by Anthony Robinson
The Atlantic Trojan boys track team competed in the class 3A district 1 track meet at
Atlantic, Thursday, May 12. The Trojans have a possible five events qualified for the State meet next weekend. Junior Tyler Hovey was the only Trojan to automatically qualify for the next week’s meet. The 4×800 team (seniors Parker Hoye, Trevor Knuth, Luke Karamitros, and junior Blake Esbeck), sophomore Dalton Franken in long jump, senior Dan Thomsen in the 200 meter dash, and Hovey in the discus all finished second and have a shot at competing next weekend.
The results from the other district meets across the state determine the fate of the Atlantic competitors.
The 4×800 team ran 8:08.64 to finish second in the race behind the currently ranked 3rd team in the state of Iowa, the Glenwood Rams. “I told the guys our goal was 8:19…we beat that by 11 seconds,” coach Steve Blazek said in a post meet interview with KSOM. To lead things off in the race, Hoye ran a 2:02.9. Knuth followed Hoye’s performance with a 2:06.1, proving to be the slowest split of the race for the Trojans. Karamitros took the baton from Knuth and ran a 1:59.8 split. The anchor, Esbeck, finished the race running a 1:59.2 800. The relay team’s race should put them in the state meet.
Franken finished second in the long jump with a jump of 20 feet, 7 and 1/2 inches. Franken beat his year’s best length by nearly a foot. Franken’s jump should qualify for state.
Before tripping less that 50 meters before the finish line, Trojan senior Dan Thomsen had sealed a 200 meter dash victory for the Trojans, but the minor slip-up caused Thomsen to drop back to a second place finish by less than five yards. Despite Thomsen’s slowest time of the year, Thomsen should be headed to Des Moines next Thursday.
Finally, after qualifying for state in the shot put, junior Tyler Hovey placed second in the discus. Hovey’s discus throw should put him in the field next weekend.
As a team the Trojans placed fourth at the meet with 78 points. Glenwood finished first with 203.
For more information on who “makes the cut” check back to AHSneedle.com.