FMS boys open track season

The Fairfield Middle School boys? track teams kicked off the season last week with track meets in Burlington and Ottumwa.

At Tuesday?s Burlington Track Invite, the Trojan seventh-graders won two events and finished in second place with 119 points. Mount Pleasant won the team title scoring 177 points, while James Madison was third at 108.

The two individual wins came from Alex Conrad, who reached 34-feet, 2-inches in the shot put, and Michael Fritz in the discus with a long throw of 109-feet, 8-inches.

The Trojan seventh-graders also grabbed seven runner-up finishes, including five in relays. Fritz combined forces with Charles Heisel, Denver Schultz and Tony Zapata in the runner-up 4x200; and Fritz, Schultz, Zapata and Josh Osby were second in the sprint medley relay. The 4x100 relay of Brandon Smithburg, Baily Jones, Kleyton Benedict and Dylan Abbott was second, as was the the distance medley of Brayden Miller, Brian Buch, Soren Buch and Austin Winslow. Osby, Heisel, Zapata and Cam Baumann took second in the 4x400.

Cam Baumann finished second in the discus (78? 3?) and Smithburg was second in the 100-meter hurdles (20.71).

The seventh-grade Trojans followed up Tuesday?s runner-up team finish by taking third place at the Evans Boys Track Invitational in Ottumwa Thursday. Fairfield scored 80 points, just one behind runner-up Ottumwa, and Oskaloosa was the champion with 130 points.

Individual champions again included Conrad in the shot put (33? 1?) and Fritz in the discus (120? 1?). Schultz, Miller, Zapata and Kyle Roberts finished first in the sprint medley with a clocking of 2:03.

Navin Martin, Heisel, Winslow and Osby were second in the 4x800, and Smithburg finished runner-up in the 100-hurdles.

Eighth-graders also compete

The eighth-grade team finished third in the final team standings at Tuesday?s Burlington Track Invite.

The Trojans were first in five events on their way to totaling 116.5 points. Fort Madison finished first with 125.5 points and Burlington?s James Madison was right behind at 123.5.

Luis Jimenez won the 400-meter dash (59.9) and Zach Martin was first in the 800-meter run (2:29). The 4x800 team of Martin, Mitchell Burnstedt, Alex Crile and Trevor Drish crossed the finish line in 10:43 for first place; and Jimenez, Jordan Reid, Justin Swanson and Jake Unkrich combined for a win and 4:29 finish in the 4x400. Nathan Davidson, Unkrich, Reid and Martin also were relay champions in the distance medley relay (4:28).

Drish finished second in the 1,600-meter run with a finish in 5:42.

The Trojan eighth-graders also won three races at Thursday?s Evans Boys Track Invitational en route to scoring 66 points. Albia won the meet with 114 points and Davis County was second at 106.

Jordan Reid was the fastest in the 400-meter dash with a clocking of 58.35 seconds. The team of Swanson, Unkrich, Martin and Drish was first in the distance medley relay, and the same group ? with Reid replacing Drish ? also won the sprint medley.