Senior Danny Petersen leaves the competition in his wake during the 800-meter sprint medley relay at the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Petersen and his relay teammates TJ Freeland, Michael Niebergall, and Logan Rosauer​​ were the conference champs for the event with a finish of 1:37.50. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Union girls and boys track crowned several conference champs and secured more than a dozen top eight finishes at the rainy, muddy first-annual North Iowa Cedar League (NICL) Conference ‘Mega Meet’ hosted by Hudson last Thursday, May 5, and featuring 16 area teams.

Championships for the Union girls included the 4X100-meter relay team with a time of 52.51 and the 400-meter shuttle hurdle relay team with a time of 1:12.23.

Additional top three finishes for the girls included Ava Mills who took third in the 100-meter hurdles, Amilia Condon who took third in the 1500-meter run, and Aubrey Gates who took third in high jump.

Gates – who qualified for state last year in high jump, finishing 10th – finished just behind Class 2A Aplington-Parkersburg’s Olyvia Bellows (1st) and Class 1A AGWSR’s Ava Olson (2nd). Bellows took 15th in state high jump last year.

Other point-earning finishes for the girls team included Lauren Youngblut in the 3000-meter run (4th), Brigitte Rohrer in shot put with a 34-foot-6.5-inch put (5th), Sydney Anton in the 100-meter hurdles (6th), Myah Pont in the 100-meter dash (7th), the 4X200-meter relay team (6th), and the 4X800-meter relay team (8th).

Junior Aubrey Gates competes in the high jump during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Gates finished third in the event, laying the groundwork for what will hopefully be another successful postseason which begins Thursday, May 12, in Grundy Center with the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Union girls finished fourth overall with 56 points – edging out fifth place finishers Aplington-Parkersburg by a half point – while the NICL Conference champion Denver had 127 points. Dike-New Hartford came in second with 114 points and Jesup came in third with 82 points.

On the boys side, strong relay performances helped propel Union to a fifth place finish overall. Two Union conference champions were crowned including the 800-meter sprint medley relay team with a finish of 1:37.50 and the 4X200-meter relay team with a time of 1:33.64.

Additional top three finishes for Union boys included the 4X100-meter relay team in third and the 4X400-meter relay team which also came in third.

Other point-earning finishes for the Knights boys included Grant Behrens in the high jump (tied Gladbrook-Reinbeck for 4th), Nolan Miehe in the 400-meter hurdles (4th), Brock Meyer in the 800-meter run (5th), Joren Fisher in the 400-meter dash (6th), Michael Niebergall in the 100-meter dash (8th), and Danny Petersen in the 200-meter dash (8th).

Union finished with 50.5 points total, while the NICL Conference champ Dike-New Hartford finished with 139 points, followed by Grundy Center in second (126 points), Jesup in third (104 points), and Denver in fourth (103 points).

-Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

State qualifier

The Union High School track team will next head to Grundy Center on Thursday, May 12, for the coed Class 2A State Qualifying Meet (site 3) where they’ll face many of the same teams they competed against in Hudson.

Events are set to begin at 4:00 p.m. at Spartan Stadium located at 1301 Twelfth Street in Grundy Center.

No more than 24 athletes from each state qualifier event will advance to the 2022 Iowa High School State Track & Field Championships currently set for May 19-21 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Last year Union sent several athletes to state including Asher Beermann in the 400-meter dash and Gates in the girls’ high jump. The boys’ 4X400-meter relay quartet also went to state in 2021 and included current Union athletes Danny Petersen, Joren Fisher, and Beermann.

Senior Joren Fisher competes in the long jump field event during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Fisher finished ninth in the event with a jump of 18-feet-5.75-inches. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Tickets for this year’s state qualifier go on sale Monday and must be purchased online through the IHSAA Tickets page: https://www.iahsaa.org/tickets/.

Sophomore Ava Mills competes in the long jump during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Mills took 12th in the field event while also taking bronze in the 100-meter hurdles. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

-Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Senior Grant Behrens competes in the high jump during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Behrens took fourth in the event, tying Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Logan Giesking. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Sophomore Lauren Youngblut competes in the 3000-meter run just behind Dike-New Hartford’s Izzy Houts during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Youngblut finished fourth in the event while Houts took third. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Senior Brock Meyer competes in the long jump field event during the NICL Conference Mega Meet on Thursday, May 5, in Hudson. Meyer finished 10th in the event with a jump of 18-feet-3.5-inches. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker