By: Matt Scher, matts@977thebolt.com
Des Moines, IA – The first day of the 2026 Iowa High School Track and Field Championships at the Blue Oval at Drake Stadium in Des Moines saw Humboldt compete in four events.
The Humboldt boys’ shuttle hurdle relay team of Brady Roth, Griffin Groat, Luke DeWinter, and Valley Davis placed 15th with a time of 1:01.77 in the 3A prelims.
Roth, who led off the relay, made his debut at the State Meet, “At first I’m like, this is a lot of people but as soon as I went over that first hurdle, everything just went away and I just got in my rhythm and went.”
Groat is back for a second year and spoke on his second leg of the relay, “Last year I had the first-year jitters, but this year I felt like I was a little more dialed in. Brady kept us in a good spot, so just felt like, you know, as one of the upperclassmen, it’s my job to keep us in that spot there.”
DeWinter was third in the lineup of the relay, “I got out pretty good, first two hurdles, and I hit the third hurdle with my trail leg. Wasn’t too great after that, but not terrible overall.”
Davis was the anchor, “We were in great position. We were where we thought we were going to be, and all I needed to do was keep that position. I think we did a good job all in all. Clean hurdle race, we kept our spot, and ended honestly where we thought we should have.”
The team almost matched their seed time of 1:01.51, but did improve from 16th in the field to 15th.
Humboldt’s Fisher twins took 11th and 12th in the 3,000-meter run.
Avery Fisher was 11th at 10:39.82 and Aubry Fisher placed 12th at 10:44.82. Avery spoke after her 11th place finish.
“It feels really good. I think there was a lot of fast girls to pace myself off of and push me to go further than I typically would in our regular meets. I think being able to run with my sister, Aubry really helped me too because we can push each other.”
Aubry on placing 12th in the race.
“It was a little tricky to maneuver my way into a group. I got a side ache the last four laps, so it didn’t really feel good, but it was okay. It was fun.”
The sisters reveled in the opportunity to run the Blue Oval together for the first time.
“Grateful that we were able to run together one last time this season. It was really special,” Avery Fisher said postrace.
The duo beat their seed times of 11:04.51 for Aubry and 11:04.79 for Avery. Avery jumped two spots in her seed placing, with Aubry matching her seed placement coming into the race.
In the 200-meter dash prelims in Class 3A, Humboldt’s Jackson Flaherty placed 22nd with a time of 23.08 seconds.
“I thought it was fine, but I wanted to get into the 22s, but that’s not how it goes every time. I’m still fine with it. Good race.”
Flaherty was less than a second behind his seed time of 22.74, but did improve his seed placement two spots.
The Humboldt Girls 4×800-meter relay team took 23rd in Class 3A. The team of Brayleigh Angstrom, Aubry Fisher, Avery Fisher, and Brynn Malo placed 23rd with a time of 10:17.85.
Angstrom had the first leg of the race.
“It was a little tough. I think I just went out a little too fast, but otherwise it was good.”
Aubry Fisher ran the second leg of the relay.
“I was really excited. It was really fun to hear everyone cheering for us, and I felt very lucky that we made it. I was a little tired, but I kind of just used my motivation that this is our last relay altogether. I just pushed through, and it was really exciting and fun.”
Avery Fisher would maneuver the team up to 23rd in her leg of the relay.
“I was just trying to pace with the girl in front of me and then give it my all the last lap and just try to pace her and give as much room to Brynn as possible.”
Senior Brynn Malo was the anchor for her final time in the relay.
“I’m just so excited that we had a huge PR. That was awesome, but the 800 felt good. I got the baton, and I just had to run for my girls. They did so good for the first three legs, so I had to finish it, but it was so special to get to show my last relay with these girls. Wouldn’t ask for it any other way.”
The team beat their seed time of 10:22.09 with their season’s best at the State Meet. The team also matched their seed placement of 23rd.
Tomorrow’s docket for Humboldt will feature the distance medley relay team of Jackson Flaherty, Braden Dahl, Valley Davis, and Chase Flaherty. The team is at-large qualifiers with a time of 3:39.37 as a seed time that is 18th out of 24 in the field.
Humboldt’s Jack Guy will compete in the shot put. Guy, with a throw of 55′ 10″ at the District Meet. His seed distance is fourth out of 24 in the field going into the event.
The session will begin on Friday at 2:40 p.m.