A select group of KQ area athletes made the trip to the Des Moines metro on Thursday to compete in the 112th edition of the Drake Relays at Drake Stadium. Thursday was the first official day of the American Athletic Classic, and field events were front and center.
Webster City’s JJ Moore and South Hamilton’s Austin Busch kicked off the evening with the discus throw. Moore competed in flight one, and struggled by scratching his two of his three throws. Moore was able to count one throw with a toss of 126′ 9″. Moore spoke about his performance afterwards.
“I felt pretty good at the start, then I started watching film and noticed I wasn’t doing exactly what I should be,” Moore said. “The last one I was kind of careful with it, and I didn’t hit a great mark.”
Austin Busch followed up in the 2nd flight, and his first throw of the evening was enough to get him into the finals, with a toss of 167′ 4″. Busch was the 9th of nine qualifiers taken in a discus event loaded with talent, however Busch was pleased with his performance.
“I felt pretty good, I was happy to make finals. I was hoping to squeeze out one more spot and get a medal, but it’s tough,” Busch said. “Still fun and it was really good competition, the finals were really tough, the wind was really shooting all the discs down, but I’m happy with how I performed.”
Inside Drake Stadium, Roland-Story senior Will Bunn put together a solid long jump performance, which saw him just barely miss the finals, with a high mark of 21′ 1.75″, which was good for a tie for 10th. Bunn said afterward that he felt a little tight in his performance.
“I think I felt a little tight, with some stuff going on. My steps ended up working out, but I was a little nervous they weren’t where I needed to be at the beginning, but it all worked out,” Bunn said. “We still have a bunch to improve on, speed needs to get up there, there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be done for state.”