Track season gets underway

Steve Roth has been coaching at Washington High School for almost 43 years and track season is his favorite.

The 58th annual Washington Relayshigh school boys track meet went according to plan Thursday at Case Field as the event is now the namesake of Roth.

'They put my name on it when I retired three years ago,” he said.

He couldn't stay away from his favorite sport. Besides the meet being named for him, he also has an event - the 4x100 meter relay - named for him. Roth puts in countless hours keeping Case Field as one of the finest facilities in southeast Iowa.

Considering the past winter, the second day of spring brought perfect weather for a track meet.

'I was happy with mother nature,” Roth said. 'She did a beautiful job.”

She was not the only one who impressed Roth.

'My workers, from the press box to the starter to the announcer to the shot and disk and all of those helping, just did a great job,” Roth said. 'I couldn't ask for anything better. They all take pride in what they do. When there's a Demon event, so many people pitch in and work hard. It's great to see.”

The event hosted 21 teams in three classes.

Mt. Pleasant won Class A with 139 points. Washington was fifth with 63.

'We didn't win an event, but that is not a goal,” Roth said. 'There is good competition and that's why we ran in the largest class. I want to chase people and we chased really well.”

Ft. Madison won Class B with 165.75 points. The Washington junior varsity had 13 points.

Wapello ran away with the Class C title, scoring 188 points. WACO was fourth with 64. Columbus was fifth at 51 points while Keota was sixth with 44 and Highland eighth at 21.

Colton Horak posted two hurdles wins for WACO, taking first in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 17.45 seconds and first in the 400 lows in 59.89 seconds.

Keota also boasted a double winner. Justin Moeller won the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 11.79 seconds. He had the farthest distance in the long jump at 19 feet, 1 inch.

The best finishes for the Demons were second place. Lincoln Kleese was second in the long jump at 19-8 and Spencer Sotelo was third at 19-7.25. Ethan Hunt was second in the 400 at 53.41.

Other Demon third-place finishes were the 4x200 relay, the sprint medley relay, the shuttle hurdle realy and the final event - the Doug Dunlap 4x400 relay.

Dunlap was a athletic director for 20 years and an administrator for 38 in the Washington School District. He was inducted into the Athletic Director's Hall of Fame in 2006. Dunlap calls the 4x4 the 'most exciting race in track and field.”

Roth agrees.

'We had a lot of good events but I am a 4x4 guy. I had some great 4x4 teams in the 1990s and 2000s and I was really impressed with our 4X4 tonight. It was outstanding.”

Hunt ran the first leg and was followed by Mitchell Driscoll, Justin Simmering and Ben Schieffer.

'Justin ran three 400s tonight and Ethan ran three 400s. Ben had one but he ran in other events. Driscoll is a new guy and he ran great. I was just excited about that race. We got sprinters and we got distance guys, but middle-distance guys, we have not had for a while. I think we might have a good foursome there. I am excited about those guys. I'll change the order depending on what they run and the meet.”

Despite not getting any event wins, it was a solid start to the season.

'I saw a lot of good things tonight, a lot of positives,” Roth said. 'We ran faster times than we did in this meet last year. We got the baton around at all our events. That's important in the first meet of the year.”

He also focused on a couple of individual events.

'I was pleased with the sprint med. We ran a freshman in the shuttle and it is at a new height this year and we got over it clean so I am real happy about that. We had a lot great things happen.”

There was a lot to choose from as there are 55 athletes out for the Washington boys track team this season.

'I was impressed with the way our freshmen handled themselves. I love the way they competed. It's awesome that they got to run. We got 49 out of the 55 kids in an event.”

Washington runs next when it goes to West Burlington Monday.

There were other special events of note.

The 200-meter dash is named for E.K. (Kelly) Schlapkohl. He was the WCSD superintendent from 1964 until he retired in 1985. Because of talented WHS 220-yard runners, it became his favorite event. He passed away in 1994.

The 800 is named for Gene (Snook) Turner. He graduated from WHS in 1929. He was an outstanding athlete in football, basketball and track. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then worked at the local post office until his retirement. Deeply involved in the Washington Relays, he served as the head finish judge for many years.

There is the Jim Cavin long jump. Cavin was a 1977 graduate of WHS who died in March 2012 after a short illness. He was a custodian at Lincoln Elementary for 34 years. During that time, he was a volunteer at the long jump pit for many Demon meets.

The John Sproule 4x800 relay was named in honor of the 30-year (1968-1998) elementary principal. He was a loyal Demon athletics supporter.

The 4x200 Harold Ahrens memorial is named for the outstanding track athlete from the 1920s. He was on the school record setting 880 relay in 1929. That record was not eclipsed until 1963. An avid supporter of all WCSD athletic events, Ahrens passed in 2000.

TEAM SCORES

Class A - 1. Mt. Pleasant 139, 2. Iowa City High 110, 3. Ottumwa 96, 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 95, 5. Washington 63, 6. Iowa City West 60, Cedar Rapids Xavier 23.5

Class B - 1. Ft. Madison 165.75, 2. Mediapolis 113, 3. West Burlington Notre Dame 103.75, 4. Fairfield 77.75, 5. Iowa City JV 66.75, 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie JV 35, 7. Washington JV 13

Class C - 1. Wapello 188, 2. Danville 114, 3. Winfield-Mt. Union 71, 4. WACO 64, 5. Columbus 51, 6. Keota 44, 7. Iowa City F/S 27, 8. Highland 21

Note: Individual results of winners and area point scorers will be in Monday's Journal.