Xavier Boys Track

Gerke picks Coe for wrestling

Josh Gerke has been a prime example of perpetual motion during his senior year at Xavier High School.

He helped the Xavier football team reach the semifinals of the Class 3A playoffs in November, took three days off and promptly joined the wrestling team.

He placed third at the Class 3A state wrestling tournament at 145 pounds in Feburary, took another three days off and began working with  the boys track team.

Now he's gunning for a state title in the 800-meter run at the Class 3A state meet in May, but after that he's decided to settle down and focus on just one sport in college.

It will be wrestling. And it will be for the Kohawks at Coe.

"I committed to Coe College on Saturday, so I'm really excited about  that," he said Tuesday after running in the 19th Annual Xavier Invitational track meet. "I've never gotten to focus on one sport, so  I want to see what I can do."

He's not ready to turn the page on his running career just yet, however. He placed fifth in the 800 at state last year in 1:58.07 and feels he's on track for a good performance at state next month.

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Cuevas paces Saints at Sweet Initational

DUBUQUE - Kaiden Cuevas of Xavier placed second in the 400 meter dash  in 52.9 seconds Thursday at the Harold Sweet Invitational in Dubuque.

The Saints also finished second in the 4x800 relay in 8:26.47 with  Josh Gerke, Nathan Skala, Beau Van Berkum and Grayson Waither sharing the baton.

Xavier placed 11th out of 16 teams in the standings. The Kennedy Cougars won the championship with 119 points.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kennedy 119, 2. Western Dubuque 98, 3. Dubuque Senior 71, 4.  Washington 69.5, 5. Marion 63, 6. Dubuque Wahlert 56.5, 7. Hempstead  53.5, 8. (tie) Mid-Prairie 35, Northeast Goose Lake 35, 10. Cascade  33, 11. Xavier 32, 12. Davenport North 24.5, 13. Camanche 16, 14.  Beckman 14, 15. Jefferson 12, 16. Burlington 8.

Volk takes shot put at Hawkins Relays

Josh Volk of Xavier won the shot put Tuesday with a heave of 49 feet,  2 inches at the Hawkins Relays at Prairie High School.

The Saints finished second in the 3200 relay and placed third in the  sprint medley relay.

Joe Scieszinski finished third in the 3200 meter run in 10:27.03 for Xavier.

Prairie won the team championship. Xavier placed sixth out of eight teams.

Saints run 7th at Dunsworth Invitational

DAVENPORT - Ethan Brown and George Durin led the Xavier boys track  team to a seventh-place finish at the Dunsworth Invitational at Brady Street Stadium in Davenport Thursday.

Brown placed second in the shot put at 45 feet, 9 inches and Durin finished second in the 110 hurdles in 16.12 seconds. The Saints also  placed second in the 3200 relay in 8:45.99.

Jax Junge finished third in the 200 meter dash (23.47) and the Saints finished third in the 1600 relay (3:37.21).

Bettendorf won the meet with 135 points.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Bettendorf 135, 2. Dubuque Senior 107, 3. Clinton 96, 4. Central  DeWitt 79, 5. Davenport West 77, 6. Davenport Central 58, 7. Xavier  50, 8. North Scott 48, 9. Muscatine 38, 10. Davenport North 32, 11.  Davenport Assumption 13, 12. Burlington 7.