Fairfield finishes high at Mustang Relays

BLOOMFIELD ? Times held steady for the Fairfield boys? track and field team at the Mustang Relays Tuesday, but the Trojans left happy with a second-place finish in the final team standings.

Fairfield scored 102 points to finish behind only Ottumwa (171.5) and ahead of Southeast Conference rival Washington.

?Obviously, we?re happy with the team performance,? said head coach Brian Dunlap. ?We were hoping to go a little faster, but overall, finishing second to a 4A team isn?t bad at all.?

The hurdlers had the best night, and after flirting with the school record last week, the quartet of Zach Simpson, Jonny Swanson, Corbin Harwood and Grant Curran were on top of the heap again with a winning shuttle-hurdle time of 1:02.93. Harwood and Curran anchored the relay and also came up big with a 1-2 finish in the open 110-highs.

Curran finished in 15.79 ? he also won the 400-hurdles in 57.79 ? with Harwood checking in at 16.33.

The 4x200 squad of Michael Hammes, Max Johnson, Heath Jackson and Travis Schombert posted the best time of the year to finish second in 1:34.45. The 4x100 team continues to make its push for a Drake Relays qualifying time and took third Tuesday in 45.30.

?We?re probably right on the bubble right now. We?ll keep working at it, and shoot for getting down to 44,? said Dunlap who has had his 4x100 team qualify for Drake each season he has been the head coach.

Michael Smithburg, who figures to have safely qualified for the Drake Relays in the discus, endured a frustrating night to still win the event. The senior dipped more than 15 feet off his season best, but won the event by nearly a full foot with a toss of 149-feet, 4-inches to stay undefeated on the season.

Next up for the Trojans is a trip to Mount Pleasant for Thursday?s Denny White Relays.