Sophia Calpito wins long jump at Wartburg High School Indoor T&F Invitational

By John Burbridge 

sports@charlescitypress.com 

WAVERLY — Harbinger of Spring? 

This was more a harbinger of winter laying low to sneak in one last sucker punch. 

That would be the sight of track and field athletes warming up outside the Hoover Fieldhouse before Tuesday’s Wartburg College High School Indoor Invitational (No. 2 of 3 separate meets) clad in shorts and tank tops amid weather conditions seemingly pilfered from recent spring break locales. 

You knew what was soon coming after that. 

Eventually, the athletes had to come in from the warmth for their first taste of live competition (for most) this season. 

Charles City sophomore Sophia Calpito, coming off a prodigy-like freshman season where she was a state-qualifier and near-medalist in the girls long jump … an event she just learned in high school, won the girls LJ at Wartburg with a leap of 16 feet, 11 ¼ inches — more than 9 inches farther than her nearest competitor, 

Calpito also placed third in the girls 200-meter dash (27.98 seconds) with senior teammate Emerson Bohlen placing 10th (29.99). 

Comet senior Destiny Kolheim, coming off a wrestling season which crowned her the Class 1A 155-pound state champion, placed second in the girls 55-meter dash (7.71) a split-second behind Northwood-Kensett senior Macy Thorson (7.68). 

Kolheim also was the lead runner in the Comets’ 4-by-200 relay that placed sixth (1:58.2) with Bohlen, Joslyn Borman and Evelyn Mayhew taking the baton in order. 

Comet senior Leah Stewart, who also is coming off an extended wrestling postseason which concluded when she lost a 1-0 decision to one of Iowa’s all-time greats (Libby Dix of Mount Vernon) in the Class 1A 190-pound state title match, placed fifth in the girls shot put (35 feet, 7 ½ inches) with junior teammate Mayhew placing seventh (32 feet, 2 ¼ inches). 

Stewart set Comet team records in the girls shot put and discus last season. 

Other returning team record-setters for the Comets include senior John Bruening and junior Victor Ward, who were members of the Charles City’s 800 sprint medley team which established a new school standard last season. 

With those two teaming up with senior Terry Crooks and sophomore Patrick Bruening, the Comets placed fourth in the boys 4-by-200 relay (1:37.71) at the invite. 

Earlier in the boys 55-meter dash, John Bruening placed sixth (6.74) and Ward placed eighth (6.80). 

Comet senior Xander Graeser, who earned the distinction of being a four-time individual state qualifier in cross country and is a returning 4-by-400 relay state-qualifier, placed third in the boys 800-meter run (2:02.84) — just a second shy of his personal-record during the first meet of the season.

Charles City’s boys and girls teams have one more indoor meet scheduled ahead of the outdoor season at Luther College next Tuesday (March 25) for the final Northeast Iowa Conference Indoor Meet.