IKM-M boys break 4x8 record, earn three state medals

 DES MOINES (May 16-18) -- The IKM-Manning boys’ 4x800 relay squad was all about breaking the school record last Thursday at the Co-Ed State Track Meet in Des Moines. Placing second in Class 1A was simply icing on the cake.
 Improving their season ‘PR’ by 17 seconds on a hot afternoon inside Drake Stadium, the IKM-M 4x8 quartet of Nathan Blankman, Adam Gruhn, Alex Lingle and Parker Behrens also destroyed the school record by about 10 seconds with a time of 8:13.39.
 Earlham earned the gold in 8:07.10 while the Wolves won a heated four-team chase for second as Behrens outlasted Hudson anchor Collin Luck by six-tenths of a second at the finish line. The same four runners finished 12th at last year’s state meet for IKM-Manning and entered this year’s event with the seventh-fastest qualifying time.
 “It’s amazing. I love this feeling,” said Blankman - one of two seniors on the relay along with Lingle. “I thought we were going to get (the record), but I didn’t realize it would be by this much. Everyone ran really well.”
 Blankman added, “We weren’t even caring about place. We just wanted the school record. Once we got second place it was like, ‘Wow, this is great.’”
 The gutty performance of the 4x800 kicked off an excellent three-day state meet for the Wolves, who medaled in three out of 10 qualified events and scored 14 points to tie for 17th place in the 1A team standings. Five IKM-Manning events improved on their qualifying rank while achieving a season-best relay time or individual personal-best.
 Stephen Grimm was joined on the 4x400 relay by Gruhn, Behrens and Lingle. After qualifying 18th for state, the Wolves ran six seconds faster in Friday’s prelims with a seventh-place season-best time of 3:29.28. They took eighth in the finals Saturday in 3:32.69.
 Also taking home a state medal was senior Grant Stracke, who placed fourth in the discus with a ‘PR’ throw of 149 feet, four inches on his third and final attempt of prelims.
 IKM-Manning sophomore Quentin Dreyer competed in two distance events at state, capped by Saturday’s 21st-place showing in the 1,600 (4:49.60). Dreyer also ran in Thursday’s 3,200, which was marred by confusion when officials sounded the bell with two laps to go instead of one. Dreyer unofficially placed 17th, according to coach Kyle Vanderhorst.
 In other individual events, Behrens improved his ‘PR’ in the 800 by three and a half seconds Saturday, finishing 10th in 2:02.48 and narrowly missing out on a medal. Lingle, competing in the 400-meter dash finals less than two hours after going all out in the 4x800, finished 23rd in 53.16. Wolves’ junior Colten Brandt, meanwhile, came in 23rd in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.50.
 The distance medley team of Grimm, Keaton Allmon, Gruhn and Blankman finished 15th on Friday with a season-best time of 3:45.52. The sprint medley team of Grimm, Amos Rasmussen, Raine Meneough and Lingle would have finished 15th as well but was disqualified for a handoff prior to the exchange zone on Saturday.