Bolts set new school record in 4x800 relay at state meet

DES MOINES — Baxter senior Rory Heer has officially passed the baton to his teammates.

After helping the Bolts set a new school record in the 4x800-meter relay on Thursday, Heer capped his track and field career with a personal-best time in the 800 on Saturday.

Now it’s up to his teammates to keep the tradition of reaching the blue oval alive.

“The only way this could have been better would have been to medal,” Heer said after his 800. “I wish I was one spot up, but I will take that time.”

One spot up in the standings would have netted the Bolts senior a state medal in Class 1A. Heer wound up ninth in the open 800 but his time of 2 minutes, 2.86 seconds was a career-best. That makes finishing ninth a little easier to accept.

“We were so close. It was a great weekend. Everyone we brought here ran a PR in something,” Heer said. “You can’t ask for more than that.”

The Bolts’ 4x800 relay team can bring back three runners from this year’s team. The foursome of Perrin Sulzle, Cody Damman, Cody Samson and Heer set a new school record in the event and finished 12th overall with a season-best time of 8:36.15 at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships.

Earlham, which finished second in the 1A team race, won the 4x800 relay for the third straight spring. The Cardinals finished the race in 8:04.95 and Jayden Dickson won the 800 in 1:55.64.

“I ran really well. I tried to catch the leaders early and then hang with them as long as I could,” Damman said. “It was a lot better than my district run.”

Damman, Samson and Sulzle were running on the blue oval for the first time.

It was not the first trip to the state meet for Elie Tuhn or Mandee Selover. They both returned to the blue oval and competed in the same events two straight seasons.

Tuhn kicked the Bolts’ weekend off with a 17th place finish in the 3,000-meter run. She completed the race in 11:47.27. Calamus-Wheatland’s Noelle Steines was the 1A champion in 10:21.01.

Overall, Tuhn was not happy with how she ran in either race. She was in the 1,500 on Saturday and placed 23rd in 5:24.10. Jalyssa Blazek of Turkey Valley won the race in 4:46.63 and was one of nine runners who finished in under 5 minutes.

“My arms were really tight. I thought I warmed up well. I’m not sure what happened,” Tuhn said after the 1,500. “I just tightened up on the first or second lap.

“The 3,000 was OK. It was not my best race but not terrible either. I’m just really happy I got to come back here my senior year. It was a lot of fun.”

Selover was back inside Drake Stadium and competed at state in the long jump for the second straight season.

This time around was better than a year ago as she was 14th in the 24-person field with a best leap of 15 feet, 7 1/2 inches. She also had marks of 15-5 and 14-11 1/4.

Algona Garrigan’s Molly Joyce won the event with a jump of 17-11 3/4.

“It was better than last year. I didn’t get 15 last year,” Selover said. “It wasn’t my best jump, my steps were a little off and I left a lot of board.

“It felt good to do better than last year, but it was hard coming off my PR to not quite beat that, but it’s all right. I did my best.”

Sulzle is a freshman and he opened the Baxter boys’ 4x800 relay in a personal-best split of around 2:04.

“I was hoping for a 2:08 coming in, but I saw 2:04 on the board when I handed it off,” Sulzle said. “It was a fun experience. Everyone here is so fast.”

Damman took the baton from Sulzle and kept the Bolts in contention to win their heat. Something stood out to Damman in his first experience on the blue oval, too.

“It’s amazing. We are out here with just a ton of people,” Damman said. “This is a lot bigger than Baxter, Iowa. There are lot more people out here.”

Samson also was making his state meet debut. And he hopes it’s not the last time he steps foot inside the historic stadium.

“The experience was awesome and hopefully I can get back my next two years,” Samson said. “I felt like I ran my best time. Setting the school record feels good. I’d like to keep getting faster the next two years, too.”

Heer was the only veteran on the 4x800 squad. His final runs at the state meet netted career-best performances. His 800 split in the relay was clocked in 2:03.

“I wish I had more kick at the end to hold those last two guys off. I think they both got me,” Heer said “We ran a good time, set the school record and got a PR so I can’t complain too much.”