By: Nathan Bloechl — nathanb@977thebolt.com
Des Moines, Iowa — You talk about fast? Wow.
Humboldt’s 3A boys’ 4x400m relay team cruised their way to a bronze medal finish at the state track and field championships, in the last event of the day, Saturday.
The team of Matt Miller, Jamison Heinz, Cale Hundertmark and Denny Pederson ran 3:23.80, which was a new personal record for the group.
“Whoa!” Matt Miller exclaimed as he saw the video board display Humboldt’s time. “That’s already a new PR, we dropped about two seconds from yesterday and seven seconds since districts” he explained.
Their group qualified sixth overall following a 3:25 prelims time.
That PR stood for about 20 hours.
The third place finish came on the heels of a disqualification by the original race champion Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
The Warriors won by a large margin, but according to meet officials were DQ’d either because of cutting too early, or a poor exchange.
Local media was not informed of the final ruling.
With SB-L disqualified, Atlantic then vaulted into first place, led by their outstanding hurdler Gratt Reed, Marion — anchored by their all-state jumper Blair Brooks — then secured second paving the way for Humboldt to grab third.
Humboldt’s time of 3:23.80 is the fastest time a Humboldt team was ran at state in the 4x400m relay since the Wildcats’ state championship team of Dylan Humburg, Nick Nielsen, Adam Vitzhum, and Tyler Nielsen.
That quartet ran 3:22.61 to capture gold in 2007.
Three of the four members of this season’s bronze medalist team will be back next year, with Pederson being the lone graduating senior.