Published: May 10, 2008 01:10 am            

13 River Kings qualify for state track meet

PLEASANT VALLEY — The Clinton River Kings qualified 13 athletes for the Iowa State Track Meet in Des Moines next week with their district meet performances at Pleasant Valley on Friday.

The River Queens have qualified for certain one athlete and maybe more as girls qualifiers are selected by the top two finishers at districts, then the next 12 best performances are taken.

In boys competition, the top four in each event qualify automatically.

Sarah Wenzel placed second in the long jump and in doing so punched her ticket to Des Moines. She had a best leap of 17-7.

River King junior Ethan Holmes won both the 110-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles on Friday as he will return to Des Moines after winning the 400 hurdles at the Drake Relays last month.

Holmes won on Friday with a time of 14.73 in the 100 hurdles and 53.69 in the 400 hurdles.

Holmes also ran the anchor leg of the 4x400 team that took gold with a time of 3:22.17. Joining Holmes on the relay were Chris Teney, David Johnson and Scott DeAngelis.

The River Kings 4x200 team of Holmes, DeAngelis, Johnson and Everett Williams took fourth with a time of 1:29.69.

Clinton’s 4x800 team of DeAngelis, James Smith, Kaleb Frazier and Teney won silver with a clocking of 8:08.69.

Also qualifying for the River Kings was the shuttle hurdle relay team of Tyler Redman, Zane Pennock, Jordan Camp and Jake Mangler.

Individually, Clinton will send athletes to state in five events.

Holmes made it with wins in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles. Sophomore Jake Mangler also qualified in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.90.

In the field events, Clinton will send Jordan Camp in the high jump, who took second with a jump of 6-0.

In the throws, the River Kings will send two to Des Moines.

Jaryd Prince recorded a toss of 50-3, good for fourth, while Matt Murphy was third in the discus with a toss of 140-7 1/2.

Clinton boys head coach Tony Smith was pleased with his team’s performance and with the conditions on Friday night.

“It was a good night, we dropped a lot of times and the weather was nice,” Smith said. “We ran some of the best times in relays we have all year. People really stepped up and the team performed well.”

River Queens head coach June Wilden was uncertain just how many qualified, but as a whole thought her team performed well.

“It was a great night, everybody performed very well,” Wilden said. “It was a beautiful night with nice weather and the girls were really mentally ready. Tonight we really performed well as a team and that’s what you build for all season. It was just a great night.”

Look for a complete rundown of the Clinton River Queen and River Kings’ coverage in Monday’s Herald.

        

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