Bulldogs win six events at conference meet
The Bulldogs’ distance events were highlighted by senior Cayden Ball (right), who won the 1600 meter conference championship. Teammate Carver Blietz-Bentien was sixth. (Photos by Audrey Posten)
Jacob Trudo led the team in the field events, placing second in the shot put and seventh in the discus.
Sophomore sprinter Karter Decker won the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes at the Upper Iowa Conference meet, accounting for half of MFL MarMac’s first-place finishes.
Brandon Christofferson was a member of the conference-winning 4x800 relay. The Bulldogs were also first in the 800 sprint medley relay.
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
The MFL MarMac boys track and field team placed third at the Upper Iowa Conference meet at North Fayette Valley on May 6—an effort that included six individual conference championships.
South Winn won the team title with 170 points, followed by NFV with 154 and MFL MarMac with 129.
Three of the Bulldogs’ first-place finishes came from sophomore sprinter Karter Decker, who ran a time of 11.20 in the 100 meter dash, 22.94 in the 200 meter dash and 53.18 in the 400 meter dash.
MFL MarMac’s Cullen McShane and Caleb Nordheim had strong showings in the sprint events as well. McShane placed third in the 100 with a time of 11.64, while Nordheim crossed the line at 57.02 in the 400, also finishing third.
Tristen Koehn had another good outing in the 400 hurdles, running at 1:01.65 to place fourth.
The Bulldogs’ distance events were highlighted by senior Cayden Ball, who won the 1600 meter run. His time of 4:54.48 edged out NFV’s Peyton Halverson, who finished at 4:54.52. Fellow Bulldog Carver Blietz-Bentien was sixth in the event, thanks to a 5:13.42 time.
In the 800, Brandon Christofferson was the team’s top finisher, placing third with a time of 2:14.41. Izayah Streicher was 10th at 2:26.30.
The Bulldogs’ two other conference championships came in the relays, where they out-ran competitors in the 800 sprint medley and 4x800.
The sprint medley group included Wyatt Powell, Colin Moses, McShane and Decker, whose time of 1:39.78 was just ahead of Turkey Valley’s 1:40.18.
In the 4x800, Moses, Christofferson, Blietz-Bentien and Ball combined for a time of 9:08.03, over two seconds faster than the runners up from Turkey Valley.
MFL MarMac also performed well in the 4x200, as Bryce Radloff, Powell, Blietz-Bentien and Koehn turned in a time of 1:41.25 for second place. The group of Cyrus Johnson, Victor Breuer, Streicher and Nordheim was fifth in the 4x400 with a time of 4:00.84, while the 1600 distance medley squad of Hunter Kugel, Cyrus Johnson, Callum Johnson and Christofferson earned a time of 4:28.46, also putting them fifth.
In the field events, the team was led by Jacob Trudo, who was second in the shot put and seventh in the discus thanks to respective throws of 43 feet, 1 inch and 107 feet. Moses had an effort of 19 feet, 10.5 inches in the long jump, finishing third. McShane was third in the high jump, hitting a height of 5 feet, 2 inches.
Next up for the Bulldogs is the state qualifying meet, which will be held at Ed-Co on Thursday, May 13.
