Mount Ayr Community performed well in the 2012 state boys track meet.
The Raiders scored nine points to place 27th in the 1A division. Manson-Northwest Webster won the class 1A by winning the final event to hold off second place Earlham, who tallied 41.
Raider Braydee Poore finished fourth in a very talented high jump field. Poore cleared 6’ 4” to finish in a tie for third, but was awarded fourth due to number of misses.
Clay Central’s Jared Schoelerman jumped 6’ 7” to take the 1A crown.
Poore came back on Friday to run a personal best in the 110 high hurdles (:15.68) to qualify for Saturday’s finals. Poore picked up another team point for the Raiders on Saturday battling a strong wind to finished eighth in the event with a time of :16.58. Nathan Schamdeke of Grundy Center ran :15.22 to win the event.
Dustin Pritchett also picked up team points for Mount Ayr community as he finished seventh in the discus event. Pritchett qualified for the finals with a throw of 148’ 7” and improved his position with a toss of 154’ 3” on his final competitive throw as a Raider. Grant Greenfield of Sibley Ocheyedan won the event, throwing 172’ 4”.
Sophomore Jacob Sobotka picked up the remaining team points for the Raiders. Sobotka’s time of :23.51 on Thursday in 200 meter dash qualified him for Saturday’s final. He ran :24.27 into the strong Saturday breeze to finish eighth in the finals.
Sobotka also finished 17th in the 1A 400 meter dash on Thursday with a time of :52.30.
The 4 x100 relay unit of Grant Staats, Jacob Sobotka, Erik Freed and Cody Stackhouse circled the blue oval in :45.18 to finish 13th in the field of 24. This entire relay squad will return for the Raiders next season.
Sophomore Noah Larsen opened the competition for Mount Ayr Community on Thursday, running in the 3200 meter event. Larsen was clocked in 10:42.11 to finish 14th in the 1A division. Lisbon’s Conner Smock won his 4th straight State title in the event with a 9:37.06 clocking.
“The weather was much better this year, although it was a little windy,” commented coach Brad Elliott. “Our young men gave tremendous effort against a very tough field.
“Of course, they all would have liked to have performed better and all but Dustin Pritchett will have an opportunity to return to the state meet again next season.”
Pritchett ranks in the top ten in both the shot and discus events on Mount Ayr all-time charts. Pritchett competed in the state meet four times, twice in both the discus and the shot .