Trojans set the bar at outdoor opener

WASHINGTON ? The strength of the Fairfield track and field team seemed clear before the season even began.

Thursday night, that picture became even clearer as the Trojans performed well in field events and sprints in the season-opening outdoor meet at Washington. But more importantly, head coach Brian Dunlap also saw some strong performances in events that were question marks before the season began.

Fairfield finished in second-place in the final Class B team standings that included seven teams. The Trojans finished with 97 points ? ahead of Monticello, South Tama, Mid-Prairie, West Delaware and Fort Madison and just behind Eddyville-Blakesburg?s 115.5 points.

?It was a nice night for us, and the kids really did a good job,? Dunlap said. ?Scoring in every event except for two really shows some of the consistency that we were looking for.?

As a model of that consistency, Michael Smithburg picked up right where he left off a season ago in the discus. Smithburg his throw that placed him ninth in the state meet last year by more than 10 feet with a heave of 154-feet, eight-inches to set a new meet record and take first place.

The junior also showed off the new element of his repertoire placing second in the shot put with a throw of 45-feet, five-inches.

?He hasn?t spent a lot of time on the shot so you have to think he?s only going to throw farther,? said Dunlap. ?His discus throw is right where he was last year and it already has a shot at qualifying for the Drake Relays ? that?s one of his goals, so it?s good to see him start out well.?

Matt Hotek added (41-feet) added a sixth-place finish in the shot put for Fairfield.

Alex Rebling did what he could to sufficiently fill the long jump hole for the Trojans in the first competition of the year, jumping 19-feet, 10-inches to tally Fairfield?s second first-place finish of the night.

The biggest question mark for Fairfield entering the season may have been at the high jump pit with three underclassmen jumping ? none with varsity experience from last year. But Thursday evening saw all three ? Daniel Schwarz, Corbin Harwood and Alex Love ? clear opening height with Schwarz jumping all the way up to five-feet, eight-inches. The freshman nabbed third place just one jump off the eventual champ?s mark.

On the track, the Trojans were without several runners due to spring break ? and an injury to top sprinter Austin Atwood ? but tallied several more top-three finishes in a crowded field.

The talent was the most jam-packed in the hurdle events that featured Eddyville-Blakesburg?s Jacob Batterson and Mid-Prairie?s Tanner Miller ? 110-meter hurdles first and third-place finishers, respectively, at last year?s state meet.

Fairfield hurdler Grant Curran finished third behind those two in the 110-meter high hurdles (16.00) and also led the shuttle-hurdle team to a second-place finish behind the blazing Eddyville-Blakesburg squad. Rebling, Zach Simpson and Harwood joined Curran to run a time of 1:06.49.

Fairfield?s sprint relays made up for shaky handoffs with fast times to place second in the 4x100 (Rebling, Michael Hammes, Heath Jackson, Lani Eversage, 47.07) and third in the 4x200 (Hammes, Jackson, Zach Vivier, Eversage, 1:38.44).

Anchoring both of those relays, Eversage emerged as one of the Trojans? top sprinters by also placing second in the open 200 with a time of 24.19. Hammes followed in the 200 with a third-place finishing time of 24.36.

The 1600-medley relay team of Simpson, Harwood, Love and Marcus Clark also took third with a time of 4:05.94.

In the distance events, Anatole Openshaw posted a personal record time of 11:11 to place sixth in the 3200-meter run. Openshaw also placed sixth in the 1600 (5:24) behind teammate Jason Davis? clocking of 5:22 that put him in fifth.

The two events Fairfield didn?t place in ? the 400 and 800 ? should receive a boost upon the return of middle-distance runner Travis Schombert. Max and Braz Johnson ? also absent Thursday ? will help out the sprint relays after receiving plenty of varsity experience a season ago.

Burlington (149.5) won the Class A team title followed by Fairfield?s Southeast Conference foe Washington (100) in second. Wapello (124) took home the Class C championship beating out Mediapolis (122) by two points.

The Trojans? JV squad will run Tuesday at Fort Madison while the rest of the team will be back on the track Thursday at Mount Pleasant.