Boys Track Ends Season With “A Bright Future” Ahead

As the season drew to a close at the end of the state meet, with City High taking 12th place among the other 48 4A teams in contention, the Little Hawks are starting to look past the long off-season to the future.

At state, The Little Hawks placed within the top 25% of teams, which, according to boys head track coach Tom Carey, is evidence of a great effort.

“It’s an extremely volatile meet, to give an example, in the 11 years I’ve been head coach, only two teams have finished in the top twenty every year, and that’s City High and Linn-Mar,” Carey said. “It’s hard to know which place you’ll take.”

Kole Butler ‘14, a graduating varsity hurdler and sprinter seconds this idea.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, I just went in and competed hard and let the rest take care of itself,” Butler said. “There were records being broken left and right.”

Numerous City High runners either broke school records or personal records at the meet:

Jake Leohr ‘14, threw for 143’ 10”, his 2nd farthest all-time throw to place 12th – 10 places ahead of his seeding. He was less than two feet from making finals at state.

Kole Butler’s time in the high hurdles is now the top 10th time in City High history.

Bryson Runge ‘15 now has the 9th all-time 200 meter time at City High and placed 3rd in both in the 100 and 200 meter dashes at state, as well scoring 12 points alone for his team.

Ryan Dorman’s (‘14) performance in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:55.02 earned him 3rd place all-time at City High behind Joey Woody and Jeremy Mims.

The 4×100 team of Chuck Riley ‘15, Cory Lindsey ‘14, Kole Butler, and Bryson Runge ran the 10th fastest time in school history and took 4th place at state.

The 4 x 800 team of Ryan Dorman, Tom McDowell ‘16, Jens Dancer ‘15, and Rasheem Shivers ‘14 made a 13 second PR of 7:54, the 6th best time in City High history.

The Medley team of Kole Butler, Cory Lindsey, Ryan Dorman, and Rasheem Shivers ran their way to 17th all-time at City High taking 9th at the state meet, beating out beat two previous teams that had Tim Dwight at the 400 and a state champion on the 800 leg.

What does this mean for the team overall? For one, it’s reassurance for players and coaches alike to have placed highly amid the competition.

“I think overall we competed really hard, but the talent at this meet was incredible from all schools,” Butler said. “I don’t know anything we could’ve done better.”

Carey is proud of all of the athletes throughout the 2014 season and at the state meet.

“I tell the guys all the time, you give what you have, everything you have, and we’ll take whatever happens in terms of points, places, times, and distances,” Carey said.

At the other end of the finish of the state meet is that City’s senior varsity class will be leaving the team and returning varsity members and advancing underclassmen will fill in for the 2015 season:

Bryson Runge will be returning for the 2015 season, backed by Chuck Riley for the sprinters.

Ryan Dorman and Rasheem Shivers, two former state champions will be leaving the team for next year, with McDowell and Dancer returning for another season on the 4×800 and distance fronts.

“I think Jens and Tom and that whole event group is going to rise up,” Carey said. “I think we’ll really have a nice nucleus of hurdlers and 400 meter guys in the future with some young guys that really finished the season well.”

Kevin Buell ‘14, Cory Lindsey, and Kole Butler are all leaving City’s shuttle hurdle team. Sy Butler ‘16, however, Kole’s younger brother and the 4th member of the state competing shuttle hurdle team, will continue to race on, joined by Shamari Scott ’16 and Harris Seabold ‘16.

Jake Leohr leaves Eric McDonald ‘15, Ben Sindt ‘15 and Micah Martin ‘16 leading the throwers.

“Micah Martin really had a good finish to his season, especially in the discus and a good start in the shot, and there are some other young throwers that will continue to grow,” Carey said.

Perhaps the most dramatic change for the team will be coach Carey’s resignation.

“I love it, I enjoy it greatly, but it’s basically like I’ve got two full time jobs, [Carey is also a City High guidance counselor] I really have mixed feelings about it,” Carey said.

After an 11 year reign as boys head track coach at City, Carey will not remove himself from City High boys track entirely by any means.

“Over time I probably want to get back into some element of it, not head coach again, that only comes around once in your life at city high it’s an elite place, but I loved it and I loved to get to know all the kids,” Carey finished.

“[Transitioning] is kind of the nature of track and field, every year is different.”

The boys will have an official season wrap up on June 1st where awards will be distributed.

Thanks to Mari Butler for the photo