DES MOINES — Battling adversity was key for Marshalltown’s 21st-place distance medley relay.
The squad of Evan Anderson, LaMar Johnson, Isacc Ceniceros and John Moellers took on the medley on Friday at the Iowa Co-Ed State Track and Field Championships. Besides just the distance and atmosphere, Anderson was also battling illness.
Despite not feeling the greatest, the sophomore provided a good 200-meter opening carry to Johnson. In turn, Johnson kept up the heat in bringing the stick to Ceniceros.
Ceniceros has been facing his own struggles but got the baton around the track for Moellers.
“I’ve been injured on and off throughout this whole season, I’ve only ran a few races leading into state,” he said.
Getting the stick to Moellers, who finished second in the Class 4A 3,200-meter run the night prior, the Bobcats continued on.
Moellers admitted his body didn’t feel too bad, but did change some of his strategy with the change in distance.
“All the other 800s I’ve ran this year, I really haven’t pushed very much at the start like I should’ve,” he said. “So the goal today was to be kind of pushy from the beginning.”
Being much more forceful, Moellers held the team solid, finishing sixth in their heat with a time of 3 minutes, 39.29 seconds.
The Bobcats finished ahead of Urbandale, Waterloo West and Council Bluffs Lewis Central.
Both Preston Johnson and Moellers return to the track on Saturday in the 1,600 finals.
