Glenwood boys track second at own Ram Relays

Council Bluffs Lewis Central edged Glenwood 144 to 134 in the team standings at the Ram Relays in Glenwood last Monday.

The Titans earned gold medals in four events to the Rams’ three to wrestle the team title away from the Rams in their own meet for the first time since 2007.

“It definitely stung our kids a bit,” said Glenwood coach Mark Starner of the Rams’ loss in their home meet. “Nobody wants to be a part of breaking the string of home meet titles, but in the grand scheme of things, things happen.  Its a goal of ours every year to win all of our home meets.  Its not as if we didn’t try.  We had unfortunate luck with some injuries during the meet and each of them ended up being a big contributor to what we were counting on to score points.  We just have to get healthier in order for us to be as dominant as we are used to.”

In all, Glenwood had 11 season bests at the Relays. That’s an impressive feat, Starner said, considering the stiff competition. Carter Von Essen (110-meter hurdles and 400 hurdles), Nathan Kennedy (400-meter run), Blum (800-meters), Mason Parks (1,600-meter run), Parson Covington (3,200-meters), Kyle Griffin (discus), Nate Serrano (shot put), the x400-meter, 4x800-meter and distance medley relays all set season bests.

The Rams earned one individual gold medal with Kennedy winning the 400-meter run and added golds in the 4x400 and 4x800-meter relays.

Starner said his team’s performance, showed, when healthy, can compete with “any team in the area and be dominant within the process.”  However, without some of their key role athletes, that makes things a little more challenging.  

“Adversity is good and we’ll bounce back,” Starner said. “It’s a great life lesson. Things don’t always go the way there planned, and have the biggest challenge in recovery from it and fighting adversity. I have no doubt that we’ll get it turned around.  I definitely don’t want to take anything away from Lewis Central. They are a very talented team that was very deserving of the meet team title.  Them, along with Atlantic and Harlan will be battling all year long. This will be good for us."

Ram Relays
Team Results
    1. C.B. Lewis Central, 144. 2. Glenwood, 134. 3. Harlan, 117.5. 4. Atlantic, 111.5. 5. C.B. Thomas Jefferson, 55. 6. Clarinda, 53. 7. C.B. Abraham Lincoln, 33. 8. Creston, 30. 9. Red Oak, 20.

Glenwood Top Place Winners
    Long jump – second place, Josh Lee, 20’ 2”.
    Discus – fourth place, Kyle Griffin, 134’ 6.5”.
    Shot put – fourth place, Nate Serrano, 45’ 3”.
    3200m run  - third place, Parson Covington, 10:57.96.
    4x800m relay – first place, Glenwood (Jaron Springer, Christian Stanislav, Seth Little and Andrew Blum), 8:28.95.
    Shuttle hurdle relay – second place, Glenwood (Caleb Petersen, Austin Tye, Cooper Silvius and Carter Von Essen), 1:02.16.
    100m dash – seventh place, Joey Saddler, 11.96.
    400m dash – first place, Nathan Kennedy, 52.72.
    4x200m relay – sixth place, Glenwood (Reagan McFarlin, Nate Nebel, Joey Saddler and Mavrick Decker), 1:37.88.
    110m hurdles – third place, Von Essen, 16.12.
    1600m run – fifth place, Mason Parks, 5:07.49.
    200m dash – fourth place, McFarlin, 24.08.
    400m hurdles – second place, Von Essen, 56.95.
    Distance medley relay – second place, Glenwood (Kennedy, Nebel, Kohen Watson and Springer), 3:51.39.
    800m run – second place, Blum, 2:08.71.
    4x100m relay – third place, Glenwood (Lee, Nebel, McFarlin and Decker), 46.23.
    4x400m relay – first place, Glenwood (Kennedy, Watson, Petersen and Von Essen), 3:29.81.