Drake Relays bound Sophia Calpito breaks two school records at Comet Relays

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Figuratively as well as literally, Sophia Calpito missed her flight.

Or rather her flight missed the Drake Relays as it arrived a day too late.

Going into the final weekend before Monday’s qualification deadline for the prestigious track and field meet in Des Moines this week, the Charles City sophomore was holding on to the final spot reserved to the state’s top 24 high school girls long jumpers only to have her season-best small orbit — 17 feet, 5 inches — bounced by a half-inch from the final list of qualifiers.

But after getting her wings clipped while pursuing a second-straight DRs berth in the long jump, Calpito took to the air again during Tuesday’s Comet Relays held at Blaine Thorson Track and leaped 17 feet, 8 ¾ inches, more than a half-foot better than runner-up Shayla Greeley of Riceville. Too late for Drake, but a long time coming in regard to a school record Calpito has had her flight plan on since she was a seventh-grader at Charles City.

“Even when I set middle school records here in the long jump, I always looked at that board (Charles City’s list of school record holders prominently displayed on the track’s concession stand) and saw the high school record for motivation,” Calpito said of Dyan Fluhrer’s then-listed top female Comet flight of 17 feet, 8 inches set in 1989. “I always imagined myself breaking it at some time.”

Mission Accomplished, but Calpito wasn’t done, yet.

In the subsequent 100-meter hurdles, Calpito set another school record with a first-place time of 15.39 seconds — Lisa Berns set the previous mark (15.86) in 2010.

With Calpito also part of the school record-setting girls shuttle hurdle relay that — with Edie Collins, Keely Collins and Lauren Staudt — set its mark last season, her name is now listed three times on the board.

Though Calpito was unable to return to Drake as a long jumper, she will be a part of the Comets’ DRs-qualified girls 4-by-100 relay with seniors Emerson Bohlen and Destiny Kolheim, and junior Joslyn Bormann. Though the foursome placed third at the Comet Relays, its season-best time of 51.74 established last week at Osage made the cut.

“I feel better about this time around,” said Kolheim, who was on the Comets’ 4-by-100 relay team that qualified for Drake last season. That foursome also included Bohlen.

The Comet girls 4-by-100 will be the lone Charles City representative at Drake Relays. The squad will compete in the preliminary rounds on Saturday.

Charles City senior Leah Stewart was a Drake Relays qualifier in both the discus and shot put last season and is a school record-holder in both events. Like Calpito in the long jump, Stewart was about a half inch from making the top 24 in the shot put for this year’s meet.

On Tuesday, Stewart placed second in the discus (110 feet, 9 inches) behind Decorah freshman Grace Tangen (122 feet, 7 inches), and fourth in the shot put (36 feet, 8 inches).

Charles City’s boys relays teams shined during Tuesday’s meet — as full squads and as individuals.

The Comets won both medley relays with the team of Patrick Bruening, Bill Bruening, Ezekiel Causey and Xander Graeser winning the 800 medley (1 minute, 40.47 seconds); and the team of Patrick Bruening, Causey, Victor Ward and Graeser winning the 1,600 medley (3 minutes, 42.81 seconds). Both are season-best times for Charles City.

Patrick Bruening, a sophomore, also headed a one-two Charles City finish in the boys long jump with a winning leap of 19 feet, ½ inch, ahead of senior teammate and runner-up Jordin Ritter (18 feet, 11 inches).

Ward, a junior, won the 100-meter dash with a personal-record time of 11.25 seconds with New Hampton senior Beau Serie (11.53) the next breaching the finish line. Ward’s time in the 100 is the fastest Comet time in at least 20 years. Randy Elliot’s 10.7 time set in 1976 is the oldest surviving school record on the aforementioned board.

Ward also placed second in the 200 with a season- and personal-best time of 22.49, finishing a split-second behind Saint Ansgar senior Dylan Brumm (22.45).

The main event at most every high school meet is the 4-by-400 relay as it tends to get everyone on the team involved as student-athletes en masse race back and forth across the football field to cajole their teammates along the frontstretch and backstretch.

It’s also the event the Charles City boys team traditionally excels in.

At the end of Tuesday’s meet, the 4-by-400 foursome of Causey, Graeser, Ritter and Ward made a bid to claim a third relay win for the Comets as they battled Forest City at the front of the pack throughout the duration.

Though the Comets recorded their best time of the season (3:34.49), a strong final leg by Indian sophomore Holden Reynolds kept the hosts in the rearview mirror to cap the winning time (3:31.16).

In one of the oldest continuous high school track meets in the state originally conceived to cater to student-athletes who didn’t qualify for the Drake Relays as the meets are traditionally held during the same week, Charles City boys placed second among seven teams with a team total of 107 points. Forest City was first (176) with New Hampton (90), Saint Ansgar (81), Nashua-Plainfield (56), Riceville (30), North Fayette Valley (28) and Newman Catholic (21) rounding out the field.

Charles City girls tied for third with Riceville (105) behind Decorah (236) and Clear Lake (176). Newman Catholic was fifth (4).