Glenwood runs away with 10 gold medals at Red Oak

    The Glenwood boys won 10 events and placed second in three others at the Red Oak Tigers Relays on Friday.
    Glenwood out paced the field with 197 team points. Shenandoah was second with 78 points.
    For Glenwood coach Mark Starner and his team, the Red Oak meet served as a “tune up” for the Rams heading into districts on Thursday at Atlantic.
    “This was a good tune up for our up coming conference and district track meets,” said Glenwood coach Mark Starner. “We took it easy with our varsity jumpers and backed off our varsity athletes, which allowed some other athletes to run in some varsity competition.”
    Johnny Fuller set a new meet record in the 3,200-meters with a time of 9:54.42.
    Also setting meet records and winning golds were the Rams’ shuttle hurdle relay team of Cole Darrow, Mitch Bowden, Michael Lawler and Ian Eflin who also set the meet record with a time of 59.77, Kyle Wheeler in the 400-meters (49.55), Derek Jones in the 400 low hurdles (55.76) and the 4 x 400-meter relay team of Wheeler, Eliot Lincoln, Taylor Kaufman and Jones (3:27.35).

Glenwood first, fourth
at Atlantic Co-Ed
    The Glenwood boys placed first and the girls fourth at the Atlantic Co-Ed Relays last Monday in Atlantic.
    The Ram boys nearly doubled-up second place Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 160 to 83 for the team title.
    Not bad considering Glenwood coach Mark Starner confined top 800-meter runner Kyle Wheeler, top 3,200 and 1600-meter runner Fuller and top 400-meter runner Eliot Lincoln, allowing all three to run in the 4x800-meters only.
    “We allowed some of our other athletes to compete and possibly audition for possible spots in the line up for conference and districts,” said Starner. “Winning the meet wasn’t the main emphasis, as it was more of getting athletes prepared for future races and just flat out competing against other schools.”
    The 4x800-meter relay team was one of eight gold medals for the Rams on the night.
    Mark Abrams earned two of those golds, sweeping the 1,600 and 3,200-meters.
    Ian Eflin added golds in the 110-meter high hurdles, the high jump and the shuttle hurdle relay.
    Derek Jones added a first place finish in the 400-meter hurdles and a second place showing in the open 400-meters.
    Harlan easily out-paced runner up Atlantic 180 to 105 on the girls side. The Glenwood girls tied for fourth place with Council Bluffs Lewis Central with 54 team points.
    The Rams competed at Atlantic with a juggled line up coach Brad Rasmussen said was designed to break his team’s routine a little bit.
    “At Atlantic we changed things,” said Rasmussen. “We did some different things to give the girls a break and to try to do a little better in a few events.”
    The Ram girls didn’t win any golds but got second place finishes from Lexi Fisher in the 400-meter hurdles and third place medals from Carlie Cooper in the 3,000-meters and the shuttle hurdle and 4x800-meter relay teams.
    The Glenwood girls now turn their attention to regionals Thursday at Atlantic, just four days after the Hawkeye 10 Conference meet that was held Monday on the same track.
    “I do not care to have both big meets during the same week so our focus will be on the regional meet on Thursday and earning our way to the state meet,” said Ramussen. “We, as a coaching staff, know our athletes are progressing nicely as we prepare for the championship season.  The team has a goal of getting as many events to state as possible and then placing at state.”