Tuftee sets personal mark, wins Class 2A shot put title
DES MOINES — Davenport Assumption senior Ethan Tuftee knew he had a monster in him.
He unleashed it Thursday to win the Iowa Class 2A boys state shot put title with a throw of 56-feet-11½. The mark was Tuftee’s personal best by more than a foot.
“I had all the pop and the speed,” Tuftee said. “I was happy with (my early throws), but I kept hearing ‘They’re flat.’ So I took it up a little higher.
“I saw it hit and thought: ‘Man, I smashed that.’”
Last year, Tuftee finished runner-up with a throw of 55-9.
His mark Thursday broke the Assumption record of 56-4, held by Tim O’Neill, who coaches the Knights.
Tuftee threw 54-1 in the preliminaries before Monticello’s Jordan Williams led of the finals with a 54-6¾ effort.
Since tearing his right ACL during the football season, Tuftee was unable to move beyond the low 50s. Until Williams’ throw awoke him.
Signed to play football at Iowa State next season, Tuftee will throw for the Cyclones.
West Liberty senior Joe Heckman doesn’t have an athletic scholarship waiting. He didn’t even figure he’d run the Class 2A 3,200 relay Thursday.
But junior teammate Tomas Lira handed Heckman his spot. The new second leg didn’t disappoint, despite having sat out the conference and district meets with a pulled hamstring.
Heckman bolted from fifth to first on his second lap. Ty Nortman and Kasey Wiele followed in fine fashion to preserve the 8:00.89 win.
“Tomas is just a selfless person,” Heckman said. “I didn’t think there was going to be any way (we’d win this). Kasey came up huge.”
In the Class 1A 3,200 relay, Northeast made amends for last year’s runner-up finish.
The Rebels wavered between first and second throughout the race, but anchor Ryan Krogmann sealed the victory. He pulled out of a neck-and-neck lock with Northeast Hamilton’s Sean Inks with 200 meters remaining for a 8:09.99 finish.
“I still had a little kick left,” Krogmann said. “It’s a great night. Luckily I could stride it out in the end.”
Andrew Petersen can be contacted at (563) 383-2288 or apetersen@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qcvarsity.com.