the undisputed throwing king of Iowa for 2025. He swept the shot put and discus at the Drake Relays, then did it again this weekend.

His top shot put Friday: 60 feet, 9 1/4 inches.

“I’m so happy,” Prince said. “So grateful. I’m sad that it’s coming to an end, but I wouldn’t want to go out any other way.

“I didn’t think I was strong enough to get to this level. But I put all of my eggs into this basket for my senior year.”

Independence’s Ezekiel Symonds was third in the long jump, leaping 22 feet, 2 3/4 inches.

STATE TRACK & FIELD

Class 3A Boys

Top 10 teams (through 10 events) — 1. Western Dubuque 30, 2. Gilbert 28, 3. Newton 27, 4. Pella 26, 5. (tie) Center Point-Urbana, Waverly-Shell Rock and Clear Creek Amana 24, 8. Fairfield 22, 9. Des Moines Christian 18, 10. Algona 17.

Shot put — 1. Landon Prince (Clear Creek Amana), 60-9 1/4; 2. Garret Kluesner (Western Dubuque), 58-0 1/4; 3. Max Nevitt (Algona), 57-3; 4. Greyson Hartman (Washington), 55-4 3/4.

Long jump — 1. Rylan Peters (Waverly-Shell Rock), 22-6 1/4; 2. Jace Fadden (Des Moines Christian), 22-3 1/4; 3. Ezekiel Symonds (Independence), 22-2 3/4.

Distance medley relay — 1. Western Dubuque (Burds, Wernimont, McDermott, Nauman), 3:24.52; 2. Des Moines Christian, 3:28.26; 3. Fairfield, 3:28.91; 6. Mount Vernon, 3:33.18; 8. Center Point-Urbana, 3:34.06.

800 relay — 1. Newton (Thomason, Trease, Yahia, Ergenbright), 1:26.45; 2. Gilbert, 1:27.29; 3. Waverly-Shell Rock, 1:27.49; 5. Clear Creek Amana, 1:28.49; 8. Western Dubuque, 1:28.91.

400 hurdles — 1. Nathan Miller (Center Point-Urbana), 51.04; 2. Caden Klein (Newton), 51.96; 3. Koby Higginbotham (Knoxville), 52.17; 4. Owen Von Ahsen (Benton Community), 53.02.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com