Eagle track & field competes in inaugural indoor at Humboldt

The beautiful new Humboldt Recreation Center hosted the Nielsen Family Boys Indoor meet last Friday. Named after the benefactors that made the facility a reality, it features a track capable of hosting high school meets and is believed to be the very first indoor track in Iowa not on a college or university campus. The home Wildcats took the team title with 133.5 points, followed by Pocahontas Area with 99, Webster City with 86, Algona with 66, Eagle Grove with 30 and Boone with 5.5 points.

“I know the guys were really looking forward to competing at this meet, as we have had three weeks of practice and all but three days were inside due to weather and track conditions,” stated head coach Ben Demuth. “I have 40 guys out and I think we had 35 compete in at least one event and I was pleased with how everyone did. With it being our first meet of the year, there were bound to be some growing pains along the way and especially since the majority are freshmen and sophomores. Also, some of these guys have not been out for track in a few years so lots of learning on the fly at this meet. The guys did not let the competition scare them off. They were able to compete with three really good 3A teams. Pocahontas has some real quality depth, while Boone ran a JV team.”

Field event results for the team were highlighted by Zach Burns and Dallas Hammitt. Burns tied for third at 5’ 6” in the high jump, with Hammitt making the finals of the shot put. He bettered himself by one spot, going in seventh and finishing sixth at 41’ 3”. “I was glad to score points from these events,” said Demuth. “Zach is jumping where he left off at the end of last season, so that’s a plus. Brady Beck cleared a height, but just missed on his attempt at the next height. He has not jumped for several years so that was good to see. Everyone threw well in the shot. Dallas making the finals was a nice surprise, and I am not sure he has ever done that before in that event. We have a large number of throwers, and are limited in space and time to work with them right now. Anything they can get in is an accomplishment in my book.”

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