Ipswich Boys State B runners-up

Ipswich finished as the boys' runners-up at the State B track and field meet last weekend in Sioux Falls. Chester Area would indeed live up to its hype with a 86-45 boys team victory over the Tigers, who would edge Freeman Academy/Marion 45-42 for second place.

Gregory finished fourth with 36 boys team points, topping fifth-place Castlewood's 34.

On the girls' side, Ipswich would finish in 21st with 13.5 team points. It was easily won by Colman-Egan 99 to 48 over second-place Northwestern.

Ipswich's Ty Kadlec would win the boys' 100-meter dash in :11.04 requiring his personal best to edge Jovi Wolf of Chester's :11.05. They would then trade places in the 200 with Wolf edging Kadlec :22.24 to :22.66, also a P.B. for Kadlec. And Kadlec anchored a winning 4x200 relay victory in 1:31.44, which also featured Turner Thorson, Trevor Beyers and Colby Sylte.

Ipswich also placed in two more boys' relays. They were fourth in the medley, ran by Carson Gohl, Sylte, Turner Thorson and Ian Beyers in 3:47.25. They also placed fourth in the 4x800 ran by Maxwell Kulesa, Turner Thorson, Trevor Beyers and Ian Beyers in 8:32.10.

Carter Geditz was seventh in the 300-meter hurdles at :43.34, as were Tyler Hettich in the high jump at 6-0.00 and Zach Geditz in the discus at 137-07.

Carter Geditz added a point for eighth in the 110-meter hurdles at :16.81.

Now for the girls! The bulk of their points came in the pole vault, where they placed three individuals. (And that's probably something that you won't see too often.)

Marley Guthmiller was indeed third at 9-06, followed by Quincy Olivier in fifth at 9-00. And Kaitlyn Williams tied for eighth at 8-06. Madisyn Gellhaus contributed three points by placing sixth in the 1600-meter run at 5:31.33.

The bottom line for the year is that Kadlec now holds the school record in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. And he also figured into a pair of sprint relay school records, as well, the 4x100 and the 4x200. The shorter outcome had been achieved during the LRC regular-season meet, as Trevor Heinz was unexpectedly injured during the prelims of the State B's 4x100. That resulted in a tenth-place finish in the event, not making the finals. " We didn't anticipate an injury," said Coach Todd Thorson. And there were maybe an event or two where the IHS thinclads could have done better. "We had some events we didn't do well in," he explained.

But he noted some positives from their three-day weekend in Sioux Falls. That's because in 20 of their 37 total events the IHS thinclads would actually improve on their own personal bests going into the meet, according to Thorson. "So overall we really had a pretty good meet," he concluded. That would include his own 25-year coaching award.

Kadlec, Gohl, Trevor Beyers, Zach Geditz, Zach Reuschlein, Jordan Nierman and Taylor Thorson were this year's senior boys and will certainly be missed along with the senior girl Emily DeRaad.