By: Matt Scher, matts@977thebolt.com
Des Moines, IA – The second 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 two events.
The Humboldt Boys’ distance medley team of Jackson Flaherty, Braden Dahl, Valley Davis, and Chase Flaherty placed 17th with a time of 3:37.88. Jackson Flaherty began the race for the quartet.
“I just wanted to get the stick to the next two, do my best at the 200 [meter]. I got to get it to the [800], the [400] and the [800] guys, because they do most of the race.”
Braden Dahl handled the second leg.
“I think it was a really good handoff. I mean, we had a really fast time. We PR’d from our last meet by two seconds, but overall, it’s a pretty good race.”
Valley Davis ran third in the race.
“My job is to get it to Chase [Flaherty] without losing any progress but hopefully gaining a little. And I think I did that, and we came out, it was two-second PR, and it looked good for us. Great way to end the season on that.”
Chase Flaherty was the anchor and spoke on his final leg.
“Just trying to stay with someone to pace behind them. A couple of good kids in there from other schools and they were really good, so just ran my best, PR’d by two seconds, so that’s good.”
The team beat their seed time of 3:39.37 with their season’s best at the state meet. The team was one spot back of their seed placement of 16th.
Humboldt’s Jack Guy placed 11th with a throw of 52′ 0.5″ in the 3A boys’ shot put.
“I want to thank coaches Ross Peterson and Derrick Elman. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Placing 11th isn’t exactly what I wanted, obviously, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of what I’ve thrown and the growth I had from freshman year to now. It’s unbelievable how far that Derrick Elman and Ross Peterson have pushed me to go.”
Guy improved 11 spots in his shot put placing from his junior year to his senior campaign, increasing his distance the past year by just shy of nine feet. Guy came into the event with a seed distance of 55′ 10″, the fourth best in the field.
Tomorrow’s docket for the final day of the state meet will see Humboldt’s sprint medley relay team compete in the finals for 3A. The team of Griffin Groat, Valley Davis, Jackson Flaherty, and Chase Flaherty were at-large qualifiers at 1:33.97. The team’s seed time is 14th out of 24 in the field.
Humboldt senior Brynn Malo is in the 800-meter run for the 3A girls’ and qualified as a district runner-up with a seed time of 2:31.39. Malo’s seed time is 24th out of 24 in the field.
The last race is the 3A Girls’ 1500-meter run. Aubry Fisher qualified as a district runner-up with a time of 5:07.04 seconds and has a seed time that is 23rd out of 24th in the field.
The Saturday morning session starts at 9 a.m.