Bluhm goes longer at Decorah Relay

Comet junior Gavin Connell records PB-time in 3,200, wins 800

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — Comet long jumper Brandon Bluhm is a frequent flier.

Or rather a frequent 20-feet flier.

So far this track season, the Comet senior has achieved low orbits of 20 feet or better in all the indoor and outdoor meets he’s leaped in.

In essence, nothing changed during Monday’s Decorah Relays, except Bluhm went even longer than usual with a personal-best jump of 21 feet, 4 ¾ inches.

“That’s his best jump by more than 2 inches,” Charles City track coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “That puts him near the top 20 in the state, and that’s what they take for the Drake Relays.”

Bluhm also travels well with his feet on the ground. In the 4-by-200 relay, Bluhm teamed up with fellow Comet seniors Adam Stewart, Jaden Foster and Zion Jordan for a time of 1 minute, 35.67 seconds.

“That’s our best time of the season,” Rahmiller said of the Comet relay, which was nipped by the South Winn foursome of Alex Holthaus, Matthew Holthaus, Rodney Scharthoff and Nathan Ward, who won the race with a time of 1:35.39.

“We’ve been working on getting that relay together,” Rahmiller said of his top 4-by-200 squad.

Charles City junior Gavin Connell improved his personal-best 3,200 run time by 15 seconds (10:09.08) while taking runner-up to Decorah’s Andrew Kephart (9:59.20), who also won the 1,600 run.

Connell also ran the 800, and won it with a first-place time of 2:10.36.

“He ran a 2:09 to anchor our medley relay, so we decided to run in the open 800,” Rahmiller said of Connell. “He’s evolved into a different runner. He’s much stronger and runs much more intelligently.”

The Comets placed third in the eight-team meet with 79 team points.

The hosting Vikings were first (155) followed by runner-up West Delaware (110).