Des Moines, IA- It was a gorgeous final day at the Blue Oval for the 116th running of the Drake Relays, the multi-day event saw seven podium finishers from southeast Iowa, including a gold medal for Greyson Hartman of Washington and Kylee Hill of Burlington in their respective shot put events. Hartman nearly finished with another one by Saturday’s end.
Boys’ Discus
An event that was originally supposed to take place on Thursday, instead got moved to Saturday due to a line of storms that moved through central Iowa Thursday evening. The delay did not seem to affect Washington’s Hartman. After a 16th place toss his first go-around, Hartman earned a spot in the finals on his second throw, clearing 167 feet and 8 inches to sit in 5th place.
Finishing in the top 9 gave the Demon three more throw and he took advantage with his first one, getting a mark of 173 feet and 4 inches to take over the lead. However, Jackson Rhinart of Kennedy and Daxon Kiesau of Urbandale would pass him by as he scratched his final two throw.
Still, a bronze medal to accompany his victory in the shot put is not a bad way to finish out the Drake Relays for his junior campaign.
Girls’ 4×100 Meter Relay
The Mt. Pleasant squad of Ellie Freeman, Kynlee White, Taylor Williamson, and Delaney Anderson anchored southeast Iowa, as their time of 49.85 seconds was good enough for 30th place, which was 21spots and nearly a second faster than Washington’s Jaslyn Villa, Jaedyn Moore, Leighton Salazer, and Leighton Messinger.
For the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, Karina Bourha, Adia Scott, Niva Helmuth, and Ryan Scott will compete for Hillcrest Academy cruised to a 35th place time of 50.11 seconds.
Highland was the next of our local teams to finish, clocking a time of 51.05 seconds to claim 65th place. In Danville’s only appearance in Des Moines, the Bears had Macie Wagner, Violette Sowell, Alivia Bauer, and Alaina Gourley take 92nd place with a time of 52.52 seconds.
Boys’ 4×100 Meter Relay
New London’s Class 1A state championship defending squad of Brigham Porter, London Franklin, Cale Westerbeck, and Gavin Strawhacker led our local field with a mark of 43.21 seconds, which was good enough for 27th place.
In 36th place was Djamar Exantus, Alex Rees, Domonic Garcia, and Lamar Ceant of Columbus with a time of 43.43 seconds. Keokuk’s team of Kurt Joy, Jackson Bair, Antonio Crockett, and Ryan Bair was not far behind, grabbing 42nd place with a time of 43.49 seconds.
Aliyas and Alijah Brock along with Riley Smith and Nolan Glick, competing for Pekin, nabbed 45th place, clocking a time of 43.55 seconds, while West Burlington/Notre Dame’s Maddox Diewold, Kellan Porter, Eli Oleson, and Landry Haberichter took home 53rd place with a time of 43.71 seconds.
Will Luttenegger, Brock Spears, Kyler Crow, and Henry Luttenegger of Mediapolis finished in 59th place with a time of 43.80 seconds. Lastly, Fairfield’s Dayson Workman, Voss Richardson, Ethan Bisgard, and Spencer McCready claimed a 79th place time of 44.25 seconds.
Girls’ 1500-Meter Run
Why not add another event to the freshman’s slate? Fedler will be competing in the 1500-meter run. And to keep the patter, Fedler is one of only three freshmen that will be participating in the event. Fedler will compete at 4:28 pm on Saturday.
Boys’ 400-Meter Hurdles
In his third event at the Blue Oval, Van Buren County’s Lincoln Bainbridge went three-for-three with top ten finishes as he grabbed 8th place time of 53.27 seconds. The Warrior also took home a silver medal in the 800-meter run.
Girls’ 1500-Meter Run
As just one of three freshmen competing in the event, Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler was slotted as high as 5th place after the first 300-meters. But the more experience runners took advantage of a slower second lap as the Panther tumbled outside the top 10.
Nevertheless, Fedler kept her pace and even had a fast final 400 meters than her middle two laps to snatch 10th place with a time of 4 minutes and 39.85 seconds.
The freshman collected a 5th place finish in the 800-meter run, an 11th place mark in the 400-meter dash, and helped the Panther sprint medley team claim 8th place.
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KILJ would like to thank all of our sponsors for allowing us to cover the 116th Drake Relays. The 2026 Track and Field State Championships will be held May 21st through the 23rd with KILJ bringing results and recaps throughout the three-day event!