Comet distance medley shines at ‘Blizzard Invite’

By John Burbridge sport@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — The Decorah Vikings Blizzard Co-ed Meet held on Friday wasn’t originally on the schedule.

If it were, those who scheduled it would have had the type of uncanny seasonal prescience that would put the folks at the Farmer Almanac to shame.

Before another blizzard was able to form, the makeshift meet gave six boys and three girls teams much-needed outdoor experience during what has been a white-washed spring.

Charles City was among the boys teams. And though the weather has been far from perfect, Comet senior Gavin Connell still has a perfect record in long-distance outdoor races.

After placing first in the 3,200-meter run with a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 6.21 seconds the week before at the Hudson Pirate Relays, Connell was the dominant winner in the 1,600 at Decorah as his time of 4:52.76 was nearly 6 1/2 seconds ahead of runner-up Keegan John of New Hampton.

Connell also anchored the Comets’ winning 1,600 medley relay that included John Sibuma, Hakeem Sharief and Nick Litterer that finished nearly 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Decorah with a time of 3:52.

Earlier in the 800 medley relay, Sibuma, Sharief, Marcus Cranshaw and Mason Deeter placed second (1:40.98) behind the New Hampton foursome of Braydon Fisher, Shane Burke, Josh Fenske and Keagan John (1:39.68).

Other relays scoring points for Charles City were the 4-by-100 (Sibuma, Cranshaw, Dylan Koresh and Jeremiah Chapman), which placed third with a time of 47.27 seconds; the 4-by-110 shuttle hurdle (Chapman, Elliott Sinnwell, Cole Reams and Koresh), which placed fourth with a time of 1:08.17; the 4-by-400 (Zack Graeser, Mason Deeter, Litterer and Connell), which placed fifth with a time of 3:50.78); and the 4-by-200 (De’Ontaye Hoefer, Tyreque Baker, Cameron Kakac and Cranshaw), which placed sixth with a time of 1:44.23.

The Comets, which also got a fourth-place performance by Deeter in the 800 (2:09.03), respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes by Koresh and Sinnwell in the 110 hurdles (17:09 and 17.73); respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes by Sharief and Chapman in the 200 (24.88 and 25.25); a fifth-place showing by Bronson Forsyth in the 3,200 (11:58.56); a sixth-place showing by Cole Reams in the 400 hurdles (1:02.64); and a sixth-place showing by Ryan Zuspan in the shot put (39 feet, 2.75 inches); placed fifth among the boys with 68 points.

The hosting Vikings, led by Jackson Varney who placed first in both the 100 and 200 dashes; and Andrew Kephart, who won both the 800 and 3,200 runs, placed first with 182 team points followed by New Hampton (143), Osage (90) and Waukon (75).