STATE TRACK: Sterling Silver
Ogg sizzles to school record in 1,600, places secondBy Troy Banning, DFJ Sports Editor
POSTED: May 19, 2008
Article Photos
Ogg, a Webster City senior, went stride for stride with Charles City senior phenom Isaac Wendland for much of Saturday's Class 3A 1,600-meter run at the 2008 state track and field meet inside Drake Stadium. But with 300 meters to go Wendland went to his bag of tricks for his standard and always impressive kick to pull away and win his fourth straight state 1,600 title.
Wendland crossed the finish line to a thunderous applause from the large crowd in 4 minutes 22.06 seconds. Ogg was right behind him in 4:23.48 — the fourth fastest 1,600 run in all classes, right behind Wendland and Pleasant Valley duo Blake Irwin and Devin Allbaugh in 4A — which broke the school record of 4:24.93 set by one of the members of the first family of Webster City boys' distance running, Nathan Moenck, in 2000.
"I feel really good about this race," Ogg, who also placed fourth in the 3,200 on Thursday, said. "I think I did everything right and I'm fine with it. I'll take second, right behind a four-time state champion."
Wendland became the first runner ever to win the 1,600 four times. It was the perfect bookend to his storied career, which began in 2005 when he surged in front of another great Lynx runner — Tony Fischels — in the final 200 meters to capture the gold.
"I've been running with Webster City kids all my life," Wendland, who will run collegiately at Liberty University, said. "Ogg is just a great runner."
Ogg held a slight lead over the field after each of the first three laps. But Wendland was always lurking just a step or two behind, and when he pushed the pace on the backstretch during the final lap Ogg went with him. But Wendland's sprinter speed, which also earned him three state titles in the 800, was simply too much to overcome.
"There was one guy in that race that was going after Isaac and it was Jesse," Webster City head coach Tony Bussan said. "What a special race it was because he made Isaac earn his fourth state title."
Winning a silver medal — the sixth state medal of his career — meant a great deal to Ogg, but so did attaining the school record.
"(The record) has been up there for eight years, so to beat it makes me feel great," he said. "I really wanted that record."
Ogg played a starring or supporting role in all three of Webster City's top eight finishes during the three day meet. The Lynx tallied 16 points and sat in 14th-place overall with Winterset.
Cedar Rapids Xavier rolled to the 3A team title with 100 1/2 points. North Central Conference champion Algona was fourth with 42.
Ben Lambert, a junior, joined Ogg in the 1,600, as he placed 19th in 4:45.08. Earlier on Saturday, Lambert competed in the 800 for a third straight year and finished 23rd in 2:06.74.
"To be a three-time state qualifier in the 800 is a great achievement," Bussan said. "Through 600 meters Ben ran the race we'd hoped he'd run. He just doesn't have that final 200 yet."
Webster City competed in three events on Friday, but walked away with no medals to show for its efforts.
Senior Jared Wilaby took 17th in the 110 high hurdles preliminaries (16.51 seconds) and failed to reach the finals. He was also involved in the long jump where he placed 20th with a best leap of 18 feet 6 1/2 inches.
"In the hurdles, Jared just got out a bit hot," Bussan said. "He came up on the second set of hurdles faster than he would have liked and it threw him off. In the long jump, Jared was a bonus anyway. He just wasn't able to pop anything like he did at districts."
Webster City's 1,600 medley relay — John Hill, Devan Berglund, Tanner Moen and Ethan Barnes — dealt with its own set of problems. An exchange problem between No. 2 runner Berglund and No. 3 runner Moen resulted in the baton hitting the surface of the blue oval and by the time Moen retrieved it the Lynx were well out of contention.
They finished 23rd in 3:56.25, well off their qualifying time of 3:39.89 that gave them the No. 4 seed entering the meet.
"It was disappointing, but those things happen," Bussan, who initially thought his medley was disqualified, said. "It's too bad for those kids not to get the opportunity to run like they're capable of. It would have been nice to be in that race to see what we could have done."
