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Hopeful Fairfield boys prepare for state meet
Last week, the Fairfield boys? track and field team braved the rain to qualify 11 athletes in six events to the Iowa state track and field championships.
This week, the Trojans anticipate better weather but the same, positive results when they compete at the statewide event held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
?I was very pleased with how we performed last week, and I?ll be absolutely pleased if we run close or ...
MICHAEL LEACH, Ledger sports editor
Sep. 30, 2018 9:50 pm
Last week, the Fairfield boys? track and field team braved the rain to qualify 11 athletes in six events to the Iowa state track and field championships.
This week, the Trojans anticipate better weather but the same, positive results when they compete at the statewide event held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
?I was very pleased with how we performed last week, and I?ll be absolutely pleased if we run close or better than our district times,? Fairfield head coach Brian Dunlap said.
The Trojans? point-total hopes will rest squarely on the shoulders of a few, however. Seniors Jonny Swanson and Daniel Schwarz are in five of Fairfield?s six events, so how they go will largely determine how the team goes.
Schwarz, who set a new school record of 6-feet, 6-inches in the high jump this season, qualified in the event as well as the shuttle hurdle relay. Swanson, meanwhile, became a rare four-event qualifier at the district meet and will compete in the shuttle hurdle relay with Schwarz, plus the 110-hurdles, 400-hurdles and 4x400.
Dunlap said Schwarz gives the Trojans their best chance for a state title since Michael Smithburg won the discus in 2010.
?He?s been one of the top jumpers in the state all year, and if he jumps well he?ll be in the hunt for a state title. He should be going in with a plan to win it,? Dunlap said.
Schwarz finished fourth at Drake but will be going up against several other Class 3A jumpers who cleared 6-feet, 6-inches this season.
?There are a lot of kids coming up there with the same hopes that Daniel has. He?ll have to be at his best,? the head coach said.
Swanson?s best chance of placing could be the 110-highs. The senior qualified in the event last season and finished 22nd overall, but arguably no one on Fairfield has shown greater year-to-year improvement than Swanson. Thursday, he set a new personal best of 14.94 seconds ? the third fastest district time in Class 3A.
?Swanson has shown he?s one of the top high hurdlers in 3A, so he?s got a shot. If he can repeat something like [what he did at districts], he?ll hopefully be in the finals of that event,? said Dunlap.
Swanson?s biggest hurdle to the podium might just be the competitors from his own district. Fort Madison?s Hunter Pollpeter won the district with Class 3A?s fastest time in 14.89, and Southeast Conference champion Tommy Thorne of Mount Pleasant was on the state title-winning shuttle hurdle relay last spring. Harlan?s Austin Hess, last year?s state champion in the high hurdles, also is back in the event to give the SEC?s best a run for its money.
?It will obviously help Swanson to see guys he?s been lining up next to all year. The competition should have him prepared for the state meet,? Dunlap said.
Swanson, Schwarz, sophomore Nick Jackson and junior Austin Francisco also have high hopes in the shuttle hurdle relay. The foursome shaved more than a second off their previous season best at the district meet, finishing fourth in 1:01.38, and look primed to improve on last season?s 20th place finish.
?If they can run around 61-flat or 60 [seconds], they should get into the top eight,? said Dunlap. ?All of them cut major amounts of time this season. We just need to come up there and see the same kind of effort and see where they fall.
?Obviously we?re going to have to fly, but if we run clean and run fast, you never know.?
More importantly, all four Trojans in the event have been to the state meet before and know what to expect.
?Jackson and Francisco were there last time, and that?s valuable experience that will hopefully pay off this year. It?s never as scary on the stage as it was the first time,? said Dunlap.
Swanson also qualified in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 57.51. The senior, along with seniors Dillon Fry and Justin Hammes and sophomore Narendra Martin, made it in the 4x400 in 3:33.63.
Additionally, seniors Alex Love and Brandon Taglauer, sophomore Zane Richmond and freshman Zach Martin will look to continue their late-season surge in the 4x800 after running their fastest time of the season at last week?s state qualifier. The foursome earned an automatic berth with an 8:25 finish.
The state meet runs Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Schwarz opens the meet for the Trojans at 2 p.m. Thursday in the high jump.