Photo Gallery by Jeff Yoder

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Whether she should or not Deniz Ince has gotten pretty used to running slightly behind standout senior teammate Bailey Nock.

“In workouts often times I pace off of her which probably isn’t the best,” Ince said with a laugh. “I’m always trying to keep up with Bailey.”

Ince didn’t think Thursday at the Drake Relays would be one of those times she ran right behind Nock.

However, as Ince neared the finish line at Drake Stadium in Des Moines she looked up to the familiar sight of her teammate in front of her.

“I saw Bailey ahead of me and I thought I must was doing well,” Ince said. “I just tried to beat as many people as I could.”

Finishing behind Nock wasn’t a surprise for Ince but her time and place certainly was.

Ince finished sixth in the 3,000 in a career-best time of 10:24.47, behind Nock who was fifth in 10:21.87.  

“I finished sixth? I didn’t know that, I had no idea. I was just trying to go out hard,” Ince said. “ I had no idea what place I was in or what time I was at, I was just trying to beat the people ahead of me.”
Ince has top-11 qualifying times in both the 800 and 1,500 but came to the Drake Relays with the 20th best time in the state in the 3,000.

She took more than 20 seconds off her previous career best while placing sixth in a race won by Crestwood senior Ellie Friesen in 9:50.44.   

“There wasn’t a goal I had in my head,” Ince said. “I was just trying to beat as many people as I could and race the best I could. I don’t usually run the 3,000 so I was just coming in to see what I could do and just race my hardest.”

Nock was fifth in her final Drake Relays 3,000 after placing third in the event last season.

Mid-Prairie sisters Anna and Marie Hostetler finished second and third.

Defending champion Anna Hostetler was runner-up to Friesen in 9:52.49 while her younger sister was third in 10:14.9.

Emma Lucas of Bedford placed fourth in 10:17.2.

“It wasn’t my best race,” Nock said. “It wasn’t a feeling like I could have gone faster, I could have done better it just wasn’t clicking for me today. I wasn’t getting in my rhythm, I had kind of a rough start and they kind of pulled away. It just wasn’t really there for me today.”
Nock has the second best qualifying time in the 1,500 and sixth best in the 800 as she attempts to earn the first Drake Relays title of her career.

She also runs on the West High 4×800 relay team that enters with the top qualifying time.

“With meets like Drake and state where you are doing a couple of even

ts you can dwell on the one event for a little but then you just have to start focusing on the next and move on,” Nock said. “I’m just going to move forward, get past it and get on to the next race because I have three more chances to compete.”Liberty High freshman Camille Mac finished 18th in a time of 10:49.2.

Drake Relays

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Thursday’s Individual Results

(Top 5 Finishers; Area Athletes)

Boys 3,200 – 1. Gable Sieperda (Central Lyon) 9:11.17; 2. Camden Cox (Ankeny Centennial) 9:21.77; 3. Matthew Carmody (West Des Moines Dowling) 9:24.72; 4. Myles Bach (Center Point-Urbana 9:24.91; 5. Konnor Sommer (Pleasant Valley) 9:27.5; 22. Kolby Greiner (West High) 10:08.91.

Girls 3,000 – 1. Ellie Friesen (Crestwood) 9:50.44; 2. Anna Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 9:52.49; 3. Marie Hostetler (Mid-Prairie) 10:14.9; 4. Emma Lucas (Bedford) 10:17.2; 5. Bailey Nock (West High) 10:21.87; 6. Deniz Ince (West High) 10:24.47; 18. Camille Mac (Liberty High) 10:49.2.

Boys Discus – 1. Dawson Ellingson (Hudson) 186-9; 2. Nick Phelps (Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central) 184-2; 3. Trajan Walhof (Sioux Center) 171-5; 4. Logan Jones (Council Bluffs Lewis Central) 168-10; 5. Jonathan Gannon (West High) 168-0.

Girls Shot put – 1. Jamie Kofron (Tipton) 45-5 ½; 2. Kat Moody (Waukee) 45-0 ¾; 3. Brylie Zeisneiss (South Hardin) 44-10; 4. Chandler Haight (West High) 43-10 ¾; 5. Lea Grady (Davenport Central) 42-6 ¾.

Boys Long jump – 1. Blair Brooks (Marion) 22-8 ¼; 2. Austin West (West High) 22-5 ½; 3. Terrell Jordan Jr. (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 22-3; 4. Keegan Rich (Mount Pleasant) 22-1 ¼; 5. Parker Kiewiet (Dike-New Hartford) 22-1.