DES MOINES — The Ballard boys 4x800 relay team was not satisfied with its performance at the Iowa high school state track and field meet Thursday.
The Bombers ran a strong race, placing fourth in Class 3A. But after taking third a year ago, they were hoping to challenge for a state championship.
“All year we’ve been working for this,” said Ballard senior runner Jameson Witt. “We didn’t have the senior we had last year, and that makes a big difference. We wish we could’ve done better, but we haven’t run this race that much, and this is probably our PR, including last year.”
Dillon Shoen, who replaced Trent Payne off last year's team, ran the opening leg for Ballard on Thursday. Witt took the baton from him, and he ran a 1:57.2 leg to get the Bombers in the top two.
Jakson Fleischmann and Chance Lande ran the final two legs for Ballard. The Bombers ran a time of 8:01.80, which was faster than the 8:06.16 they ran at last year's state meet.
But it was not enough to better their 2023 effort in the final standings thanks to a talented field. Both Center Point-Urbana (7:57.39) and South Tama (7:59.78) broke eight minutes, and Solon was just ahead of the Bombers in 8:00.48.
Despite coming up short of their ultimate goal, there is still light at the end of the tunnel for the three seniors on the team —Witt, Fleischmann and Lande. All three will compete in the 4x400, where the Bombers had the second-best qualifying time in 3A.
If Ballard gets past Friday's prelims, the boys 4x400 finals are set for 4:20 p.m. on Saturday.
“After that race, I’m really anxious about the 4x4,” Witt said. “We’ve got to win one, so I think that’s going to be the race for us.”
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him atjrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JoeRandleman
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