Southeast Valley High School

Boys Track

Jags Earn Conference Track Crown

   On Tuesday, May 3rd, the Southeast Valley boys’ track and field team headed to Manson in search of the school’s first Twin Lakes Conference Champion. After a strong start for the Jaguars in the first five events, Pocahontas Area slowly chipped away at the lead, getting within 11 points of Southeast Valley before the Jags came up big in the 1600m run and 4 x 100m relay to lock away the conference crown.

   All said and done, the Jaguars scored 152.5 points to win their first title, while Pocahontas Area finished 2nd with 130.5 points. Newell-Fonda was third with 82 points, followed by Sioux Central - 76 points, Manson NW - 74 points and Emmetsburg - 67 points.

   Southeast Valley started the meet by winning and doubling up points in all four field events. Aaron Graves won the shot put and discus throwing 52’ 2” and 139’ 7” respectively. His throw of 52’ 2” in the shot put improved his own school record.

   Kolson Kruse won the long jump with a jump of 20’ 4.25’ and Kaleb Scott continued to dominate the high jump winning with a jump of 6’ 1”. Besides the four conference winners, the Jaguars also got points in the shot put from Ethan Ackerson who finished 3rd (43’ 7.5”), Justin Loseke 4th in the discus (124’ 6”), Tre Fisher 4th place in the long jump (19’ 5.5”) and Andrew Miller 6th in the high jump (5’ 6”).

   The Jaguars quickly increased their lead with the 3200m run where Cooper Nuss and Oscar Hanson took 1st and 2nd place running 10:37.10 and 10:40.68 respectively, finishing ahead of Pocahontas Area’s 3rd and 4th place runners.

   A 6th place finish by the 4 x 800m team of Asa Haub, Carter Ferry, Kyle Johnson and Zach Thompson and a 5th place finish by the shuttle hurdle relay of Michael Eslick, Jace Hanson, Caelan Oakes-Sudhish and Ty Klatt were the next two events scoring points.

   The Jaguars then doubled up in the 100m dash with Kaleb Scott running 11.43 to finish 2nd and Tre Fisher running 11.86 to finish 4th, before the distance medley relay team of Drew Corell, Andrew Miller, Zach Thompson and Cooper Nuss finished 3rd in a season best of 3:57.36.

   Pocahontas took 1st and 2nd in the 400m dash to take a big chunk out of the Jaguars lead before SV came back to claim second in the 4 x 200m run with Carl Berglund, Scott, Kruse and Fisher running a season best 1:35.29. Ty Klatt then took a big 3rd place finish in the 110m high hurdles dropping half a second off his season best to run 17.37.

   Pocahontas came back again in the next two events, going 2nd and 5th in the 800m run and taking 2nd and 3rd place ahead of Kolson Kruse’s 4th place finish in the 200m dash. Kruse ran 24.20.

   After falling in the 400m hurdles, Jace Hanson got up to finish in 1:04.72 to get one point with his 8th place finish. By the start of the 1600m, PAC was only 11 points behind, when Cooper and Oscar needed to duplicate their 3200m finish from earlier in the night. Cooper ended up running away with the race winning in 4:47.19, but it was Oscar fighting off Pocahontas Area’s runners down the stretch to finish 2nd in the 4:54.79 to help the Jaguars extend their lead.

   The 4 x 100m relay team of Berglund, Scott, Kruse and Fisher then sealed the deal in the next race winning in a time of 45.33. The 4 x 400m then cruised to a 3:54.91 to finish 7th behind Zach Thompson, Cale VanSickle, Jace Hanson and Justin Loseke to finish the meet and head to the finish line to celebrate the team’s title.

   “We told the boys on the bus that we weren’t going to be handed the title, that things weren’t going to go our way and other teams would have some surprising finishes and that’s exactly what happened. As coaches, we were extremely proud of how the boys competed all night and didn’t give up when things didn’t go our way,” commented Coach Nuss. “This was a great team win. We have six seniors, Tre, Kaleb, Zach, Asa, Ty and Reed, that have been out since their senior year and this has been one of their goals, so it was exciting to see them reach that. Kolson and Aaron coming out this year and making the big strides they have made has been a bonus for the team.”

   “I also have to thank my coaching staff of Jim Duncan, Jeff Kruse and Mitch Murphy for all their help, knowledge and passion for this sport and this team. Coach Duncan and Coach Kruse get the credit for the field events suceess this season. Coach Murphy and Coach Kruse have also been instrumental in being able to step up and work with any of our other areas, relays, hurdles, distance sprints as well as their input of where to place our athletes to put the team in the best position is invaluable. Special shout out to Coach Kruse who has been my assistant the past 19 years. We’ve been so close to this goal so many times, but it was extra special to finally reach the top,” added Nuss.

   The Jaguars will finish their season with the class 2A state qualifying meet at Ridge View (Holstein) on Thursday, May 12th to determine the state qualifiers for the state track & field meet in Des Moines on May 19th, 20th and 21st.