The Little Hawks are competing at the Drake Relays, the girls in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 800 SMR, and high jump. Boys compete in the 4x100, and 4x200 relays.
April 24, 2015
Drake Relays (presented by HyVee) coverage.
It’s a fairly cold and rainy morning as the Little Hawks compete at Drake. The sun has been peeking out periodically, but otherwise it’s a fairly constant 55 degrees out.
As the HyVee Night Relays have begun, and the sun sets behind cloud cover, international athletes begin to compete. The 4×200 and 4×100 relays are over, and all that’s left is the girls’ 4×400.
UPDATE: Coverage ends for the night as the girls’ 4×400 ends in 5th place.
Sports Editor Dominic Balestrieri-Fox is reporting live from the press box, as Elise Goodvin mans the operation from the ground, and takes photos.
The LH girls have had the only events so far, in the 800 SMR and the High Jump. Bryson Runge was unable to participate today due to injury.
Upcoming Events:
Girls
Boys
Rose Gamamou ’16 competes in the high jump at Drake.
Rose Gamamou took 13th place in the High Jump in a five way tie. Her highest jump was 5’00, six inches short of the 1st place jump by Kelli DeGeorge from Pleasant Valley.
Juma Burnett ’16 starts off the boys’ 4×200.
Juma Burnett ’16, James Martinez-Burney ’16, Rajay Rodney ’17, and Jason Jones ’16 placed seventh in their section.
The Little Hawk boys finished seventh in their heat, and 22nd overall with a time of 1:33.49.
Cedar Falls took first overall with a time 1:29.74.
Burnett started the race off, handing off to Martinez-Burney.
The boys were in last until the third leg, when Rodney caught up to his competition from Muscatine (Muscatine placed 8th, with a time of 1:34.86, 23 overall). Jones anchored, wedging Muscatine out for the seventh place spot.
Martinez-Burney is happy with the effort that his teammates put forth.
“We ran hard, and performed well, just not as well as we had hoped,” he said.
Jones comments on the injury-caused absence of his teammate Bryson Runge. Runge is a former Drake relays champion and one of City High’s fastest sprinters.
“We are feeling sorry, and wish he was here with us to run, or be around us,” Jones said.
Teammate Shane Bracko ’15 shares the sentiment,
This kid deserves his Drake flag… I’m ashamed we can’t accompany him at the same level. Get better @BrysonTheillest pic.twitter.com/6ExJ5eZCkj
— Shane Bracko (@ShaneBracko) April 24, 2015
Maddie DePrenger ’16 preparing to race in the 4×100. DePrenger ran the third leg of the SMR.
The girls finish in 6th, with a time of 1:48.94. Boone takes 1st with a time of 1:46.43.
Despite winning their section, and maintaining the time-to-beat for the first two, the Little Hawk girl’s SMR team ultimately placed 6th in the race.
The team started off with Delaney Jonson ’16, went to Rose Gamamou ’16, then to Maddie DePrenger ’16. Sarah Plock ’15, last year’s Drake 400m hurdle champion and 17 time medal winner at Drake/State, anchored the race, passing her competition from Davenport Assumption (2nd, 1:49.15).
The Little Hawks held 1st through the second section, although the fast third heat with three 1:46 times and two faster 1:48’s did them in.
“I think we ran awesome! For being in the first heat and still getting 6th overall was amazing! All four legs ran great,” Plock said.
Sarah Plock anchors the LH girls sprint med, girls take 1st in section 1, 1:48
— Little Hawk Sports (@LittleHawkSport) April 24, 2015
Sara Blowers competes with Prairie (21st place, 1:49.58) in the last leg of the 4×200
The Little Hawks place last in the 4×200, after a fourth place finish last year.
The Little Hawks placed eighth in their heat of the 4×200 relay, and 1:58pm results have City sitting at 24th (last) overall with a time of 150.37.
The first place finisher was Cedar Rapids Jefferson, with a time of 1:40.96.
Maddie DePrenger ’16 started off the race, handed off to Bryn Hanrahan ’17, then to Sydney DePrenger ’17, then to Sara Blowers ’15 for the anchor leg
The girls maintained seventh place until the last leg, when Blowers just barely fell behind CR Prairie. Track conditions were wet during the race.
“I’ve been dealing with some ankle issues, but it was nice to get out and run again. As a whole I thought our hand-offs were good, and our team battled well with the weather,” Blowers said.
Rose Gamamou ’16 anchors the girls 4×100 at Drake. The team placed 6th in their section.
The LH girls team of Delaney Johnson ’16, Sarah Plock ’16, Bryn Hanrahan ’17, and Rose Gamamou ’16 took 6th.
A strong effort in the fourth leg of the girls’ 4×100 placed the Little Hawks 6th in their heat, and 20th overall in the 4×100 prelims.
The team finished with a time of 50.97, 2.67 seconds behind the overall winner, Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Delaney Johnson started the race off in lane two, handing off to Sarah Plock, then to Bryn Hanrahan, who gained ground for the Little Hawks on the back stretch, and finally to Rose Gamamou for the strong anchor leg.
The team will not be moving on to finals, which is restricted to the top 8 positions.
Out of 80 teams, not one was disqualified.
Juma Burnett ’16 anchored the 4×100 started by Chuck Riley ’15, with James Martinez-Burney ’16 and Rajay Rodney ’17 running the 3rd and 4th legs respectively.
The strong, 1st place receiving 4×100 team seen at the Forwald Coleman Relays returned tonight to place 5th in their section and 15th overall, despite the loss of relay member Bryson Runge to injury.
The team finished with a time of 43.86, 1.07 seconds behind W. Burlington/ND the team in first.
The cut for finals was 43.46, leaving the Little Hawks out of the final race tomorrow.
“You’ve got a lot of young, inexperienced athletes participating, and it was a great learning experience. We competed hard, this was a great opportunity for them to be on the big stage, and we’re excited for our opportunities here for the future,” head coach Mike Moore said.
The Little Hawk girls take fifth place in the 4×400, their last meet on Friday.
Sarah Plock tried to give the Little Hawks a shot at third, but they ultimately finished fifth with a time of 4:08.02, 17th overall.
The Little Hawks started off with Fanta Traore ’16, who gained on IC West in the back stretch, but dropped to fifth place as she handed off to Rose Gamamou ’16.
Gamamou came across the line in sixth, handing off to Sarah Plock ’15 for the third leg.
Plock gained considerable ground, moving the Little Hawks up to a close fourth.
Sydney DePrenger anchored, keeping the lead over Solon and Ankeny Centennial, but dropping behind Bettendorf.
Davenport Assumption won the race with a time of 3:58.02
Little Hawks finish in 15th place with a time of 10:02.60. Assumption takes 1st with a time of 9:20.99
Molly Shepard ran her last race on the blue oval today, running with a younger group along side her. They finished today with a time of 10:02.60 in 15th place.
“None of us were very happy with how we did both individually and as a team,” said Shepard ’15 “but Drake isn’t the end of the season, so we are going to keep working and improving so we do better at state.”
The Little Hawks started off with Mary Arch ’16, who started out strong and was in 5th at the end of the first lap, but dropped to 10th place as she handed off to Kelsey Brands ’18.
Brands crossed the line in 14th place, handing off to Molly Shepard ’15 for the third leg.
Shepard gained some ground, moving the Little Hawks up to 12th place.
Hailey Verdick ’16 anchored, keeping the lead over North Linn, but ended up dropping behind Urbandale.
Davenport Assumption won the race with a time of 9:20.99
Videos and photos from Elise Goodvin and Dominic Balestrieri-Fox.
Drake Relays pic.twitter.com/nm0RPpYplS
— Little Hawk Sports (@LittleHawkSport) April 24, 2015
The view from above the press box. You can see the track, and get a general idea of the turnout today at Drake. Events took an intermission shortly after this, and the stadium emptied, as cleanup crews moved in to prepare for the next round of events.
Dominic’s office right now pic.twitter.com/psR5jpHnmj
— Little Hawk Sports (@LittleHawkSport) April 24, 2015
The setup from inside the press box. You can see the free lunch provided, and Dominic’s trusty Dell laptop. Elise’s area, called the mix zone, looks similar, but is at ground level, indoors.
Elise’s Instagram post of the Blue Oval from just outside the mix zone.
Dominic’s view from the press box at Drake.
Dominic Balestrieri-Fox ’16 reporting live from the Drake press box pic.twitter.com/ECadrjeAn7
— Little Hawk Sports (@LittleHawkSport) April 24, 2015
Elise Goodvin ’15 reporting from the blue oval! pic.twitter.com/pJSuKXpxXS
— Little Hawk Sports (@LittleHawkSport) April 24, 2015
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