English Valleys' Gage Heyne crosses the finish line in the Class 1A boys' 3,200-meter Thursday, May 22 at the 2025 State Track and Field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. (Ben Lamparek/Hometown Current)

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DES MOINES — A new personal best and a runner-up finish is a pretty good way to start what is to be a busy weekend for English Valleys’ Gage Heyne.

In his first of four events on the week, Heyne ran 9:29.86 in the Class 1A boys’ 3,200-meter Thursday at the State Track and Field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

It was Heyne’s highest state finish, after placing fifth in the event last season.

“This race isn’t exactly my strongest event, so getting this in second is real big,” Heyne said. “I know I can do better in my other races.”

Race winner Gavin Grunhovd, of North Iowa, took the lead early and never looked back.

Heyne settled in, and was in second the entire second half of the race.

“I knew Gavin was going to take it out from the beginning,” said Heyne. “He took it out at a pace I was not quite comfortable with. I wasn’t able to make up as much ground as I hoped for, but I’m still pretty proud with the personal best.“

Heyne will anchor the Bears’ distance medley today and has the 800 and 1,600 Saturday.

Iowa Valley's Caleb Haack crosses the finish line in the Class 1A boys' 100-meter preliminaries Thursday, May 22 at the 2025 State Track and Field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. (Ben Lamparek/Hometown Current)

No other area athletes received medals Thursday in the 1A boys’ field, but several advanced to the finals in their respective events.

Belle Plaine and Iowa Valley ran season bests to qualify for the finals in the shuttle hurdle relay. BGM finished 18th.

Iowa Valley's Josh Read runs the third leg in the Class 1A boys' shuttle hurdle relay Thursday, May 22 at the 2025 State Track and Field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. (Ben Lamparek/Hometown Current)

Iowa Valley’s Caleb Haack advanced in the 100 and 200. The Montezuma duo of David Rose and Broox Stockman finished 14th and 19th in the 100.

Area results

Class 1A Boys

Long jump — 13. Lane Vokoun (Belle Plaine), 20-3 1/2

Shot put — 23. Mason Hoyt (Iowa Valley), 40-4 1/4

Shuttle hurdle prelims — 3. Belle Plaine (Alcott, Timm, DeMeulenaere, Vokoun), 1:00.83; 5. Iowa Valley (Hoyt, Pedersen, Read, Kriegel), 1:01.37; 18. BGM (M. Rhoads, Gus, C. Rhoads, Heishman), 1:04.35

3,200 — 2. Gage Heyne (English Valleys), 9:29.86

200 prelims — 3. Caleb Haack (Iowa Valley), 22.20; 19. Braydon Anderson (English Valleys), 23.19

100 prelims — 4. Caleb Haack (Iowa Valley); 14. David Rose (Montezuma), 11.46; 19, Broox Stockman (Montezuma), 11.63

400 — 11. Jeffrey Crawford (Iowa Valley), 51.38