Deal’s big jump kickstarts L-S boys in outdoor opener

BELLE PLAINE — Connor Deal unleashed a mark in the high jump that now puts him in the top five of Class 1A, Colton Alberts grabbed the Hawks other victory and the Lynnville-Sully boys track and field team opened its outdoor season with a second-place team finish at the Belle Plaine Boys Invitational on Thursday.

Deal and Alberts claimed the Hawks’ two individual wins and Lynnville-Sully registered 10 top-three finishes in all.

“Tonight was a great first meet for our team,” L-S head boys track and field coach Darin Arkema said. “The guys really were focused and put to use the things we have been working on early in the season.”

Lynnville-Sully scored 102 points to edge Iowa Valley (101) in the Class A standings. Grundy Center won the meet with 155 points.

The rest of the eight-team field included Nashua-Plainfield (72), Alburnett (66), North Linn (50), Sigourney (37) and North Mahaska (5).

The Hawks finished 1-2 in the high jump with Deal posting a career-best leap of 6 feet, 2 inches to win it. Terran Gosselink’s runner-up mark was 5-8.

The 6-2 jump from Deal currently ranks fourth in Class 1A.

Dawson James also scored big points in a field event. He was the runner-up in the shot put with a toss of 42-11.

The other win came from Alberts in the 3,200-meter run. He won the race with a time of 10 minutes, 51.3 seconds. Blake Wilmesmeier finished third in a career-best 10:56.9.

The Hawks also scored double points in the 400, 800 and 1,600.

Trace Carlson (1:00.27) and Sam Terlouw (career-best 1:00.77) were 5-6 in the 400, Gosselink (2:14.89) and Wilmesmeier (2:21.4) placed 3-5 in the 800 and Hendrick Lowry (5:03.2) and Alberts (5:12.24) took 3-5 in the 1,600.

Jaiden Richards was fourth in the 200 with a career-best time of 24.97 seconds and Jack Bowlin finished fifth in the 100 in a career-best 12.21.

“We saw a number of personal bests from a lot of guys in a wide range of events, despite the cooler temperatures, and being early in the season.” Arkema said. “Guys should have a lot to be proud of and motivated to improve on from tonight.”

The Hawks finished second in the 4x100 and shuttle hurdle relays. They also took third in the distance medley relay.

In the 4x100, the foursome of Burt Johnson, Ethan Dunsbergen, Richards and Bowlin placed second in a season-best 46.75.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Deal, Gosselink, Ashton Rozendaal and Sawyer Veldhuizen placed second in a season-best 1:06.23, which currently ranks eighth in 1A and was faster than any time the Hawks posted last season.

Richards, Michael Spooner, Dunsbergen and Lowry took third in the distance medley in a season-best 4:03.86 and the 4x800 relay team of Lowry, Dunsbergen, Trace Carlson and Spooner ended up fourth in 9:13.8.

“Connor Deal increasing his high jump personal record for the second time this season and earning the victory was a big moment early in the meet,” Arkema said. “(Alberts) time and win in the 3,200 was a great starting point for him. (Wilmesmeier) also had a huge personal record in that race to earn third. The shuttle hurdle group ran an excellent early-season time to get second.

“The Hawks did a lot of things well tonight as a team, and it was good to get the first meet under our belt so some nerves and questions can be settled. We keep moving forward from here.”