Clay injury halts Viking pursuit of four state golds

 DES MOINES (May 19) -- Gage Clay’s final turn on Drake Stadium’s famed blue oval did not feature the blazing speed that Iowa prep track fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the last three years.
 What it did include was one of the most heartfelt and well-deserved standing ovations to occur on the third and final day of the 2018 State Co-Ed Track and Field Championships.
 When Saturday began, it was highly conceivable that Clay - AHSTW’s senior sprinting star - could leave Des Moines with four gold medals around his neck. He had already anchored the Viking 4x200 relay to a Class 2A state title on Friday - their first relay crown in 33 years - and helped the Viking 4x100 clock the fastest 2A preliminary time. He also ran Thursday’s second-fastest prelim times in both the 100 and 200-meter dash - the latter of which he was the defending champ.
 But everything changed early Saturday afternoon in the middle of Clay’s 100 dash final. Running just slightly behind eventual champion Tanner Iske of West Liberty, Clay tensed up and grabbed for his right leg, grimmacing toward the finish line while still managing to place sixth out of eight finalists with a time of 11.21 seconds.
 Clay’s injury would not allow him to compete in his final two events - the 200 and 4x100 - but he walked the 200 in order to secure his eighth-place medal and the Vikings’ team point. As Clay slowly made his way down the straightaway, he received a rousing ovation from the fans and wore a smile on his face, waving to the crowd as he exited the track.
 “It felt great,” he said. “A little embarrassing at times, but that’s all right. I love the people of Iowa. They’re amazing... These are great people.”
 The Viking 4x100 quartet of Drake Partridge, R.J. Harris, Jake Martin and Korbin placed seventh in the final with a time of 44.66, bringing the team’s state medal count to four (in five events qualified) and its point total to 16, tied for 17th place in Class 2A.
 The Viking 4x200 relay team of Partridge, Jake Martin, Korbin Martin and Clay entered state with the fourth-best qualifying time in 2A - a school record 1:31.68 - then proceeded to improve by nearly two seconds during Friday’s timed finals to secure the program’s first relay state title since Avo-Ha won the same event in 1985.
 During Thursday’s prelims, Clay posted times of 21.97 in the 200 (second to PCM’s Noah Anderson) and 10.85 in the 100 (Iske earned the official top seed by a margin of 10.844 to 10.888). It marked the third straight year that Clay qualified for the finals of both events.
 Korbin Martin, a junior, also competed in the 200 dash and finished 22nd with a prelim time of 11.77.
 Then on Friday, Partridge, Martin, Martin and Clay set a 4x100 school record with a top-ranking prelim time of 43.29, clinching the Vikings’ fourth state medal.
 A third relay school record fell Saturday morning when the sprint medley team of R.J. Harris, Korbin Martin, Partridge and Jake Martin placed 14th in 1:36.87.