Tyson Cota is long jump champion, Weber is shot put runner-up to earn State Meet qualification and lead Kee boys to ninth place
Soars to championship and State Meet ... Kee boys track junior Tyson Cota goes airborne during a long jump attempt at the Hawks’ Class 1A State Qualifying Meet at Edgewood-Colesburg Thursday, May 13. Cota soared 20’4.5” to win the event and earn automatic qualification for this year’s State Track Meet. Photo courtesy of the Kee High School Yearbook. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.
The Kee boys track team was looking to extend its season in any way possible when the Hawks competed at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Edgewood-Colesburg Thursday, May 13. That extension would require an event championship at Thursday’s meet or one of the 14 next best non-championship performances at the 10 Class 1A State Qualifying Meets taking place across the state of Iowa.
The Kee boys originally came away with one automatic State Meet qualification from Thursday’s meet, as junior Tyson Cota won the long jump with a leap of 20’4.5”. As those next best 14 at-large performances were sorted out across the state, the Hawks found out the following Friday afternoon that fellow junior Damon Weber would end up joining Cota in this season’s grand finale in Des Moines, as his second-place shot put heave of 45’11.5” was far enough to earn one of those 14 at-large State Meet qualifications.
Those two top-end Kee finishes led the Hawks to 33 team points and a ninth-place team finish in the meet’s 13-team final standings. In all, the Hawks scored team points with top-eight event finishes in nine different events.
Cota and Weber will now prepare to compete among Class 1A’s best in their respective events at the State Track and Field Meet taking place Thursday-Saturday, May 20-22 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Details of that season grand finale can be found on the Sports pages in the May 19, 2021 e-edition and print edition of The Standard.
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