Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Hawks are 'on track' to enter key stretch of the season
The winner of the 100-meter dash at the Hawk Relays was Connor Dodd with a time of :11.92.
Keevyn Jacobsma competes in the discus throw at the Hawk Relays. His best attempt was 124'9", which was good for fifth place.
Bryce Dodge's anchor leg helped H-M-S place second in the distance medley relay last Friday in Hartley.
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn mixed solid performances in the boys' relays with strong finishes in individual events during the 2022 Hawk Relays.
The Hawk boys placed in six of seven relay events during their home meet on April 22, earning a pair of runner-up finishes in two of those races.
"We had some good relays We went out and competed well," said Hawk coach Kyle Borchers. "There was some good competition in the relays."
Finishing second were Ryan Borden, Ethan Diehm, Travis Kamradt and Connor Dodd in the 4x200 relay (1:35.68); and Tyson Tessum, Bradley Zamudio, Kamradt and Bryce Dodge in the distance medley relay (4:06.79). Borchers was especially happy with the latter result.
"We hadn't been very tough in that relay," he noted. "We didn't do anything different, we just ran it better. That was a pleasant surprise."
The Hawks placed in four other relay events. Borden, Diehm, Kamradt and Dodd placed third in the 4x100 (:46.01), and Ryan Grotluschen, Justyn Vasquez Alcantara, Alan Abonce and Aiden Jensen were fourth in the 4x800 (10:30.97). Placing fifth were Tessum, Zamudio, Kamradt and Espeland in the sprint medley (1:47.20); and Grotluschen, George Vargas, Blaine Finster and Jensen in the 4x400 (4:32.16).
There were also plenty of individual accomplishments by the Hawks, including wins by Diehm in the long jump (20'3-1/4") and Dodd in the 100-meter dash (:11.92). Zamudio was runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (1:03.25).
Borden added fourth-place finishes in the 100 (:12.47) and 200 (:24.73).
Placing fifth were Aiden Espeland in the 800-meter run (2:24.76); Dodd in the long jump (18'9") and Keevyn Jacobsma in the discus throw (124'9"). Vargas came in sixth in the 3200-meter run (12:19.87) as did Zamudio in the 110-meter hurdles (:18.89).
Junior varsity competitors also found success at the Hawk Relays. Tessum won the JV 100-meter dash (:12.96) and Ethan Wiersma placed sixth (:13.99); Damien Hansen placed third in the shot put (36'2-3/4") and Kevin Arambula was ninth (27'3-1/2"). The latter duo also competed in the discus throw, with Hansen placing fourth (95'10") and Arambula finishing seventh (56'2").
It was a photo finish at the top of the Hawk Relays team standings, as Cherokee edged Okoboji (111-110) to win the boys' title. George-Little Rock was third with 93 points, Sibley-Ocheyedan was fourth with 87 and H-M-S was fifth with 74. The rest of team scores were Akron-Westfield 41, Remsen St. Mary's 27, Trinity Christian 24 and Harris-Lake Park 13.
Borchers feels the Hawks are poised for success in the "big meets" coming up next month.
"We're on track," he observed. "We're looking forward to the conference meet (May 2 at Hinton) and state qualifying meet (May 12 at Lawton). We will shore up events and see who we can get [to state]."
The Hawks will also compete in the North Union meet at Armstrong on April 28.
