Sports : Vikings bring home 2016 State Track 3A Runner Up trophy

Victory lap: Vikings ride through town with their Class 3A Runner Up trophy and banner Saturday.

Viking track team members pose for one more photo after riding through town on the fire truck.

Tyler Bartz: Viking Senior was one of four Elite All-State athletes at 2016 State Track Meet.

Jim Struve stood on the bumper of a Vinton fire truck, looking toward the athletes who had just set new school records and returned home with a 2016 Iowa State Track Meet Runner Up trophy and banner.

But the Vinton-Shellsburg High School Activies and Atheletics Director did not start his remarks by praising the speed or athleticism of the students who had gathered around him.

Instead, Struve began by complimenting their character. Struve told the students he had received several compliments about the conduct and citizenship the VS athletes displayed while in Des Moines. He also praised them for their teamwork, as they demonstrated it and credited their teammates in media interviews.

Then he discussed their success on the track and the medals around their neck.

There was Tyler Bartz, who inspired comments from parents and fans who could hear his four silver medals jingling together as he walked around the school parking lot.

Bartz had finished second in the long jump on Friday, setting a school record of 21 feet, 10.25 inches – a few inches more than the record he had set earlier in the season.

Bartz earned his first silver medal on Thursday, when he finished a very close second in the 400M dash, with another school record. His time was 49.05 seconds, .03 seconds behind the winner.

Bartz earned two more silver medals in relay events on Saturday. His four medals gave him 20 of the Vikings’ 56 points and earned him a spot among the four members of the Elite All-State Team – the top four athletes among the hundreds in all four classes. Every Viking who received a 2nd place medal also earns and automatic spot on the All-State team, Struve told the crowd.

Along with Bartz, several other athletes were wearing one or more red, white and blue ribbons holding medals they had won at Drake Stadium.

Two other Viking seniors who won four medals were Nick Hyland and Joel Barnes. Hyland finished third in the 100M finals on Saturday; Barnes was third in the 400M on Thursday. Both ran in all three of the record-setting relay teams that finished 2nd.

Relay teams earn silver

The 4 X 100M team (Cole Garwood, Joel Barnes, Jordan Womochil and Hyland) came in second with a time or 42.83 seconds – another VS record. They were .16 second behind first-place Boone.

The 4 X 400M team, running the last event of the meet, also finished second. That team included Hyland, Bartz, Barnes and sophomore Blake Bohnsack. They ran a VS record time of 3:20.96, just .29 seconds from a gold medal.

On Friday, the the 4 X 200 team (Nick Hyland, Jordan Womochil, Joel Barnes and Bartz) finished second with a time of 1:28.98 – and yes, that is yet another school record. The team broke the 2009 record earlier this season.

Hyland takes 3rd in 100M

After qualifying in the 8th and final spot in the 100M preliminaries with a time of 11.4 seconds on Thursday, Hyland finished third in the 100M finals on Saturday, with a time of 11.16 – setting yet another V-S record.

Also running on Saturday was Viking Cole Tharp, who finished 16th in the 1600, with a time of 4:46.38.

Girls events

Bristi Gerber and Grace Horst, who were part of the VS record-setting 4 X 800 event on Thursday, ran in individual events on Saturday.

Gerber competed in the 800M, finishing 15th with a time of 2:24.30.

Horst ran in the 1500M, coming in 13th with a time of 4:57.47.

Earlier results

Also on Friday:

Blake Patterson also medaled for the Vikings, scoring 4 team points with his 5th-place finish in the shot put (50 feet, 7.75 inches). Tanner Bird finished in 10th place, with a toss of 48 feet, 2 inches. Bird also had a 50-foot toss that would have earned him a medal, but the judged ruled he had scratched on that throw.
The Distance Medley team finished in 11th place, with a time of 3:41.11. Its runners included Cole Garwood, Conner Miracle, Womochil and Cole Tharp.

'Congratulations'

During the pep rally on Wednesday, head Viking track coach Aric Chvala told the athletes he would not say congratulations.

He said it Saturday, in the school parking lot, during a very short speech from behind that fire truck

Struve also congratulated and praised Chvala and the rest of the coaching staff for coaching techniques and strategy, reminding the crowd that coaching track consists of much more than "run and turn left."

History of records and medals

The State Track Meet is not the first time for these athletes have earned state honors or set school records.

In 2012, Gerber and Horst set VS Middle School records, Gerber in the 400M and Horst in the 1500M. Gerber, Horst and Schmidt, along with Chloe Osborne, set a VSMS record in the 4 X 800 as well.

And in 2010, several of the Vikings who competed at State this year won medals at the Hershey Track meet as 11- or 12-year olds.

Tyler Bartz, Conner Miracle, Connor Bendull and Tanner Davis won the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 59.07 seconds. Also Aaron Henderson, Nick Hyland, Joel Barnes and Cole Garwood finished third in the boys’ 13-14 4x100 (59.32).