Mason Willey takes part in Iowa all-star track & field

2015 Clarion-Goldfield-Dows graduate Mason Willey, who brought home two medals from state track in May, recently participated in the annual Senior All-Star Spotlight Track & Field Meet held at the University of Dubuque. High school athletes from all over Iowa, along with neighboring states Illinois and Wisconsin, are invited to this prestigious event that showcases the best high school talent in the sport. The athletes are first nominated by their coaches or fans, and the final roster is then determined by the Team Iowa coaches. There were 50 female, and 45 male, athletes from Iowa that made the roster. This was the 17th annual event, with the number of states involved varying slightly over those years.

“I was surprised and excited to be chosen,” said Willey in describing his reaction. “I’m proud to have been a part of it.” Willey competed in one of his individual specialties, the long jump, and took 13th out of 18 with a 21’ 1.5” best mark. He finished ahead of one athlete from Team Wisconsin and two others from Team Illinois. He also ran a leg in two relays, with the highlight being in the sprint medley were they set a new meet record of 3:26.41 to win it for Team Iowa. The 4x100 relay he was in finished fifth in 44.46.

“I think it went pretty well for me,” said Willey in retrospect. “It was fun to meet all the people and watch all of those athletes perform.”

He felt like, when it comes to the competition, there wasn’t much difference between the Iowa athletes and from the other two states. “Both those states have some different events we don’t have in Iowa, like the pole vault or the triple jump,” said Willey. He also admits he made some new friends while there. “I will be keeping in touch with them,” said Willey. “I thought it went real well for me.”