The South Hamilton Hawks and Roland-Story Norsemen track teams sent athletes to compete at Drake Stadium in Des Moines this past weekend, as a part of the 114th Drake Relays. The 114th edition of America’s Athletic Classic featured wild results on the track, and even wilder weather courtesy of mother nature.
Action for the KQ-Area kicked off on Friday morning, with Roland-Story competing in the girls sprint medley, as the Norsemen placed 14th in a time of 1:52.45 with the team of Sporleder-Kilstofte-Petersen-Lande. After a weather delay, the South Hamilton 4×200 would compete late on Friday afternoon, but ran well despite the wet track. The Hawks would place 13th in a time of 1:30.19 with the team of Hodnefield-Severseike-Ricke-Koehnk. South Hamilton’s 4×400 was slated to compete in the night session as the last event of the day, but thunderstorms and tornadoes forced the race to become a timed final on Saturday afternoon.
Athletes returned for Day 3 or Saturday morning and got off to a good start weather-wise, as first up was the Girls 4×100. Roland-Story would have an impressive showing, placing 15th in a time of 49.86 with the team of Sporleder-Petersen-Kilstofte-Lande, in a time that set a new school-record, and improved on their season-best time by 2 full seconds. South Hamilton’s girls would place 74th in a season-best time of 51.77 with the team of Flaugh-Galetich-Erickson-Thompson. The boys 4×100 would follow as South Hamilton placed 39th in a time of 43.74 with the team of Hodnefield-Severseike-Drake-Koehnk, as Roland-Story placed 85th in a time of 45.13 with the team of Spainhower-McIlrath-Berggren-S. Knoll.
From there, the Relays would go into another weather delay around 4 PM on Saturday afternoon, a delay that would last 3 hours before the final events of the relays returned to the track. The best would be saved for last as South Hamilton placed 2nd in the 4×400 in a school-record, 2A best time of 3:17.13 with the team of Koehnk-Ricke-Severseike-Hodnefield, a time that was the fastest time for a non-4A school 4×400 relay in state history. Cedar Falls was the champion in a time 3:16.74.
South Hamilton and Roland-Story track are back in action on Monday, as they compete in the North Polk Comet Co-Ed.