Hawk boys denied repeat HOIC track championship
Trojans hang on to nip SH by 4 points; Coy owns the sprintsBy Troy Banning, DFJ Sports Editor
POSTED: May 9, 2008
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Team Standings1. West Marshall 170; 2. South Hamilton 166; 3. North Polk 75; 4. Colo-NESCO 62; 5. Woodward-Granger 50; 6. Colfax-Mingo 29.
Event Results
Long Jump — 1. Logan Chelser (WM) 19-5 3/4; 2. Aaron Arment (WM) 19-2; 3. Brett Jacobson (SH) 18-1.
High Jump — 1. Drake Ferch (WM) 6-4; 2. Nick Smith (SH) 5-8; 3. Trent Smith (NP) 5-8.
Shot Put — 1. Joe Disney (WM) 50-6 1/2; 2. Austin Nichols (WM) 44-2 1/2; 3. Alex Wilbanks (SH) 41-4 1/2.
Discus — 1. Disney (WM) 144-5 1/2; 2. Nichols (WM) 131-1; 3. Cameron Jones (CM) 119-11.
100 Meters — 1. Ben Coy (SH) 11.52; 2. Robert Kerwood (WM) 11.99; 3. Arment (WM) 12.01.
200 Meters — 1. Coy (SH) 22.83; 2. Ferch (WM) 23.48; 3. Justin Crist (WM) 23.66.
400 Meters — 1. Coy (SH) 50.16; 2. Jesse Godfrey (NP) 50.97; 3. Scott Smith (CM) 52.93.
800 Meters — 1. Lee Knickerbocker (SH) 2:04.07; 2. Devan Quam (SH) 2:05.31; 3. Brandon Eley (CN) 2:12.89.
1,600 Meters — 1. Knickerbocker (SH) 4:48.49; 2. Dan Eckhardt (WM) 4:52.63; 3. Nathan Johnston (SH) 4:52.64.
3,200 Meters — 1. Matthew Harmeyer (NP) 10:40.22; 2. Zach Rueger (SH) 10:53.65; 3. Cooper Rodman (NP) 11:02.68.
110 High Hurdles — 1. Jake Warren (CN) 15.14; 2. Jake Kaiser (CN) 16.01; 3. Bret Bell (SH) 18.13.
400 Hurdles — 1. Dillan VanZwol (WM) 56.85; 2. Kaiser (CN) 58.90; 3. Travis Wadle (WG) 1:01.27.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay — 1. Colo-NESCO 1:02.74; 2. Colfax-Mingo 1:06.51; 3. South Hamilton 1:06.69 (Josh Pringle 18.5, Brett Jacobson 15.5, Preston Hocking 16.6, Bret Bell 16.3).
4x100 Relay — 1. South Hamilton 45.61 (Drew Fredrick 11.7, Coy 10.97, Devan Neuman 11.9, Andrew Follmann 11.6); 2. West Marshall 46.80; 3. Colo-NESCO 47.02.
4x200 Relay — 1. West Marshall 1:35.50; 2. South Hamilton 1:35.78 (Joey Ringstad 24.1, Neuman 23.5, Follmann 23.7, Fredrick 24.3); 3. North Polk 1:37.32.
4x400 Relay — 1. West Marshall 3:33.07; 2. North Polk 3:33.93; 3. South Hamilton 3:43.88 (Ringstad 54.8, Jacobson 58.3, Ryan Fisher 55.8, Knickerbocker 55.8).
4x800 Relay — 1. West Marshall 8:46.93; 2. South Hamilton 8:48.24 (Quam 2:07, Fisher 2:09.8, Jesse Monthei 2:14, Colton Penning 2:16.79); 3. Woodward-Granger 8:57.52.
1,600 Medley Relay — 1. West Marshall 3:41.46; 2. North Polk 3:44.13; 3. South Hamilton 3:46.45 (Neuman 23.8, Follmann 23.3, Fredrick 54.7, Fisher 2:04.7).
The key word being "nearly."
West Marshall built a sizable lead on Tuesday before the rains came and suspended the meet until Thursday afternoon, and the Trojans did just enough when the meet resumed under sunny skies to unseat South Hamilton on the HOIC throne.
West Marshall finished with a championship total of 170 points, four ahead of South Hamilton. North Polk was a distant third with 77, followed by Colo-NESCO (62), Woodward-Granger (50) and Colfax-Mingo (29).
"We had some really good times and really good performances (on Thursday)," South Hamilton head coach Darrell Paulsen said. "But I think, very honestly, we would have had (West Marshall) if we would have continued the meet the other night. With the rest and then they were able to move some kids around, they were able to hold on."
The Trojans essentially won the meet on the strength of the 71 points they scored in the field events on Tuesday. They won all four events and also collected silver medals in the shot put, discus and long jump.
South Hamilton scored just 26 points in the field events.
"We knew we were going to be way behind after the field events," Paulsen said.
The Hawks put up 140 points on the track, thanks in large part to the efforts of seniors Ben Coy and Lee Knickerbocker. Coy was a four-time gold medalist, as he owned the fields in the 100- (11.52 seconds), 200- (22.83) and 400-meter (50.16) dashes. His 400 time lowered his own school record.
"Ben ran really well," Paulsen said. "Right now, speed wise, he's very solid."
Coy was also inserted into the Hawks' 4x100 relay, and it was his second-leg split of 10.97 seconds that propelled the Hawks into the lead and eventually to the victory in 45.61 seconds. Drew Fredrick, Devin Neuman and Andrew Follmann joined him on the relay.
Knickerbocker was victorious in the 1,600 (4 minutes 48.49 seconds) on Thursday, and then came back to the track less than an hour later to win the 800 (2:04.07) as well. He held off teammate and runner-up Devan Quam (2:05.31) in the 800.
"Lee busted it really well (on Thursday)," Paulsen said.
Nick Smith (high jump, 5 feet 8 inches) and Zach Rueger (3,200, 10:53.65) were silver medalists as well for South Hamilton. Brett Jacobson (long jump, 18-1), Alex Wilbanks (shot put, 41-4 1/2), Bret Bell (110 high hurdles, 18.13) and Nathan Johnston (1,600, 4:52.64) were all bronze medal winners.
South Hamilton and West Marshall both walked away with 18 medals. The Hawks finished in the top three in 16 events, compared to 13 for the Trojans.
Paulsen will now spend a day preparing his team for Saturday's Class 2A district meet, which will begin at 10 a.m. in Eagle Grove. The top three place winners in each event will qualify for next week's state meet inside Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
