Williamsburg boys dominate at WaMaC West Delaware meet

Five conference championship events, a school record, the league's Athlete of the Year, a second-place team finish and 19 season-best performances.

What a day it was for the Williamsburg boys in the WaMaC co-ed track and field meet Thursday, May 7, at West Delaware High School in Manchester.

It's tough to do well in this conference — one of the best in the state — but the Raiders came ready to compete, beginning in the field events where junior Derek Weisskopf put on a show.

Weisskopf won the high jump and shot put and placed fourth in the discus. He cleared 6-feet 7-inches in the high jump to tie a personal record and set career bests by three feet in the shot (54-3) and 15 feet in the discus (157-3). For his efforts, he was named the WaMaC Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

In addition to Weisskopf, Williamsburg got championship performances from sophomore Adam Arp in the Wheelchair 100 (25.23 seconds), and the 4 x 200 and 4 x 100 meter relay teams.

Seniors Owen Douglas and Carson Huedepohl ran on both relays — Douglas as the anchor and Huedepohl the No. 3 and 1 legs.

Senior Trey O'Neil and sophomore Rayce Heitman went first and second in the 4 x 2, and juniors Clayten Steckly and Braylon Wetjen ran second and third in the 4 x 1. Their times were 1:30.61 and 43.79.

Douglas, one of the top sprinters in Iowa, added runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, setting a personal record in the 200 in 22.46. His 100 time of 10.97 fell just short of his 10.94 PR set last year at state.

O'Neil cleared 6-feet to place second to Weisskopf in the high jump, and he finished third in the 400 meter hurdles in a personal best 58.29.

Wetjen placed third in the 400 meter dash in 52.0, also a personal record, and he led off the third-place sprint medley relay, which also included Steckly, Heitman and junior Kellen Cockrell. They set a new school record in 1:36.52. The old record was 1:36.58 set in 2019 by Gage Hazen-Fabor, Mathyan Powell, Seth Dellamuth and Drake Powell.

All of those efforts, plus several fourth through eighth places, totaled 111.5 points for the Raiders, second only to conference champion Solon with 157 points. Marion finished a distant third with 77.5 points followed by Mount Vernon (75) and Clear Creek Amana (73).

Williamsburg came into the meet predicted by some to finish no higher than fourth or fifth. They put all that talk to rest.

'It was a great day for the Raiders," said Williamsburg coach Matt Matthes. "We competed at a high level which is something you have to do in a league this good. Kudos to the kids."

Girls take sixth

Despite not crowning any champions and placing sixth in the team standings with 57 points, Raider girls' coach Nick Nordheim wasn't dissatisfied with his team's performance.

Solon, as expected, ran away with the team title, amassing 194 points. Mount Vernon was second with 152. The next closest was Clear Creek Amana with 75, followed by Marion (67) and Center Point-Urbana (64).

It was a solid night for us," Nordheim said. "We were striving for the top 3 but we didn't get there this year. The WaMaC is a tough conference and you have to be really prepared if you are going to score high at this meet."

Williamsburg's best finishes were second places by the distance medley and 4 x 400 meter relay teams. Sophomore Makenna Hughes, juniors Shannon Finn and Phoenix Gryp, and senior Macey Marovets ran the distance medley in 4:25.17. Finn, Hughes, freshman Ashlynn Hoffman and Marovets posted a season-best, 4:08.29 clocking in the 4 x 4.

Marovets also finished fourth in the 800 meter run, as did sophomore Ailea Wetjen in the 100 meter dash.

Fifth, in a season-best 1:53.53, was the sprint medley relay team of Hughes, Wetjen, Finn and Elizabeth Stohlmann. Finn's 400 anchor of 59.5 was a personal record.

Nordheim said, "Shannon had a huge meet. Running under 60 for the 1st time in her career and looking really strong in all her events was big for us. She's just tough and you have to be that way to be successful at this meet."

Nordheim also was pleased with the efforts of Hughes and Wetjen.

"Mak and Ailea were strong once again," he said. "They've become such stars in just their sophomore years. They compete hard and have been great all year."

Senior April Phillips and freshman Analise Dewitt also drew Nordheim's praise.

"I was really impressed with those two," he noted. "Both had really solid 4x800's and huge time drops in the 1,500."