Vokoun’s versatility leads to four event titles

BELLE PLAINE — Lane Vokoun brings a lot of versatility to the Belle Plaine boys track and field team.

That versatility led to first place finishes in four events for the Plainsmen at their home invitational Thursday. The Plainsmen won seven events on the night in the Class B division.

Vokoun won the long jump and the 110-meter high hurdles and was on the winning shuttle hurdle and 4x400 relay teams.

“Coming into the meet I had a goal of getting four gold medals,” Vokoun said. “I am glad I got to achieve that.”

Vokoun is also coming off a meet Monday night at Benton Community in which he set a personal best in the 110 hurdles and came close in the long jump.

Vokoun was a state medalist in both events last season.

“That was a really big confidence booster for me,” Vokoun said of Monday’s meet. “I wasn’t thinking I would get anywhere close to that, let alone a personal best in the 110 (hurdles).

Vokoun said he’s grown as a leader in his senior season, and he hopes to continue the momentum the rest of the season.

“There’s a couple school records in relays that we are close to beating, and in long jump,” Vokoun said.

Vokoun will use his versatility at the next level when he goes to Central College, where he will do multis for the track and field team.

“They approached me about it, and a couple people from Belle Plaine have gone there and said they had fun,” Vokoun said. “The coaching staff is nice, and I felt at home.“

The Plainsmen finished second in the Class B team race Monday, with 134 points.

Sam DeMeuelenaere added a victory in the 400 in a time of 52.81 and was on the shuttle hurdle and 4x400 relay teams.

The Plainsmen also won the sprint medley and 4x200 relays.

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English Valleys took the Class B team title, winning by 47 points with a score of 181.

The Bears won nine of 19 events.

Kane Axmear won the discus throw with a throw of 103 feet and seven inches, and Kaleb Bollinger won shot put with a heave of 34 feet.

The Bears swept the distance events. Gage Heyne won the 800- and 1600-meters, and Issac Frazier won the 3200. The team also won the 4x800 and the distance medley with Heyne as the anchor.

In the sprints, Braydon Anderson, who ran the 400 leg on the distance medley, won the 200 in a time of 24.36.

“I’m honestly shocked,” English Valleys coach Becky Becker said. “I knew it could happen, but I did not put us together to win a meet. I put us together to compete.”

Being able to get points from a variety of events boded well for the Bears in defeating several conference schools in the field.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” said Becker. “They came out and competed. We’ve been working on some stuff that I saw tonight. Everybody is staying true to what we are teaching and what we are trying to do.”

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Montezuma won two of the three Class B events not won by Belle Plaine or English Valleys.

The Braves won the 4x100 relay and the open 100 with a common denominator — David Rose.

Rose won the 100 in 11.71 and anchored the winning relay team.

Other members of the relay team were Damien Knox, Broox Stockman and Brady Boulton.

The Braves finished third in Class B with 120 points and added five runner-up finishes.

HLV-TC placed fifth with 51 team points and had two runner-up finishes: Sean McCulloch in the 200 and the distance medley with the quartet of McCulloch, Aiden Van Waus, Tristan Pirkl and Peyton Roth.

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Iowa Valley was the only area school in the larger school division. The Tigers won three events and placed third in the Class A division with 101 points.

Nolan Kriegel won the long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 3 3/4 inches.

Caleb Haack won the 100 in 11.27, and the distance medley relay team — Jeffrey Crawford, Chandler McKibben, Lane Chvala and Ayden Hollister — ran the race in 3:58.72 for the win.

The Tigers added runner-up finishes by the 4x400 relay team, by Chance Hoyt in the 400 hurdles and by Layne Peska in the 100.

Area teams won 21 of 38 events in what was the outdoor opener for many teams.

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CLASS A

Team scores

1. Grundy Center 155, 2. Lynnville-Sully 102 3. Iowa Valley 101, 4. Nashua-Plainfield 72, 5. Alburnett 66, 6. North Linn 50, 7. Sigourney 37, 8. North Mahaska 5

Event winners

Long jump — Nolan Kriegel (Iowa Valley), 20—03 3/4

High jump — Connor Deal (L-S), 6—02

Discus — Eli Kalianoff (N-P), 146—07

Shot put — Zach Krigbaum (Alburnett), 42—11 1/2

Sprint medley — Grundy Center, 1:35.40

3200 — Colton Alberts (L-S), 10:51.30

4x800 — Alburnett, 8:28.70

Shuttle hurdle — Grundy Center, 1:03.15

100 — Caleb Haack (Iowa Valley), 11.27

Distance medley — Iowa Valley (Crawford, McKibben, Chvala, Hollister), 3:58.72

400 — Brayden Wallis (Grundy Center), 52.63

4x200 — Grundy Center, 1:31.41

110 hurdles — Tiernan Vokes (Grundy Center), 16.50

800 — Levi Benesh (North Linn), 2:12.66

200 — Naavarii Williams (N-P), 24.62

400 hurdles — Jacob Hoy (Grundy Center), 58.48

1600 — Hayden Gustafson (Alburnett), 4:50.62

4x100 — Grundy Center, 45.13

4x400 — Grundy Center, 3:25.09

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CLASS B

Team scores

1. English Valleys 181, 2. Belle Plaine 134, 3. Montezuma 120, 4. Keota 54, 5. HLV-TC 51, 6. Twin Cedars 17, 7. Meskwaki 15

Event winners

Long jump — Lane Vokoun (Belle Plaine), 20—09

High jump — Ayden Galindo (Keota), 5—11

Discus — Kane Axmear (English Valleys), 103—07

Shot put — Kaleb Bollinger (English Valleys), 34—00

Sprint medley — Belle Plaine (Timm, Dostal, Walter, Eichhorn), 1:39.70

3200 — Isaac Frazier (English Valleys), 10:54.40

4x800 relay — English Valleys (Offerman, Ben Axmear, Mast, Koehn), 9:33.00

Shuttle hurdle relay — Belle Plaine (Alcott, Timm, DeMeulenaere, Vokoun), 1:04.53

100 — David Rose (Montezuma), 11.71

Distance medley — English Valleys (Coffman, Deshon Anderson, Braydon Anderson, Heyne), 3:44.57

400 — Sam DeMeulenaere (Belle Plaine), 52.81

4x200 — Belle Plaine (Dostal, Walter, Alcott, Timm), 1:38.54

110 hurdles — Lane Vokoun (Belle Plaine), 15.72

800 — Gage Heyne (English Valleys), 1:59.39

200 — Braydon Anderson (English Valleys), 24.36

400 hurdles — Cael Grove (English Valleys), 1:05.22

1600 — Gage Heyne (English Valleys), 4:54.37

4x100 — Montezuma (Knox, Broox Stockman, Boulton, Rose), 45.60

4x400 — Belle Plaine (Vokoun, Timm, Eichhorn, DeMeulenaere), 3:33.35

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