Boys track: Bulldogs finish third at Don Graves Invite

Apr. 2—DES MOINES — The Ottumwa High School boys track and field team finished third on Saturday at the Don Graves Classic, scoring 114 points while securing wins in three different events.

Chase Thompson secured his first win for the Bulldogs in the long jump. The junior was the only athlete to clear 19 feet in the competition at Williams Stadium, reaching 19-5.5 ultimately beating Des Moines North junior Kinnick Dutcher by 8.5 inches in the event.

Ottumwa also secured wins in a pair of relay races. The Bulldogs had the only team to break nine minutes in the 4x800 relay as Wualfret Morales, Logan Toloza, Lucas Peace and Jonathan Miller produced a time of 8:54.75 beating Fort Dodge by nearly 18 seconds.

Ottumwa also claimed a late relay win in the 4x100 as Koby Chanthalavanh, Brannon Flattery, Cameron Manary and Javen Rominger finished the race in 45.22 seconds beating Marshalltown by over a second in the race. The Bulldogs came within a point of Des Moines East, the host school of the meet, for second place.

Chanthalavanh, Rominger and Mason Gravett all secured top-five finishes for the Bulldogs in the 100-meter dash with Chanthalavanh finishing second in the sprint in 11.63 seconds, edging Rominger by 0.06 while Gravett placed fifth in 12.16. Manary also earned a silver medal in the shot put, finishing second with a throw of 43-4, while Charlie Morgan placed fifth with a throw of 42-4.

Ottumwa also picked up a second-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay, finishing in 1:14.37 coming within two seconds of Marshalltown for the win. The Bulldogs nearly claimed second place in the closing 4x400 relay race, finishing in 3:47.25 coming within a second of Marshalltown for the runner-up position that would have given Ottumwa the two points needed to surpass Des Moines East for second place overall in the meet.

Des Moines Lincoln claimed the team title on Saturday with 136 points. Damarius Park and Daris Davenport each secured a pair of gold medals with wins for the Railsplitters in the meet.

Ottumwa will be back in action at the Osky Relays on Thursday. The Bulldog boys and girls will both be competing at the Lacey Recreational Complex starting at 4:15 p.m.