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Plenty To Applaud

SH sets season’s best time in 4x800 by 11 seconds, finishes fifth in team race at HOIC meet

South Hamilton senior Jared Fisher leans towards the finish line on his way to gold in the 400-meter dash at Tuesday’s Heart of Iowa Conference meet in Baxter. Logan Peters added a victory in the 1,600 meters, as the Hawks placed fifth in the final team standings. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

BAXTER — Jared Fisher was willing to put a potential individual gold medal on the line just to prove something to himself and his coach Tuesday night.

Darrell Paulsen, that aforementioned coach, said thanks, but no thanks.

Instead of running the 400-meter leg of the distance medley relay and then turning around and jumping into the blocks for the open 400 just 16 minutes later, Fisher turned his entire focus to the individual run and reaped the rewards at the Heart of Iowa Conference meet.

Fisher, a South Hamilton senior, buried the 400 field on his way to gold in 52.32 seconds. He was almost a second clear of runner-up Will Greder (53.31) of Gilbert.

“I ran a better time earlier this year on a not so nice night, but I was happy with it,” Fisher said. “I wish I could have been faster though.”

Logan Peters (left) runs the lead-off leg of the 4x800-meter relay at Tuesday’s HOIC meet in Baxter. The South Hamilton sophomore later won the 1,600 meters. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

And that quick turnaround? Even after his victory lap, Fisher says he still would have liked to try it.

“I definitely would have given it a shot,” he said. “I think I maybe could have come back and I wanted to see how it would have been set up for (next week’s Class 2A State Qualifying Meet).”

As it turned out, the Hawks’ distance medley did just fine without its top 400 speedster. A strong 800 anchor leg from Cole Berg pushed the quartet across the finish line in 3:57.85, which was just three seconds off the season’s best time. Drake Thompson, Logan Klemp and Clay Weiland joined Berg to take the bronze.

“Cole Berg ran a great 800 in that race,” Paulsen, the Hawks’ head coach, said. “We’re making progress and we’re starting to put things together.”

Fisher might not have had his wish granted on Tuesday, but Paulsen says he’ll give him the shot he wants when a state berth is on the line next week.

South Hamilton freshman Quinton Grove runs pass the American flag during the 3,200 meters at Tuesday's HOIC meet in Baxter. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“He wants to try it, so I’m going to let him try it,” Paulsen said. “He’s been running well and in practice he works his tail off.”

South Hamilton went home with four medals and 79 points, which was good enough for fifth place. The Hawks were one of only four teams to win multiple events.

Gilbert, the class of the league in both team depth and talent, buried the other eight teams in attendance. The Tigers won eight of the 19 events and bagged 13 top-three finishes en route to 177 points. With its five event wins, Nevada was still a country mile behind in second with 96. Roland-Story (84) and PCM (81) were third and fourth, respectively.

“Finishing close to the top half of the conference, we’re happy with that,” Paulsen said. “You take Gilbert out and it’s really close. (Gilbert) has two really good kids in almost every race.”

Hawks’ sophomore Logan Peters proved a point to himself and his coach in the 1,600. After placing eighth at state in the mile last spring, Peters languished in mediocrity up until Tuesday night. With the league crown on the line, he cut his season’s best time by 11 seconds to win gold in 4:40.12.

Blake Barquist (left) takes the baton from Tanner Volkmann during the 4x200-meter relay on Tuesday. South Hamilton placed fifth. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“I think he wanted to prove a point and he was elated after he got done,” Paulsen said of Peters. “He looked pretty smooth and he’s basically now three seconds faster than he was last year because he ran a 4:43 at (the state qualifier).”

Peters and Fisher ran the first and second legs, and Josiah Brown and Devon Fisher took over the third and fourth legs of the Hawks’ runner-up 4×800 relay. Their time of 8:25.60 was a season’s best by 11 seconds, yet was still more than 14 seconds off the pace set by Gilbert. The Tigers’ winning clocking of 8:11.08 was a conference record.

“This meet is definitely one of our better meets and the times are showing it,” Jared Fisher said. “It’s just preparing us for (the state qualifier).”

HOIC Meet

Tuesday at Baxter

Team Standings

1. Gilbert 177; 2. Nevada 96; 3. Roland-Story 84; 4. PCM 81; 5. South Hamilton 79; 6. North Polk 77; 8. CMB 67; 8. Greene County 43; 9. Saydel 32.

South Hamilton Results

Shot Put — 7. Logan Klemp 44-91⁄2; 17. Zeke Balderas 31-111⁄2.

Discus — 4. Klemp 122-41⁄2; 13. Cade Flaugh 104-6.

100 Meters — 14. Trelonias Wright 12.41; 18. Flaugh 14.49.

200 Meters — 7. Tanner Volkmann 24.37; 8. Clay Weiland 24.81.

400 Meters — 1. Jared Fisher 52.32.

800 Meters — 4. Devon Fisher 2:05.82; 7. Cole Berg 2:12.58.

1,600 Meters — 1. Logan Peters 4:40.12; 6. Josiah Brown 4:46.43

3,200 Meters — 7. Quinton Grove 10:37.73.

110 High Hurdles — 7. Treyton Twedt 17.36.

400 Low Hurdles — 11. Christian Griffin 1:03.99; 12. Twedt 1:04.03.

4×100 Relay — 6. South Hamilton 47.18 (Cole Ellis, Drake Thompson, Volkmann, Blake Barquist).

4×200 Relay — 5. South Hamilton 1:37.03 (Ellis, Thompson, Volkmann, Barquist).

4×400 Relay — 5. South Hamilton 3:43.15 (J. Fisher, Grove, Weiland, D. Fisher).

4×800 Relay — 2. South Hamilton 8:25.60 (Peters, J. Fisher, Brown, D. Fisher).

Sprint Medley Relay — 4. South Hamilton 1:39.27 (Ellis, Volkmann, D. Fisher, J. Fisher).

Distance Medley Relay — 3. South Hamilton 3:57.85 (Thompson, Klemp, Weiland, Berg).

Shuttle Hurdle Relay — 5. South Hamilton 1:06.02 (Brandyn Feighner, Griffin, Thompson, Twedt).

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