Your Prep Sports

With the conclusion of the Drake Relays on Saturday the regular season part of the high school track season is in the books.

Championship season begins with conference meets across the state on Thursday.

West High wasn’t going to wait for the Drake Relays to end to get a start on the postseason.

“Something that we talked to the whole team about is we want the Drake Relays more than anything else to be our preparation for state,” West High coach Mike Parker said. “See state, see what you want at state.”

What Parker and the Women of Troy want next month in their return to Drake Stadium is a 4A state title.

Over three days at Drake Stadium West High proved it was capable of reaching that goal.

West High capped a strong Drake Relays with a pair of runner-up relay finishes and fifth-place individual finishes from Valerie Welch and Bailey Nock on Saturday at rainy Drake Stadium in Des Moines.  

“I know everybody loves the Drake Relays and we do too,” Parker said. “But in our head everything is about the team and that state championships.”

West High set a school record on its way to a runner-up finish in the shuttle hurdle relay and placed second in the 4×800 relay.

Kitra Bell, Peyton Steva, Kia Noibi and Valerie Welch clocked a school-record time of 1:02.54 in the shuttle hurdle finals.

Waukee won in a Drake Relays record time of 1:00.95.

The West High 4×800 team of

Deniz Ince, Olivia Moore, Gabby Skopec and Nock trimmed more than eight seconds off its previous season-best time while finishing second in 9:27.49.
Nock placed fifth in the 1,500 in a season-best time of 4:44.74 while Welch was fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.27.

The Solon 4×400 relay team of Taylor Ryan, Cayley Annis, Abby Smith and Erin Kerkhoff finished eighth in a time of 4:05.19.

Saturday’s Girls Individual Results

(Event Top-5 Placers; Area athletes)

Girls 4×800 – 1. West Des Moines Dowling 9:25.81; 2. West High (Deniz Ince, Olivia Moore, Gabby Skopec, Bailey Nock) 9:27.49; 3. Waukee 9:33.03; 4. Monticello 9:33.82; 5. Johnston 9:36.26.

Girls Shuttle Hurdle Relay – 1. Waukee 1:00.95; 2. West High (Peyton Steva, Kitra Bell, Kia Noibi, Valerie Welch) 1:02.54; 3. Mount Vernon 1:04.49; 4. West Des Moines Dowling 1:04.85; 5. Cascade 1:06.37; 13. Solon (Rachael Nelson, Molly Duckett, Peyton Sands, Alexis Sands) 1:09.27.

Girls 400 hurdles – 1. Payton Wensel (Linn-Mar) 1:02.17; 2. Addie Swanson (Pleasant Valley) 1:03.69; 3. Katie Nimrod (Decorah) 1:04.05; 4. Skyler Shellmyer (Urbandale) 1:04.3; 5. Valerie Welch (West High) 1:06.27; 14. Paige Miller (West Branch) 1:08.55; 15. Gabbi Bullard (Solon) 1:09.41.

Girls 1,500 – 1. Joy Ripslinger (Davenport Assumption) 4:31.91; 2. Anna Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 4:34.2; 3. Ellie Friesen (Crestwood) 4:36.35; 4. Marie Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 4:43.36; 5. Bailey Nock (West High) 4:44.74; 14. Gabby Skopec (West High) 4:55.39.

Girls 4×100 – 1. Davenport Assumption 48.97; 2. Waukee 48.98; 3. Waterloo East 49.02; 4. Dubuque Wahlert 49.15; 5. Pleasant Valley 49.25; 27. Solon (Bryn Hanrahan, Molly Duckett, Alexis Sands, Erin Kerkhoff) 51.02; 39. West High (Peyton Steva, Micaela Gravelin, Katie Severt, Ally Bauer) 51.50.

Girls 4×400 – 1. Southeast Polk 3:51.24; 2. Davenport Assumption 3:53.54; 3. Cedar Falls 3:58.75; 4. Waukee 3:59.22; 5. Decorah 4:01.51; 8. Solon (Taylor Ryan, Cayley Annis, Abby Smith, Erin Kerkhoff) 4:05.19.