Ridge View's Heilman Wins Long Jump at Audubon Invitational

Derek Heilman left 21 feet, 3 inches behind him at the Audubon Invitational on Tuesday and won the long jump outright, giving Ridge View a meet result that doubles as one of the more significant opening-weekend field marks in the state.

That distance carries weight beyond the first-place finish. In Iowa, the route to Drake Stadium runs through a sectional qualifier where an event winner earns an automatic state berth and no one else is guaranteed to follow. Hitting 21-plus feet on March 31, before most programs have fully settled into outdoor routines, puts Heilman in the range of marks that decide those late-May outcomes. As a season barometer, the number reads strong.

The depth behind Heilman turned Audubon into something more than a one-athlete showing. Carter Todd cleared 5 feet, 10 inches in the high jump for second place. In the discus, Karsen Jensen and Jonathan Friedrichsen swept the second and third spots with throws of 125 feet, 3 inches and 120-9, respectively, landing two Ridge View jerseys on the same podium in the same pit. The 4x800 relay ran 9:03.5 to finish third, and Odin Hanson posted 11:08.61 in the 3,200-meter run for fourth, with Max Breyfogle adding seventh at 11:43.81. Zach Kolpin finished sixth in the 400 at 54.65 seconds.

The Audubon Invitational carried no team point totals, which means Tuesday's results function as individual benchmarks rather than a scoreboard: distances to train against, exchanges to clean up, and technical adjustments to make before the competition tightens. For Ridge View, the field event cluster stands out as the clearest signal from the opener. Heilman in the long jump, Todd in the high jump, and Jensen and Friedrichsen both placing in the discus suggests the program's throwing and jumping units arrived fit for the outdoor calendar.

Heilman's 21'3" is the number Ridge View fans will keep checking against the rest of the season. If that mark is his floor and not his ceiling, the conversations in late May will center on Drake Stadium.