Holmes claims metro titles, Peet finishes close seconds

Cedar Falls hosted the metro track meet on Saturday, May 13 for seventh and eighth grade boys and girls. Holmes, Peet, Carver, Hoover, Bunger, Central and Waterloo Christian all attend for the last meet of the season.

These schools have competed against each other all year, but the metro meet decided it all. The seventh grade boys from Holmes won easily, winning the meet by 80 points. The eighth grade boys from Holmes overcame some injuries but also won by 7 points. Peet was runner-up for both grades.

Both seventh and eighth grade teams were undefeated this year. The shuttle hurdle team broke a record of 1:09.12, which was set in 2012, and the 4×200 broke a record of 1:48.13 set in 1998. Individuals who broke records were Ryan Ostrich and Owen Ausborn. Ostrich set the 200 hurdle record with a time of 27.17, and Ausborn broke the 10 flight hurdle record with a time of 15.08.

Head Coach Dan List said he feels that his teams will have success in high school. “Our staff feels there is a good nucleus of talent heading up to the high school next year, and combine that with the group from Peet, there should be an outstanding group of tracksters. Plus, there is a lot of talent that are freshmen that are from last year’s Metro champions that are having a very successful year,” List said.

The older group was able to create leadership to help contribute to winning metro for the sixth time in a row. “We had a lot of leaders. In fact, this class as a whole worked very diligently in spite of the inclement weather we had this spring and the few days we actually could run on our clay and dirt track,” List said.

With the increase in competition this year, the coaches had more a responsibility to put the right kids in the right events. “We try and put the kids in positions and events that they can be successful at and also help the team accumulate points toward the team championship,” he said.

The eighth grade boys have won Metro four years in a row, and the seventh grade boys have won six years in a row. Both grades have won it nine out of the last 15 years.

Despite bad weather, they were able to still manage to work hard and get better indoors. “The surprise that we found were how many meets had bad weather. Either wind, rain, cold or a combination of them,” List said. “That was until Metro. That was an absolute perfect day for a meet.  The seventh grade group surprised us how talented they were. We knew we had some good athletes out  from participation in earlier sports, but they were very deep, and they worked very hard. A lot of that can be attributed to the work ethic of the eighth graders and the leadership and direction of Coach Peters and Coach Ward. It is very difficult to sort out who belongs in what event with 90+ kids out and only three coaches, but with the great attitude and work ethic of the kids, we ended up having a very successful year.”