Grundy Center boys, BCLUW girls win NICL West track titles

ELDORA – The trophy case for Grundy Center boys track and field got a lot bigger this season.
 
The Spartans added another one last Thursday, earning the NICL West team title at Eldora.
 
Grundy Center scored 170 points and the BCLUW boys were the runners-up with 136 points in a meet dominated by the Spartans and Comets, two 1A teams expected to score considerable points at the state meet later this month. AGWSR scored 49 points in sixth place and the Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys got 13 points for seventh place.
 
The day belonged to the Spartans this time around, a victory that GC head coach Chris Conger has had in his sights in each of the four seasons he's been head coach.
  
"We've had teams that can win track meets but just hadn't gotten [the league title] done," Conger said, "mostly at the hands of pretty good teams in our conference. The stars aligned and we had some good events, some kids stepped up in spots and we came together at the right time."
 
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The BCLUW girls track and field team had just enough depth in the right places to finish a nose ahead of two other strong girls teams in the NICL West race.
  
The Comets scored 119 points, three ahead of Grundy Center and only 3.5 ahead of West Marshall in third. AGWSR finished fifth with 71 points and G-R took seventh with four points.
  
"After the first couple of meets this season, we realized we could put something together," BCLUW girls coach Dustin Grothoff said. "It helped us out to double up in a lot of individual events. … With very little kids out this year, it took everybody. We even ran a 4x8 that we never ran before just to get points."
  
Grothoff was named NICL West girls Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm.
 
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