Some of the fastest times for sprint events at Class 1A state qualifying meets were recorded at Lawton, and Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn was one of the teams that ran them.

The Hawks didn't win any individual or sprint relay events during the meet on May 13, but they ran fast enough times to qualify in two individual events and two relays to compete at the state meet.

"For the most part, everything we thought had a shot wound up going [to state]," said Hawk coach Kyle Borchers. "I was definitely happy with what we did."

Ironically, junior Ethan Diehm, one of H-M-S's relay qualifiers, earned an automatic berth to state by winning a field event. Diehm claimed the long jump title with a leap of 19'6".

"He's been looking good all year," Borchers noted.

On the track, junior Kooper Ebel was runner-up in the 400-meter dash. His time of :51.33 eclipsed the previous H-M-S record in that event by 18-hundredths of a second, and was fast enough to qualify him to run at state.

Senior Connor Dodd will compete again at the state meet as a result of his times in the 100-meter dash (:11:40) and 200-meter dash (:23.43). He finished second and third, respectively, in those events.

Two fast times also resulted in trips to state for a pair of relay teams. Junior Ryan Borden, Diehm, Ebel and Dodd finished second in the 4x100 (:44.33), and junior Bradley Zamudio, Diehm, Borden and Ebel finished third in the sprint medley relay (1:39.34).

Borchers said the competition challenged the Hawks to raise their level of performance.

"It was definitely one of the fastest districts out there in terms of sprinting events," he noted.

H-M-S has high goals for the state meet in Des Moines.

"We've got a bunch of events where we have a chance to score points and earn medals down there," Borchers said.

Other place finishers in running events were Aiden Espeland, third, 800-meter run (2:11.57); Borden, fourth, 100 meter dash (:11.64); George Vargas, sixth (12:28.37) and Aiden Jensen, seventh (13:00.11), 3200-meter run. Zamudio placed seventh in the 110-meter hurdles (:17.31) and eighth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:03.81).

Field event place-finishers were Adam Schierholz, sixth, discus throw (131'5"), and Jesse Garcia, seventh, shot put (39'6").

Borden, Diehm, Ebel and Dodd placed fourth in the 4x200 relay (1:36.18). Finishing seventh were Tyson Tessum, Zamudio, Brenton Thomas and Bryce Dodge in the distance medley (4:08.12), and Espeland, Ryan Grotluschen, Thomas and Tessum in the 4x400 (3:58.66). Grotluschen, Aiden Bush, Blaine Finster and Damian Dodge placed eighth in the 4x800 (10:15.71).

MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS

Ethan Diehm was the winner in the long jump at the state qualifying meet. His best distance was measured at 19'6".

Gehlen Catholic won the boys' title with 122 points, 11 points ahead of MMCRU. Lawton-Bronson finished third with 92 points and H-M-S was fourth with 81. Other team scores were South O'Brien 74, George-Little Rock 70, Westwood 51, Akron-Westfield 50, Siouxland Christian 29, Trinity Christian 25, Harris-Lake Park 21, Remsen St. Mary's 8, River Valley and Whiting 0.