ERIE – Heading into the boys track and field postseason, senior Ian Sundberg would have put all his chips on the table toward discus being his ticket to the IHSA Class 1A State Meet.

At the Class 1A Erie Sectional on Thursday, May 16, Sundberg’s discus came up a tad short. But, his shot put did not as his fourth-place heave of 47 feet, 9 inches met the qualifying mark to give him his first state qualification.

“I’ve been working at this for awhile. Mainly, I was trying to get to state in discus, but it went my want in shot,” said Sundberg, who attends LaMoille High School. “I was two or three inches off in discus to qualify for state. I’ve been lifting quite a bit with my friend Zach, who threw a PR in the discuss at the sectional (personal record of 123 feet). He really pushed me in both shot and disc, and I pushed him as hard as possible. We threw heavy and kept working on technique. I sped up my spin, which helped me this year.

“It means a lot to me to make it to state. I went when I was in seventh grade and had an amazing time down there. To go my senior year to say I qualified to state when I was in high school is amazing.

“This has been a goal of mine since sophomore year. My freshman year was about getting used to the heavier implements and it really shot off my sophomore year when I started winning meets and competing with the bigger schools. It felt amazing when I realized I made it. I saw my parents and all the guys around me I threw against were proud of me. We were in a pretty tough sectional with teams like Lena-Winslow and Ridgeview. I fist pumped. There were a lot of those going around. I shook a lot of hands of the throwers around me.”

Sundberg finished sixth in the discus with a throw of 140 feet, 8 inches.

Amboy boys track assistant coach Abel Sustaita, who is leaving Amboy after four years as a football and track coach to take a head football coaching job at West Carroll, couldn’t be happier with Sundberg, who he worked with for each of his four years of Clipper throwing.

“We went through ups and downs getting him ready for this moment. It’s super exciting. We planned it out since Day 1,” Sustaita said. “We were leaning toward discus, thinking it was going to be his ticket to state, but shot came around.

“I’m so excited for him. Not everyone gets the chance to compete at state and he has earned it. I think a contributing factor is his leadership. He stepped up as a leader. He’s helped me groom some of these new guys. They say if you can teach it, you know it. I think a lot of the teaching he’s helped me with in junior high and the underclassmen at Amboy High School, I think it has really improved his throwing.”

Amboy finished with 24.75 points to take 11^th in the Erie Sectional. Lena-Winslow won with 108 points, Morrison was second with 90.5 and Bureau Valley had 74 points for third.

Although another Clipper didn’t make it out both Sustaita and head coach Jeramey Wittenauer were pleased with the results.

Amboy finishers at sectional:

100-meter dash: Junior Josh McKendry, 11.65 for 13^th

200-meter dash: Junior Joel Billhorn, 23.88 for 10^th; Mckendry 23.89 for 11^th

400-meter dash: Billhorn, 52.86 for fourth

800-meter run:  Junior Kabe Daniels, 2:11.07 for sixth

1600-meter run: Freshman Jhett Cowser, 5:23.73 for 18th

3200-meter run: Freshman Henry Nichols, 11:17.85 for sixth

300-meter hurdles: Freshman Lucas Gascogine, 57.12 for 17^th

400-meter relay: Mckendry, Billhorn, junior Ed Fry, junior Caleb Yanos, 45.58, sixth place

3200-meter relay: Daniels, freshmen Jack Thomas, Gascogine, Cowser, 10:07.37 for ninth

Discus: Senior Zach Dunne, 37.51 for 11^th

High jump: Fry, 5-4 for seventh

Long jump: Billhorn, 19-5 for seventh

Triple jump: Daniels, 35-9 for 13th