What we learned at the Falcon Relays boys high school track and field meet at West Burlington
Macayden Rhoer epitomizes the ideal high school athlete.
The Fort Madison High School senior is a grinder. He doesn't complain, doesn't question his coaches. He just goes out at every practice and every meet and does what is asked of him to the very best of his ability.
Rhoer's hard work is paying off this season for the Fort Madison boys track and field team.
Rhoer, who won the 400-meter hurdles in cold, windy conditions last Friday in Washington, came back in more of the same weather Monday at the Falcons Relays at Bill Nelson Field in West Burlington to win the Class A title in the 400 hurdles in 1 minute, 1.48 seconds, cutting a second off his time from three days earlier.
Rhoer also finished third in the 110 hurdles in 17.70.
Rhoer, who spent last summer in basic training, is the ultimate grinder, the kind of athlete every coach dreams of having on his team.
“Going to basic training this past summer helped improve my cardio," Rhoer said. “I think a big helper is our strength coach in Fort Madison (Derek Doherty). Also our coaching staff if pretty great. They’ve been helping us and pushing us throughout our career.”
Fort Madison has produced some of the state's top hurdlers through the years, but Rhoer didn't have to look beyond his family for the ideal role model.
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“My grandfather," Rhoer said. "I don’t remember him talking about playing any sports in high school, but he’s been someone I have always looked up to. He’s helped me so much. He even took me out fishing for the first time.”
While Rhoer finished second overall in the 400 hurdles behind Winfield-Mount Union's Gabe Hemsworth, he is closing ground, grinding away day by day.
“Our sophomore year we only had one track meet. It was actually a little refreshing. I felt like I needed to start working on myself some more," Rhoer said. “I was a little nervous. I wasn’t expecting to run as well as I did last Friday. It was a little windy. I almost caught the guy. I caught my foot on one of the last hurdles in the homestretch. I just couldn’t get ahead of him. But that’s all right. At least I won my class.”
Mount Pleasant, Mediapolis take team titles
Traditional power Mount Pleasant ran away with the Class A team title, beating runner-up Washington by 19 points, while Fort Madison was third with 107 points.
The Panthers took first and second in 110 hurdles with Will Davidson and Bryce Wilson. Davidson won the long jump at 21 feet, 10 inches, putting him seventh on the Panthers' all-time list. The Panthers also won the 4x400 and 4x800 relays.
Mediapolis won the Class B team title with 173 points. Danville was second with 130 points, while New London was third with 117.
Mediapolis got four wins from junior sprinter Anthony Isley — 100, 200, 4x100 and 4x200.
“The open 100 was pretty iffy because of my start, but I still got first in my class, so I’m happy about that," Isley said. “In the open 200 I felt like I definitely did well in that tonight. I surprised myself. I haven’t run it since last year and a 22.7 isn’t bad. I’m hoping to get below 22.5 this year. That will be exciting.”
The Bulldogs got a win from Trent Hicks in the 110 hurdles and runner-up finishes from Logan Rosas in the 400 and Cole Lipper in the shot put.
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The Bulldogs won five of the seven relay events, and Isley said the best is yet to come there.
“The 4x2 was pretty fun. We ran a decent time for how cold it is out here tonight. I feel like if we get our handoffs down and I get out a little faster, we can cut down our time a lot," Isley said. “The 4x100 is toward the end and I was kind of excited for it. We just have to get used to each other, trust each other, get our steps down. Once we get that I feel like we can easily break 45 in the next two meets.”
Grayhounds making strides
In its first outdoor meet of the season, Burlington showed plenty of promise. Senior Bryant Williams won the 200 in 23.80, while teammate Lewis Reed was second in 24.10. Sam Morehead took second in the 800 and the 4x200 and 4x800 relay teams each finished second.
“It wasn’t as good as I wanted them to be. It’s the first meet and it’s kind of cold. We’ll get there," Williams said. “It’s good. I love my team. I think we have some good potential on this team.”
Kipp, Kipp, hooray
West Burlington-Notre Dame got a pleasant surprise from sophomore Dylan Kipp, who ran a strategic race to win the Class A 800 in 2:11.64. That was the 26th-fastest time over all in Class 3A this spring, but the fifth-fastest outdoors.
“This boosts my confidence a lot," Kipp said. “It was pretty tough. At the start I didn’t really want to do it. I was pretty tired from my previous races. But I’m glad I stuck with it and got a win.”
The Falcons also won the 4x100 and 4x200 relays with the team of Jace Figuereo, Grant Boal, Owen Gulick and Jack Riley.
Tigers flourish in field events
New London swept the field events in Class B.
Joel Lacy won the long jump, Kade Benjamin won the high jump and Carter Allen won both the shot put and discus.
“(The cold) is the reason I started jumping as early as I did. Usually I will pass on more heights, but since it’s so cold and there’s a little bit of wind — it’s not terrible — but I wanted to start jumping sooner so my legs can get warmer," said Benjamin, who cleared 6-6 and narrowly missed at 6-7. “It sucks going out on 6-7 again. Both meets, that’s the height I haven’t been able to get over. I have little bit more work to do, but hopefully by the end of the season it keeps going up. It’s not bad for the first outdoor meet of the season. I’m pretty excited.”
“It was OK. First meet of the year. My form just wasn’t there. I’m a little out of my element. I couldn’t feel my fingers. I didn’t get a mark that I wanted," Allen said. “With the shot put (the cold) doesn’t affect me that much. With the discus, there is a lot of feel in the fingers, and when I can’t feel that disc, it’s hard to find a good release point and a good angle. I affects it quite a bit.”
Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA TODAY Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 31 years. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.
By the numbers
CLASS A
Team scores
1. Mount Pleasant, 160; 2. Washington, 141; 3. Fort Madison, 107; 4. Burlington, 87; 5. West Burlington-Notre Dame, 74; 6. Keokuk, 12.
Shot put — 1. Brayden Hartman (W), 48-7 1/2; 2. Isaac Jerrel (MP), 43-5; 3. Caden Barnes (FM), 42-11 1/2. Discus — 1. Hartman (W), 137-6; 2. Keegan Elliott (MP), 127-7; 3. Will Davidson (MP), 119-0. Long jump — 1. Davidson (MP), 21-10; 2. Avin Truong (MP), 20-10; 3. Owen Gulick (WB-ND), 19-6. High jump — 1. Mikey DiPrima (FM), 5-8; 2. Thomas Fell (BHS), 5-6; 3. Grant Boal (WB-ND), 5-6.
100 — 1. Elijah Morris (W), 11.19; 2. Tate Johnson (FM), 11.31; 3. Jack Riley (WB-ND), 11.37. 200 — 1. Bryant Williams (BHS), 23.80; 2. Lewis Reed (BHS), 24.10; 3. Nik Fullenkamp (FM), 24.62. 400 — 1. Morris (W), 50.75; 2. Isaiah Albright (MP), 56.12; 3. Mason Sloat (MP), 56.62. 800 — 1. Dylan Kipp (WB-ND), 2:11.64; 2. Sam Morehead (BHS), 2:12.33; 3. Gabe Feldmann (MP), 2:14.62. 1,600 — 1. John Cottrell (FM), 5:19.12; 2. Nathan McWilliams (MP), 5:19.83; 3. Lance Sobaski (W), 5:27.76. 3,200 — 1. Sobaski (W), 9:53.85; 2. Micah Rees (W), 10:38.27; 3. William Kennedy (W), 11:51.34. 110 hurdles — 1. Davidson (MP), 15.50; 2. Bryce Wilson (15.51; 3. Macayden Rhoer (FM), 17.70. 400 hurdles — 1. Rhoer (FM), 1:01.48; 2. Gediyon Boal (WB-ND), 1:05.04; 3. Bowen Davis (MP), 1:06.03.
4x100 — 1. WB-ND (Jace Figuereo, Grant Boal, Gulick, Riley), 44.42; 2. Washington, 44-52; 3. Burlington, 45.85. 4x200 — 1. WB-ND (Riley, Grant Boal, Gulick, Figuereo), 1:32.24; 2. Burlington, 1:35.48; 3. Washington, 1:35.96. 4x400 — 1. Mount Pleasant (Dyonn Hagans, Nate Stroud, Feldmann, Jacob Richtman), 3:52.62; 2. Washington, 3:58.26; 3. Burlington, 4:05.45. 4x800 — 1. Mount Pleasant (Richtman, Isaac Rynders, McWilliams, Feldmann), 9:08.35; 2. Burlington, 9:13.11; 3. WB-ND, 9:19.94. Distance medley relay — 1. Washington (Lucas Kroll, Lincoln Hanson, Alec Ulin, Rees), 4:00.79; 2. Fort Madison, 4:04.82; 3. Burlington, 4:14.68. Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Mount Pleasant (Davidson, Morgan Van Nyhuis, Truong, Wilson), 1:06.60; 2. Washington, 1:11.32; 3. Burlington, 1:15.09. Sprint medley relay — 1. Fort Madison (Tate Settles, Johnson, Hayden Segoviano, Andrew Schaefer), 1:40.31; 2. Washington, 1:42.87; 3. Mount Pleasant, 1:44.06.
CLASS B
Team scores
1. Mediapolis, 173; 2. Danville, 130; 3. New London, 117; 4. Winfield-Mount Union, 67; 5. Highland, 52; 6. Central Lee, 34.
Shot put — 1. Carter Allen (NL), 50-11 1/2; 2. Cole Lipper (Mepo), 41-9; 3. Devin Lovetinsky (H), 40-6. Discus — 1. Allen (NL), 147-6; 2. Lovetinsky (H), 115-8; 3. Sawyer Nelson (D), 109-4. Long jump — 1. Joel Lacy (NL), 19-6 1/2; 2. Cadence Williams (D), 19-6; 3. Thomas Scheman (CL), 19-3. High jump — 1. Kade Benjamin (NL), 6-6; 2. Caiden Gourley (D), 5-10; 3. Nelson (D), 5-8.
100 — 1. Anthony Isley (Mepo), 11.42; 2. Kadin Salek (Mepo), 11.58; 3. Eschman (CL), 11.97. 200 — 1. Isley (Mepo), 22.75; 2. Josh Catala (NL), 23.30; 3. Salek (Mepo); 23.63. 400 — 1. Ty Carr (D), 53.57; 2. Logan Rosas (Mepo), 54.09; 3. Levi Arnold (Mepo), 54.98. 800 — 1. Solomon Zaugg (Mepo), 2:12.56; 2. Owen Schmidgall (Mepo), 2:16.69; 3. Alexander Julian (NL), 2:20.06. 1,600 — 1. Seth Bailey (NL), 4:32.08; 2. Carr (D), 4:51.77; 3. Rylan Martin (NL), 4:52.84. 3,200 — 1. AJ Bonnesen (D), 9:55.55; 2. Julian (NL), 9:58.57; 3. Carter Fesler (D), 10:59.49. 110 hurdles — 1. Trent Hicks (Mepo), 17.46; 2. Spencer Nelson (D), 18.73; 3. Lane Scorpil (W-MU), 18.80. 400 hurdles — 1. Gabe Hemsworth (W-MU), 1:01.29; 2. Spencer Nelson (D), 1:03.85; 3. Cooper Kleinkopf (D), 1:07.23.
4x100 — 1. Mediapolis (Lipper, Salek, Noah Schmidgall, Isley), 45.23; 2. Danville, 47.37; 3. Highland, 47.58. 4x200 — 1. Mediapolis (Lipper, Salek, Ben Egan, Isley), 1:33.53; 2. Central Lee, 1:40.96; 3. W-MU, 1:42.52. 4x400 — 1. Mediapolis (Arnold, Owen Schmidgall, Zaugg, Rosas), 3:44.59; 2. New London, 3:50.19; 3. Danville, 3:57.89. 4x800 — 1. Mediapolis (Owen Schmidgall, Arnold, Zaugg, Rosas), 8:43.73; 2. W-MU, 9:07.27; 3. Danville, 9:23.99. Distance medley relay — 1. New London (Reean Seberg, Jordan Sharp, Benjamin, Julian), 4:00.47; 2. Mediapolis, 4:11.03; 3. W-MU, 4:11.72. Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Mediapolis (Ben Wolter, Hicks, Grady Gunn, Kamnden Stotlar), 1:12.56; 2. Danville, 1:14.93; 3. W-MU, 1:18.84. Sprint medley relay — 1. New London (Boden Pickle, Lacy, Seberg, Martin), 1:41.15; 2. Highland, 1:46.59; 3. Mediapolis, 1:46.77.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Mount Pleasant, Mediapolis take titles at West Burlington track meet
