Boys get track season started at ISU Indoor

Waukon’s boys track and field squad got 2005 off to a good start last Tuesday, March 15 at the Iowa State University Indoor meet in Ames. No team scores were kept.

“This is a good meet to start the season off,” said head coach Joe O’Neill. “Iowa State has a terrific track and the competition is as good as you’ll see until Drake or state. Every event is very competitive.”

With the meet happening so early in the season, the Waukon coaches were unsure what to expect. “With the weather we didn’t know what times to expect or what shape the kids would be in,” O’Neill explained. “That’s why we like to go down. We like to see where we’re at and see what we need to do to be competitive in northeast Iowa.”

For the night, the Indians ran a limited schedule but had a good showing. Foremost on the list was the effort of senior Eric Osterhaus in the 3200. Osterhaus finished fourth in the 88-man field in 9:49.83, a time that could possibly get the senior distance ace into the Drake Relays.

“Last year Eric went down and watched the Drake Relays. One of his main goals for this year is to be at Drake again and participate. They take the top 21 competitors and, going by the times from the last few years, Eric’s time should be good enough to get him in,” O’Neill speculated.

Osterhaus also took 13th in the mile, crossing the finish line in 4:51.06.

Another front end finish came via senior Kyle McCormick in the 60-meter high hurdles. After an 8.83 preliminary run, McCormick dashed through the finals in 8.62. “Kyle placed fifth out of 95 hurdlers in a race with some of the state’s best hurdlers. Hopefully he’ll continue running well into the outdoor season,” the Indian coach added.

Yet another highlight for the night, according to O’Neill, was the performance of senior Ryan Snitker. Snitker took ninth out of 124 athletes in the 400-meter dash in 52.92. He later ran the 400 leg of the medley relay with a 52 second split. “Ryan ran really well. To have two 400s in 52 seconds is outstanding at this point in the year,” O’Neill mentioned.

Senior Junior Swart had the next highest finish, taking 25th in the two-mile in 10:39.68. “Junior has been hampered with an injury to his Achilles tendon and hadn’t worked out for a week. But, taking his injury into account, he had a nice two-mile,” the coach said.

Waukon’s medley relay squad of McCormick, senior Adam Schon, Snitker, and senior Kendal Sickels took 28th in 4:05.68 in a field of 54 teams.

The 4x800 squad of Sickels and senior Dan Cook, sophomore Hans Walleser, and junior Lee Waters was 40th in 9:27.34. Fifty-six squads ran in the event.

“With the weather we’ve had we hadn’t had the chance to do a lot of speed training and their times weren’t quite what they’d expected. But, we know where we’re at and what we need to do,” the coach added.

Individually, Schon was 78th out of 187 competitors in the 60-meter dash in 7.75.

“We’re probably going to look for Adam to run 400s, but we wanted to get him a few events to get the season underway,” O’Neill stated.

Sophomore Luke Weber also competed, finishing 76th in the 1600 in 5:29.01. “Luke was injured all last spring so it was nice to get him in a race already,” the coach added.

The boys ran at the NEIC Indoor Tuesday night and compete next at Friday’s Dickenson Relays at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls (4 p.m. start). The Tribe begins the outdoor season Thursday, March 31 hosting the Waukon Early Bird meet at 4 p.m.