Central yields multiple conference champs
Tyce Zittergruen (left) and Carson Ruegnitz were part of Central’s conference champion 4x800 relay. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Gavin Holst was first and Jesse Polkinghorn third in the 800-meter run at the UIC meet.
Zane Embretson leapt to seventh place in the 110-meter hurdles at the conference meet on May 8.
By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register
The Central boys made two trips to MFL MarMac last week for track and field; the first was May 5 for the Boys Invite, then the Upper Iowa Conference meet was May 8.
The Warriors finished the Boys Invite in fifth place, scoring 66 points. In the sprint events, Mason Loan finished sixth in the 100-meter dash, while Corbyn Clark crossed the line eighth. Loan also took sixth in the 200-meter dash, just behind Vaughn Zittergruen. In the 400-meter dash, Tyce Zittergruen finished fifth and Henry Reimer 10th.
The distance races included a third-place run by Carson Ruegnitz in the 800, followed by Jesse Polkinghorn in fourth. Declan Finley put in a fourth-place result in the 1600-meter run, followed by Michael White in fifth.
The hurdle events featured a fifth-place finish by Zane Embretson in the 110-meter race. He was ninth in the 400 hurdles, just behind Breckon Holst in eighth. The Warriors also finished third in the shuttle hurdle relay.
In the relays, Central finished second in the 4x800, third in the 4x100 and 4x400, fourth in the sprint medley and fifth in the 4x200.
As for the field events, Loan earned second in the long jump, and T. Zittergruen was second in the high jump. Jacob Cook and Elias White were a respective 10th and 13th in the shot put, and in the discus, Brandon Koth was eighth and White 10th.
The Warriors had many highlights at the UIC meet, including four wins. Two were by G. Holst, who strolled to a two-second victory in the 800-meter run, with Polkinghorn in third, then he won the 3200 by five seconds, with White in fourth.
In the long jump, Loan set a personal record with a distance of 20-00.50. Jamison Feickert was 6th in the event.
The Warriors also won as a team in the 4x800 relay, as Ruegnitz, T. Zittergruen, Finley and Polkinghorn cleared Turkey Valley by nearly 10 seconds.
Central added runner-up results in the 4x400 and distance medley relays, with Polkinghorn, Loan, V. Zittergruen and G. Holst in the 4x400, then Griffen Hammersland, V. Zittergruen, Polkinghorn and G. Holst in the distance med.
Other top five highlights included a third-place finish by Ruegnitz in the 1600 and Owen Hammersland third in the shot put with Cook in eighth. Loan and Henry Reimer finished a respective fourth and fifth in the 400-meter dash, and G. Hammersland raced to fourth in the 400 hurdles.
Several more top fives came in the relays, including fourth place in the 4x100 with G. and O. Hammersland, Clark and V. Zittergruen and fourth in the sprint medley thanks to O. and G. Hammersland, V. Zittergruen and Reimer. There was a fifth-place finish in the 4x200 with O. Hammersland, Clark, Jake Hertrampf and T. Zittergruen.
The Warriors came in sixth in the shuttle hurdle relay with Embretson, Griffin Koehn, B. Holst and Carter Krugger.
Cook and Feickert finishing sixth and seventh in the 100-meter dash, while Loan took sixth in the 200. Finley crossed sixth in the 1600, as did Krugger in the 110-meter hurdles. Embretson was behind him in seventh place. In the discus, Koth finished 11th and White 12th.
Now, the Warriors will head to the state qualifying meet at the Community Dreams Complex at Ed-Co on Thursday, May 15.
