Des Moines, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – For the 2024-2025 KICD Team of the Year for Track and Field, two area teams tied for the Class 2A State Championship, so we will recap their battle at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships from this spring.
Spirit Lake and Okoboji’s Tracks are only located 7 miles from each other, about a 15-minute trip through the heart of the Iowa Great Lakes. Both teams have had a lot of success when it comes to Cross Country as well as Track and Field. The expectation was both would be in the hunt for a trophy finish at the State Track and Field Championships in 2025.
The scoring started off for Spirit Lake on Thursday with Brandon Hughes placing 6th in the 3200m Run with a time of 9:37.53.
Hughes would be a part of the 4x800m Relay team along with Trautman, Hungerford, and Dirks which took 4th with a time of 8:01.66.
Okoboji entered the team standings battle in a big way, as Evan Osler ran 49.13 seconds in the 400m Dash to place 2nd. His teammate, Rhyker Wright was only .4 seconds behind and finished 4th.
The drama cranked up on Friday morning, When Okoboji won the 1600m Medley Relay with a time of 3:30.03. The Pioneer team of Steein, Netsch, Heimdal, and Osler would finish .85 seconds in front of their rivals Spirit Lake who took 2nd with a team of Stecker, Grau, Dirks, and Hungerford.
Spirit Lake responded with a time of 1:27.8 in the 4x200m Relay, placing 1st with a team of Stecker, Winkel, Higgins, and Stecker.
Okoboji reeled in another double-medal performance in the 400m Hurdles as Elijah Graves placed 4th with a time of 54.67 seconds and Jerron Heller was 5th at 55.06.
Saturday started out with Okoboji finishing 4th in the 800m Sprint Medley Relay. Stein, Netsch, Wright, and Heimdal combined for a time of 1:33.31.
There was another head-to-head battle in the 800m Run between the two schools, as Okoboji’s Evan Osler ran 1:52.65 to place 2nd, and Dietrich Dirks of Spirit Lake was 3rd with a time of 1:54.17. For those watching the team score though, Trigg Heimdal’s 5th place finish in that race was big for the Pioneers, clocking 1:54.5.
Spirit Lake finished 2nd in the 4x110m Shuttle Hurdle Relay with Hagedorn, Barthman, Stecker, and Winkel hitting a time of 58.49 seconds.
Spirit Lake began to pile on the team score in the 110m Hurdles when Cooper Winkel took 2nd with a time of 14.01 seconds, and Ethan Stecker clocked 14.09 to finish 3rd.
Dylan Stecker added to that with a 6th place finish in the 200m Dash, running 22.27.
Spirit Lake had a 2-point lead in the team standings going into the 4x100m Relay, an event Okoboji did not have a team in for the finals. Stecker, Winkel, Orpen, and Stecker went 42.19 seconds to finish 2nd, and give Spirit Lake a 10-point cushion on Okoboji going into the meets final event.
Okoboji had a team in the 4x400m Relay Finals, with no Spirit Lake, meaning that a first-place finish for the Pioneers would tie the team score. In one of the most exciting events of the weekend, Osler, Heimdal, and Graves had Okoboji neck and neck with Grundy Center for first place going into the final leg. Ryker Wright took the Batton for the Pioneers, up against Grundy Center’s Brayden Davie. Davie got the inside lane, and Wright stuck on his hip all the way around the track, meaning Wright technically ran a few meters longer than Davie did despite keeping up. Wright pulled away just enough at the line, giving Okoboji the State Championship in the 4x400m Relay, and a tie for the Class 2A State Track and Field Team Championship with Spirit Lake.
This has been another KICD Team of the Year Feature from Northwest Iowa Now.
