Picking up the Pace

Charles City Middle School track athletes set 23 personal-best records at state meet

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

How do you drop eight seconds in the 800-meter run?

Move your feet faster.

That’s Antwone Cooper’s secret.

“I’ve been working on bringing up my jog to a sprint … especially near the end,” said Cooper, who personally improved eight tics in that distance (2:22.80) while serving as the opening leg of the Charles City seventh-grade 4-by-800 relay at the Mike Henderson Junior High Track and Field State Meet held Saturday at Ames High School.

“I feel I could still work on it some more and drop some more time,” said Cooper, who with teammates Justin Heyer, Zach Graeser and Austin Connerley, won the race with a time of 10:04.26, a new school record.

“It felt pretty good,” Heyer replied rather nonchalantly about re-setting a school standard.

Apparently, this record-breaking business is old hat for the foursome.

“We’ve been breaking that record all year,” said Connerley, the relay’s anchor. “When we did it again (on Saturday), it just felt like it always felt … like we’ve done it before and we plan to continue to do it in the future.”

After fielding three other relays that finished runner-up, and two others that placed third, Charles City placed third overall in the seventh-grade boys division behind champion Norwalk and runner-up Indianola. Among Class 3A schools, the Comets placed first.

“And we set 23 personal-best records at the meet,” Charles City seventh-grade boys track coach Jeremy Heyer said. “You didn’t have to qualify for the meet … anyone could enter. But the competition is tough so you want to make sure you belong there before signing up.

“We felt confident we had a group of kids who could do well down there.”

Placing second in the seventh-grade division were CC’s 4-by-200 relay (Jeremiah Chapman, Caden Collins, Cameron Kakac and Roberts) with a time 1:56.80;  CC’s 4-by-400 relay (Alec Staudt, Cooper, Graeser and Connerley) with a time 4:17.16; and CC’s 800 sprint medley relay (Kakac, Robert, Staudt and Connerley) with a time of 1:57.98.

Placing third in the seventh-grade division were CC’s shuttle hurdle relay (Chapman, Heyer, Cooper and Graeser) with a time of 1:17.58; and CC’s 1,600 distance medley relay (Collins, Kakac, Staudt and Heyer) with a time of 4:38.05.

As individuals in the seventh-grade division, Cael Ruzicka placed second in the discus (104 feet, 1 inch) and eighth in the shot put (27 feet, 6 inches); Collins placed fourth in the long jump (15 feet, 1 ½ inches) and seventh in the 200-meter run (29.88); Roberts placed fourth in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches); Cooper placed sixth in the high jump (4 feet, 8 inches); and Chapman placed eighth in the 100-meter hurdles (18.51).

Competing in the eighth-grade boys division for Charles City was Tait Arndt, who placed third in the discus with a personal-best throw of 126 feet, 6 inches.

“My goal is to win conference and reach 135 feet,” Arndt said.

When someone suggested that his goal should extend to 200 feet by the time he’s a senior in high school, Arndt tried to inject reason.

“I know I can realistically reach 135 right now,” he said.

The Northeast Iowa Conference Meet, which will take place Friday at Waukon, will close the season for Charles City’s middle school program.

“Just like it is for high school, Decorah is going to be the team to beat,” Jeremy Heyer said.