State track: Medals, mixed results for Bulldogs

May 22—DES MOINES — There was joy. There was heartbreak.

There were athletes wrapping up historic careers and athletes battling injuries.

Day two of the Iowa High School State Track and Field championships brought a little bit of everything to the table for the Ottumwa High School track and field teams. Jesus Jaime picked up his second medal of his senior season, matching his finish in the Class 4A boys discus throw on Thursday with a sixth-place throw of 54-10.25 Friday in the 4A boys shot put.

Moments later, Lina Newland brought home the first medal of the meet for the Ottumwa High School girls track and field team, leaping to a seventh-place finish in the 4A girls long jump reaching 16 feet and nine inches. The jump marked a fitting end to a successful season in field events for OHS as the two teams combined to qualify six athletes in six of the eight events at state.

"Field events are kind of overlooked sometimes, especially the throwing events because it's out of the way. Nobody sees it out around the track and people tend to forget about it," Newland said. "Throwing and jumping can really add a lot of points."

So far, the field events are the only ones to score points for Ottumwa. Isaac Eaton appeared to have earned Ottumwa's first points on the track earlier on Friday by finishing off his high school career by breaking his own school record in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 54.57 seconds which would have been good enough to finish fifth in the 4A boys race.

The smile of Eaton, however, was erased before the second day of the state track and field meet was over. The Ottumwa senior was surprisingly disqualified for what was ruled to be a leg lift violation as track officials deemed Eaton's leg went around the fifth hurdle of the race instead of over the hurdle, causing the record time and top-five state finish to be wiped out.

Austin Fountain, Eaton's teammate and friend who ran in the same heat, was stunned. The disqualification moved Fountain up to 11th place with his 56.56-second run, which was the furthest thing from the junior's mind when the news was broken to OHS head boys track coach John Lawrence.

"I was devastated for the guy," Fountain said of Eaton. "He was beyond happy when he got his time. For him to turn around and get that news that he got disqualified in the final race of his senior year? I felt horrible for him."

Fountain still had business to attend to on the track, running the third leg of Ottumwa's 4x400 relay. Even with a race at hand, Fountain tried to console his teammate.

"I just sat there and tried to talk to him for a bit," Fountain said. "I did see him smiling before the 4x400."

Fountain and Eaton also teamed up to help the Bulldogs overcome another tough blow dealt to the team on Tuesday when senior Gatlin Menninga reinjured his hamstring. Eaton and Mason Farrington filled in with Charlie Welch and Fountain to produce a top-10 time in the 4A boys 4x200 relay as a run of 1:30.32 left the Bulldogs in 10th place.

"We tried to prove a point and tried to win it for Gatlin," Eaton said. "It's just horrible how he couldn't a chance to run either at (the) Drake (Relays) or at state. It's sad. I hope we made him proud."

Lawrence certainly could not be any more proud of the Bulldog boys, who will wrap up the season Saturday competing in two final races. Both the Ottumwa boys and girls will run in their portions of the sprint medley relay before Welch closes the track and field season for the Bulldogs running the 4A boys 200-meter dash.

"The kids are tough. They've done the best they could," Lawrence said. "We're still a pretty young team. We'll see how we can finish it out."

Despite finishing in the same place, Jaime took two very different roads at state to arrive at a pair of sixth-place medals. After slipping in the ring on Thursday to open the discus competition, Jaime would a way to send a throw 163 feet down the field for the first time in his career on a rainy day before narrowly missing out on reaching 55 feet on a beautiful Friday afternoon for throwing the shot put.

"I actually kind of hurt my ankle a little bit on Thursday on that slip. My first two throws only went about 120 feet," Jaime said. "I just took a deep breath and sent that third throw 163 feet.

"I was really hoping to contend for a state medal in the shot put. I don't know where the discus came from this season. Something just clicked throughout the season and I continued to hit higher marks."

Newland, meanwhile, walked away with her first state medal and a huge smile after seeing Ankeny senior Shelby Romig lead throughout much of the 4A girls long jump with a leap of 17-4.25. Romig officially clinched the state title topping 18 feet on her final jump, but kept Newland within striking distance to challenge for a state title in just her second day competing in the meet.

"Two years ago, I didn't qualify for anything at state. This year, I'll be able to compete all three days," Newland said. "My personal best in the long jump is 17-10, so I know I've got the ability to contend for the state title next season. I can't wait to get back here. These girls are really good, but it's good to compete with them."

On the track, Meghan Coulter brought her historic career at Ottumwa to an end anchoring the Bulldogs to a 19th-place finish in the girls 4A distance medley (4:27.69) before finishing 15th in the 400-meter hurdles (1:10.11). Coulter was part of the first state championship win for the Ottumwa girls track and field program two years ago in the 4x800 relay and was the only member of that team to be able to come back and compete at state after the cancellation of last season brought an end to the prep track careers of OHS teammates Carollin Mellin, Alli and Grace Bookin-Nosbisch.

"I've been keeping track of the 4x800 times coming into this year's state meet. It's hard not to imagine how our 4x800 team would have done last season if we could have had the chance to compete," Coulter said. "We could have had a Drake Relays flag. We could have defended our state titles. There are a bunch of what-ifs, but maybe it was better that we didn't get that season. It motivated me to work even more on myself as an athlete coming into this year because I didn't want to let my teammates down."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.