Demons finish 12th as team

DES MOINES — It was a stated goal for the state meet. Now it is a goal to chase next year.

Washington’s Lance Sobaski ran in three events at state and saw a school record as a possibility in one of those events, the 800 meters.

It nearly happened Saturday.

“I have to save something for next year,” Sobaski said. “I just lost to the ghost in front of me.”

The Demons school record of 1 minute, 58.4 seconds was the ghost. Sobaski ran 1:58.85. Nate Mueller of ADM won in 1:54.83.

Sobaski was second for part of the first lap of the 800 but that was because “I was the inside of the waterfall start.”

The start happened twice because of a false start, yet no one was pulled.

“Somebody was on the line and the guy didn’t correct him so nobody got disqualified for it,” Sobaski said.

The start of the second lap was the toughest for Sobaski.

“The 400 to 500 meters is mentally hard. You just ran a fast lap, and you know you have to run even harder on the next one. It’s so mentally draining. On the backstretch, you can stride out. Then when you get to the turn, it’s like I’m almost done.”

In the 1600 two hours later, Sobaski just wanted to “go out run my race and see what I can do.” Mueller was first in the 1600 in 4:16.7. Sobaski was 12th in 4:33.79.

“This season‘s been a blast, and it’s quite an accomplishment,” Sobaski said.

In the overall team race, Washington finished 12th with 23 points. Pella won with 80.5.

The sprint medley team of Ethan Patterson, Wyatt Stout, Jacob Miller and Elijah Morris ran a 1:34.64 lowering their school record in that event. ADM won in 1:34.05.

“We wanted to win it, but we were happy with fourth,” said Stout, the second leg of 100 meters. “I’m glad I went out this way, and my career ended here.“

“Our handoffs went better than they were at districts,” said Miller, who ran the 200. “We made a little adjustment, and it worked out good.”

"I had to make sure there wasn’t a false start,“ said Patterson, who had never been in a relay before this year and ran the leadoff 100. ”At first, it was all a little different, but I caught on.“

“This race was harder than the open 400 because of tired legs,” said Morris, who won the 400 Thursday. “The exchange zone makes it a little different from a normal 400. It felt good to help Wyatt get the record with all of us.”

Brayden Hartman was 18th in the shot Friday with a distance of 48 feet, ½ inch. Abigail Kleese finished 23rd in the 800 for the Demons in 2:40.67 Saturday. Reece Mayer was 23rd in the discus at 123-8 Thursday. The 4x400 relay of Roy Carter, Patterson, Alec Ulin and Cameron Vongpanya was 24th in 3:43.13 Friday.