The Grundy Center boys are taking aim at bigger goals than what they accomplished on a windy Thursday in Grundy Center.

The Spartan boys won the team title at a Class 2A state-qualifying meet at Spartan Stadium, and qualified a total of 13 entries in 12 events for next week’s state meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Several of the boys relays were ranked in the top five in Class 2A entering Thursday’s meet, including a top-seeded sprint medley team that comfortably won their state spot as Grant Newton, Brody Zinkula, Judd Jirovsky and Brayden Davie finished in 1:33.42. Newton, Zinkula and Jirovsky were each in four events that finished first or second on Thursday.

“There are no days off,” Newton said of the work the team’s put in. “There’s a lot of depth even with our younger guys, we’re upperclassman heavy right now but we’ve got a lot of good kids coming up and we’re all giving it 100 percent.”

In addition to the sprint medley, Grundy Center won district titles in the shuttle hurdle, distance medley, 4×200 and 4×400 relays. Individual golds went to Emerson Vokes in the 3,200 and Tiernan Vokes in the 110 high hurdles.

Tiernan was part of an exciting 1-2 Spartan finish in the 110 highs, a three-man race between Tiernan, Pete Lebo and Dike-New Hartford’s Jack Hoehns.

In a photo finish, Lebo leaned over the finish line just enough to clip Hoehns by one hundredth of a second, 15.76 to 15.77, and lock in his spot at the state meet.

“I hit one of the hurdles and it knocked me down a little bit,” Lebo said. “But I’ve been battling with Hoehns all year, so I’m like, ‘I’m not letting this kid beat me again,’ and I just had to lean as much as I could.”

Vokes won the race in 15.59, and returns to the Blue Oval in the event where he finished 22nd overall last year.

“I’m super excited to go with this guy right here,” Tiernan said of Lebo. “I had to beat him tonight, because I don’t think I’ll ever beat him again. This guy’s going to be a star. Getting to state this year is huge for him, but next year — watch out.

“We push each other every day in practice, and I think that was proven tonight.”

The two hurdlers were also on the winning shuttle hurdle relay along with Devin Hinders and Jacob Hoy.

The quartet credited much of their improvement to the work of assistant coach Nathan Schmadeke, who won a state title for the Spartans in the hurdles back in 2012 and will be inducted into the Grundy Center Sports Hall of Fame this summer.

“He comes out here and does a lot of the drills himself,” Hinders said. “He knows from experience what helped him and got him in the position he was in, which helps us get into that same position.”

Hinders is the only new addition to this quartet that ran at state last year, finishing 14th in the prelims.

“We’re just going to go all out and see what happens,” said Hoy, a senior. “We’ll work on our speed and form for this next week and just try to be as prepared as we can for the state meet.”

Emerson Vokes had a pair of entertaining bouts with Vinton-Shellsburg’s Alex Torres in the mile and two-mile races.

Vokes, who won a state title in cross country earlier this year, was in his domain in the 3,200 to pull away for a win in 9:59.04.

Torres came out on top in the 1,600, giving a late boost of speed to edge Vokes at the line by 27-hundredths of a second.

“That’s just fuel for the fire right there,” Vokes said. “That gives me a lot of motivation. But we battled today, we both ran great.”

Vokes has been easing himself back into running after injuring his quad in March, and perhaps made his biggest splash at the recent NICL Super Meet, where he said he felt like he was really “hitting the peak”, winning the 1,600 and 3,200 conference titles.

“I really felt fresh tonight,” Vokes said. “[Torres] got me in that last 100, but I feel like that kick wouldn’t have been there if we hadn’t gone out so slow, but that’s the race and I’m just looking forward to the next one.”

Vokes was also the anchor of the winning distance medley, with the baton first passing between Grant Newton, Brody Zinkula and Brayden Wallis.

While that particular quartet hasn’t run together this season, it only serves as an example of Grundy Center’s remarkable depth on the boys roster.

“It’s a situation where you can pick two 200 guys and a 400 guy from a jar, and they’re going to run fast,” Vokes said. “But having Wallis hand me that baton meant something. He was by my side the whole cross country season. He’s my best friend, and it was really fun to be able to compete with him both tonight and at state.”

Vokes was fourth in the 1,600 and 3,200 at state as a sophomore last year but has eyes on adding to the trophy case next week.

“Starting in eighth grade, I wasn’t having a great year at all, … then I got a taste of state as a freshman,” Vokes said. “Sophomore year, I’m there to compete, maybe I’m not on the top end of guys, but I’m up there. This year, I’ve got the state title in cross country on my back and, it’s just like a staircase, getting higher and higher.

“So next week, I’m competing for a state title. That’s the stage God’s put me on and I trust in His plan for me, and that things will work out, win or lose.”

State Qualifiers

200-meter dash	Judd Jirovsky
400-meter dash	Brayden Davie
1,600-meter run	Emerson Vokes
3,200-meter run	Emerson Vokes
110 hurdles	Tiernan Vokes Pete Lebo
400 hurdles	Tiernan Vokes
4×100 relay	Ryker Thoren Grant Newton Devin Hinders Pete Lebo
4×200 relay	Devin Hinders Grant Newton Brody Zinkula Judd Jirovsky
4×400 relay	Judd Jirovsky Brody Zinkula Brayden Wallis Brayden Davie
Sprint medley	Grant Newton Brody Zinkula Judd Jirovsky Brayden Davie
Distance medley	Grant Newton Brody Zinkula Brayden Wallis Emerson Vokes
Shuttle hurdle	Tiernan Vokes Devin Hinders Jacob Hoy Pete Lebo

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