Ed. Note: Easy bump. Excellent work, Correspondent Give Eddie A Beer. I think we owe you, uh, a beer. -- Ross

*This was the headline a few years back when Drew Tate participated in the infamous hay bale tossing competition. This year's competition once again saw Iowa Hawkeyes football notables trying their hand at the town's 41st annual Beef Days celebration. Matt Kroul returned to defend his 2011 victory, in which he set the record with a toss of 14'6''. Current MLB James Morris was the challenger, and each broke last year's record by 6", tossing bales 15' vertically. Kroul was the winner, setting a new record at 15'6'', the highest pin setting on their beam poles (I have no idea what those things are called, but I'm going with beam poles).

I was in attendance with my wife, whose shins were struck by one of Morris's hay bales. It turns out that when you throw a hay bale 15 feet in the air, it tends to roll a decent distance after it lands. After the jump are a few of the better photos we took. There is also a good local news video recap here, and additional photos here.

James Morris. Everyone that had any success at all used the shot put style toss.

Matt Kroul. Both Morris and Kroul's tosses looked pretty effortless until the last few feet up the beam poles.

Getting a little higher up...

On the left pole you can see a small flag on one of the upper pins. That was the old record. Kroul tossed over the very top pin on Friday night for the new record of 15'6".

Matt Kroul, throwing a bale so hard that it changes shape and nearly combusts. This throw would've been for 16', but he did not make it.

1st place Kroul in yellow, 2nd place Morris in the middle. Drew Tate is injured, and could not participate.