Emerson Vokes found an opening and made a moment on Thursday at the state track and field meet in Des Moines.

The Grundy Center junior controlled the Class 2A 3,200-meter run for a comfortable win and a jubilant state championship celebration as the distance dynamo added to his impressive resume on the opening day of competition at Drake Stadium.

Vokes won the race in 9:27.66, ahead of NICL competitor Conall Sauser of Oelwein in 9:31.82; Mid-Prairie’s Emmett Swartzentruber was third in 9:33.35.

“In terms of race strategy, I wanted to take it from the gun if I could,” Vokes said. “But you’ve got kids going out fast so the other option was to take the race at 300 meters in, and then get that first mile in under 4:40 and start opening up that gap early.”

He led at every lap around the Blue Oval on Thursday, with a lead as large as eight seconds on the competition with two laps to go.

“It’s hard when you’re lonely out there,” Vokes said. “Lap seven was the hardest lap, it’s like ‘You’re almost there, you’ve just got to finish it,’ but it’s an awkward spot and I just had to gut it out and I knew I could take it if I was in the lead.”

The ending was sweet, sweet victory for Vokes, who worked through an early-season quad injury and made an immediate impact in the last two weeks of the season.

“I’ve been visualizing that last 100 meters since the end of state cross,” Vokes said. “And that last 200, where I could look up at the videoboard and really see that finish line, and the whole crowd there, it’s just mindblowing.

“That quad injury, you can get those negative thoughts when you look back on a really clean cross country season, maybe now I couldn’t be 100 percent confident. But it honestly wasn’t that big of a deal. I trusted God’s plan for everything, and two nights before and the night before today, I was fully confident that I’d be able to run the race I wanted to.”

Nathan Schmadeke was the last Grundy Center athlete to win a state track title in 110 high hurdles in 2012. Vokes also shares a special bond with Dana Schmidt, a three-time state track champion including the school’s last win in the 3,200 meter run when he ran 9:36.44 for the 2007 title in 2A.

Schmidt, a two-time NAIA All-American at Concordia University after his time as a Spartan, has come back to the program in recent years to guide the distance program on an upward trajectory that has garnered several state medals, now reaching its highest peak yet with Vokes.

“It’s surreal,” Vokes said of sharing a piece of Grundy Center history with Schmidt. “He’s been there since middle school, I’d see him and think ‘I want to be like him,’ and it’s just cool to see that all come together this year. He’s always there next to me, drove me down this morning, gets me there early enough to prepare – he’s my go-to guy and being able to take a picture with him after that, knowing he’s done the same thing, the journey we’ve been on and continue to take, it’s mindboggling. Really cool moment.”

Vokes will compete in the distance medley relay at 9:40 a.m. on Friday and the 1,600 at 2:52 p.m. on Saturday.

“My name’s out there, I know I’ll have a target on my back,” Vokes said. “But the goal’s the same, we’ll run together as a team, have some fun, but it’ll be hard, we’ll have to earn it. A lot of it comes from the strength God gives me, and doing what I love to do, and if He chooses to bless it, that’s cool, but it’s not really in my control.”

Brayden Davie was the other Spartan to walk away with a medal on Thursday, finishing eighth in the boys 400 in 50.02. The shuttle hurdle quartet of Tiernan Vokes, Devin Hinders, Jacob Hoy and Pete Lebo have set themselves up for success with a third-place time in the shuttle hurdle prelims on Thursday, running 59.95 for a new school record. Judd Jirovsky finished 17th in the 200-meter dash prelims.

Heeren blazes into 100-meter dash finals

Ava Heeren set a new personal best and will represent Grundy Center girls track and field in Saturday’s 100-meter dash finals after qualifying out of the prelims on Thursday.

Heeren finished the race in 12.51 to qualify out of the second of three heats for Saturday’s finals at approximately 12:47 p.m. on Saturday.

Fellow NICL runner Ella Buttjer of Aplington-Parkersburg is also into the finals with a 12.54 in sixth. Pella Christian’s Rachel Kacmarynski leads the way after a state record 11.98 clocking in the prelims.

Maddy Hendershot just missed out on a medal in the girls 400, running a new personal best of 59.15 seconds, which was five-hundredths shy of Clarinda’s Jerzee Knight in eighth.

Friday’s Grundy Center state track schedule

9 a.m. – Girls distance medley relay, finals
9:40 a.m. – Boys distance medley relay, finals

10:40 a.m. – Boys 110-meter high hurdles, prelims
Pete Lebo, Heat 1
Tiernan Vokes, Heat 3

11:30 a.m. – Girls high jump
Allison Koch

11:30 a.m. – Boys 4×200 relay, finals

Noon – Girls 400 hurdles, finals
Evelyn Geerdes, Heat 1

12:20 p.m. – Boys 400 hurdles, finals
Tiernan Vokes, Heat 1

12:40 p.m. – Girls 4×100 relay, prelims
1:00 p.m. – Boys 4×100 relay, prelims
1:20 p.m. – Girls 4×400 relay, prelims
2:10 p.m. – Boys 4×400 relay, prelims