PV boys win first state track title
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By Andrew Petersen | Sunday, May 18, 2008 |
DES MOINES — A third-place finish never felt so good — especially two days later.
Charlie Paul’s 9-minute, 34.55-second effort in the two-mile Thursday largely was overshadowed by teammate Devin Allbaugh’s win. But by 4 p.m. Saturday, the importance of Paul’s run was infinitely magnified.
Pleasant Valley finished with 77 team points to edge Iowa City West (74 points) for the Iowa Class 4A boys state track championship, and there was no finish more important than Paul’s.
Paul was on crutches at the start of the season with a stress fracture in his left femur. He returned to the track a month ago, but his rehab started well before.
“I can’t say enough about Charlie,” PV coach Erik Belby said. “As soon as he could, he was in the pool and on the bike every morning.”
Having waited so long to run instead of watch, Paul knew the importance of his one event. He wouldn’t finish first, but his job was clear.
“In the middle of that race, I’m thinking I had to pass as many people as I could to get us points,” he said.
All his teammates ran with the same mind-set, helping the Spartans to the school’s first boys track title.
They were helped when Iowa City West was disqualified in the 400-meter relay, its final race of the meet. The Trojans were fourth in the 400 relay qualifying, but a late handoff on the first turn knocked them out of contention.
In the event before West’s debacle, PV senior Blake Irwin won the 800 and 1,600. Allbaugh chipped in eight points with a second-place finish in the mile, but the contributions didn’t end there.
Drew Schradel took fifth in the 110 hurdles to round out Saturday’s placers.
“Everybody did all they could and more,” Belby said. “We had to be willing to give up some individual records. We took some risks, and some didn’t pay off, but most did.”
Lineups had to be set two weeks ago before district qualifying, and Belby had tough decisions. He had to spread out as many points as he could, and that placed more than a few Spartans outside their comfort zones.
Irwin ran the 400 on Thursday and finished seventh barely eligible for points, but two was better than none. Likewise, Allbaugh took sixth in the 800 Saturday for three more points.
PV also got a surprise fourth-place finish from the 800 relay team of Mike Hemming, Tim Martinez, Ellis Robinson and Bruce Clark.
“We said we were going to get it,” a jubilant Martinez shouted as he waved the championship banner after the meet.
Running Irwin and Allbaugh in the 1,600 was the safest of bets, but there was no guarantee of a 1-2 finish. Allbaugh led from the outset, and Irwin caught him on the final 100 meters.
“He’s so good, you want to beat him,” Irwin said of his teammate. “According to us, that was the perfect race.”
And seemingly the perfect meet.
Andrew Petersen can be contacted at (563) 383-2288 or apetersen@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qcvarsity.com.
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