Bryce Stalder

It’s a simple last name, but Bryce Stalder, the Greene County boys’ track & field junior seems to have public address announcers and the people in charge of the long jump baffled when it comes to pronouncing it correctly. If he keeps jumping the way he did on Tuesday in Panora at the Kip Janvrin Coed Relays, a large continent of track & field fans in Iowa, as well as college coaches, and announcers, may become familiar with S-T-A-L-D-E-R, pronounced Stall-der, not Stadler, Stodler, Stodner, or another version of the simple last name.

The Ram went 22 feet, one-quarter inch on his first attempt Tuesday and handily won the competition. He fouled jumps two and three, and went 21′ 9 and a fraction on his final attempt. Both of those distances are the two best of his career, which showed promise in 2019 when he topped the 19 foot mark as a ninth grader. With the 2020 season being wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first four meets of his junior campaign have had the occasional figurative bump in the road, but he opened the outdoor campaign on March 29 in Jefferson leaping 21′ 3″ and now has two jumps well past that figure.

According to the online stat service Varsity Bound, Stalder sits ninth overall among Iowa high school boys’ long jumpers regardless of class. The only athlete in the top 10 list as of 4 p.m. Wednesday from a smaller school than Greene County is OABCIG star Cooper De Jean at 22′ 6″. The senior has committed to play football at the U. of Iowa and is also a standout in basketball, as well as track & field.

The Greene County boys and girls teams are scheduled to compete at Van Meter today, weather permitting. Stalder was also in three running events at Panora, so he may have a lighter load at Van Meter. If he does long jump, odds are more people will know how to pronounce his name.