Comets place 3rd at Osage Boys Invitational track meet

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

OSAGE — Charles City senior Jon Zander found himself hanging out with the wrong crowd.

In the 1,600-meter run at the Osage Boys Invitational on Tuesday, Zander seemed content to run with the pack.

“But while running with them, I wasn’t keeping the pace I wanted to run,” Zander said. “So when I broke away, I tried to make up for the lost time.”

Zander likes to bolt free when the bell rings — a signal track officials give to lead distance runners to alert them they are heading into their final lap.

“The bell always gets me going … it’s like a signal to me,” said Zander, who pulled away to win the race with a time of 4 minutes, 55.42 seconds.

“That’s not my best time,” said Zander, who’s trying to get under 4:50.

The question to Zander: Couldn’t you have broke free earlier for a better time?

“I usually wait for the bell,” he said. “It’s a fear I have that if I break too early, I might wear out at the end. And I’m always nervous about people passing me on the last lap.”

Zander was one of several Comets who came away with individual wins at the invitational.

Seniors Shane Feller and Brandon Bluhm once again flew more than 20 feet through the air for respective 1-2 finishes in the long jump.

Senior Bryce Foxen won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.72.

And sophomore Gavin Connell dropped two seconds from his personal-best to win the 3,200 with a time of 10:31.15.

“Our shuttle hurdle relay team also dropped two seconds,” Charles City head coach Ryan Rahmiller said of Foxen, Zander, Dylan Koresh and Adam Stewart recording a third-place time of 1:05.21.

The Comets got a tough break in the 4-by-100 relay. With Charles City battling for the lead through first leg Foxen and second leg Tyler Brockney, third leg Arjay David pulled up lame along the fourth turn.

“It was a cold night, and Arjay has had trouble with his hamstrings,” Rahmiller said of the relay, which salvaged a third-place finish with Feller running the final leg.

“Otherwise, they ran a great relay. The hand-offs were perfect.”

Overall, the Comets placed third with 102 team points.

Clear Lake was the invitational champs with 132 points as the Lions won three relays and got a first-place performance from Chase Bacon in the 200.

Saint Ansgar was second with 124 points.

Charles City’s next meet is this Friday at Hampton-Dumont.

“It’s a coed meet, which are nice to have every once in awhile,” Rahmiller said. “The athletes have more rest time between events, and hopefully the weather will be better.”

Osage Invitational

April 26

TEAM RESULTS — 1. Clear Lake 132, 2. St. Ansgar 124, 3. Charles City 102, 4. Osage 90, 5. New Hampton 75, 6. Riceville 19, 7. Nashua-Plainfield 15

Event Winners and Local Placers

100 — 1. Trevor Ambrose (NH) 11.53, 2. Shane Feller 11.64 (CC).

200 — 1. Chase Bacon (Cl) 23.39.

400 — 1. Cole Willert (SA) 52.74.

800 — 1. Ben Haftalin (O) 2:12.06.

1600 — 1. Jon Zander (CC) 4:55.42, 5. Dayton Hansen (NP) 5:06.62.

3200 — 1. Gavin Connell (CC) 10:31.15.

110 H — 1. Bryce Foxen (CC) 15.72, 5. Braydon Fisher (NP) 17.89.

400 H ­— 1. Cole Willert (SA) 56.98, 4. Adam Stewart (CC) 1:00.99, 5. Braydon Fisher (NP) 1:03.43.

4-by-100 RELAY — 1. Clear Lake (Zach Tatum, Cooper Merrill, Parker Truesdell, Chase Bacon) 45.48, 3. Charles City (Bryce Foxen, Tyler Brockney, Arjay David, Shane Feller) 48.37, 5. Nashua-Plainfield (Jason Fisher, Mason Hyde, Nathan Murphy, Levi Enright) 50.08.

4-by-200 RELAY — 1. Clear Lake (Zach Tatum, Cooper Merrill, Parker Truesdell, Chase Bacon) 1:33.73, 2. Charles City (Tyler Brockney, Zion Jordan, Adam Stewart, Brandon Bluhm) 1:37.59.

4-by-400 RELAY — 1. St. Ansgar (Matt Mattick, Cole Willert, Jacob Hyde, Skylar 3:40.16.

4-by-800 RELAY — 1. New Hampton (Jake Usher, Nolan Usher, Alesx Schumacher, John Keagan) 8:51.97. 5. Charles City (Chris Campbell, John Perez, Isaac Wink, Jacob Miller) 10:29.51.

4-by-110 SHUTTLE HURDLE RELAY — 1. Clear Lake (Parker Truesdell, Parker Crispin, Zach Lester, Chase Bacon) 1:02.92, 3. Charles City (Bryce Foxen, Dylan Koresh, Jon Zander, Adam Stewart) 1:05.21, 4. Nashau-Plainfield (Jason Fisher, Levi Enright, John Krull, Braydon Fisher) 1:09.89.

HJ — 1. Lucas Schwamman (O) 5-10.

LJ — 1. Shane Feller (CC) 20-10, 2. Brandon Bluhm (CC) 20-03.

SP — 1. Matt Mulford (NH) 53-07.5, 6. Noah Robbins (CC) 41-10.5.

DIS — 1. Theo Baldus (SA) 148-05, 3. Noah Robbins (CC) 124-09, 5. Chris Duncan (CC) 112-11.