City High Builds Momentum For May With Strong Drake Relays Showing
Your Prep Sports
City High got done exactly what it wanted at the Drake Relays.
The Little Hawks posted a pair of top-five finishes, tied for fourth in the Hy-Vee Cup relay standings and gained valuable experience for a number of runners on the Blue Oval at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
“We had a very good day,” City High coach Mike Moore said. “We accomplished a lot of the things that we want to accomplish.”
The most important accomplishment for Moore on Thursday was his Little Hawks managed to build momentum heading into May.
City High finished runner-up in the distance medley relay and was fifth in the shuttle hurdle relay while finishing tied with Ankeny Centennial with 11 points in the Hy-Vee Cup that count points from relay finishes.
Add on a sixth-place finish in the 4×800 and a ninth-place finish in the 4×400 relay and City High had top-10 finishes in four of six relay events.
“We didn’t want to go limping into May like we have so many times after the Drake Relays. It’s important that City High shows up there and represents well but we did it a little different this year,” Moore said. “We concentrated more on relays and sacrificed some individual glory and we feel really good going into May.”
The highlight for City High came in the form of a runner-up finish in the distance medley relay.
City High’s foursome of Isaac Rohret, Ben Kueter, Jovan Harris and Ammon Smith clocked a season-best time of 3:35.1 to finish just more than three seconds off the pace of Ames which won in 3:32.03.
“We have some dudes on that team no doubt,” Moore said. “Ben (Kueter) had run that only one other time and we decided to try to get that thing off and going.”
City High entered with the fifth fastest time in the state this season at 3:36.22.
That time came earlier this month on the only time before Thursday in which Kueter had run on the relay.
With sprint standout Rohret and Kueter on the 200-meter legs, Harris on the 400 and Smith on the 800-meter anchor City high took more than a second off its previous season-best time on Thursday.
“Isaac ran really well on the first leg and Kueter ran a very respectable 23 low split considering he’s been wrestling and he’s going to be able to start taking some more workouts and train with us,” Moore said. “We just feel really good going into May.”
The City High shuttle hurdle relay team of Harris, Matt Schaeckenbach, Austin Rindels and John Aschenbrenner was fifth in 1:01.03 and the Little Hawk 4×800 team of Ford Washburn, Truman Thompson, Sullivan Hall and Smith was sixth in a season-best time of 8:04.74
Washburn added a ninth-place finish in the 1,600 in 4:26.26 for City High.
“We placed fourth overall in the high school relay cup and that was an accomplishment,” Moore said. “That is something that we set out to do is get up there with the big boys a little bit.”
City High wasn’t the only area team to post strong relay finishes on Thursday.
Liberty High was runner-up to Cedar Falls in the 4×800 in a season-best time of 7:54.63.
The foursome of Gavin Keeney, Jack Kinzer, Caleb Schillinger and Bowen Gryp combined to post the best Drake Relays finish in program history.
Kinzer added a sixth-place finish in the open 800 in a time of 1:58.98 while Gryp was 12th and Keeney 13th.
Alex McKane led West High with an 11th place finish in a time of 9:32.38.
Drake Relays
At Drake Stadium in Des Moines
(Event winner; area competitors)
Shot put – 1. Kody Huisman (Pella) 58-7
Discus – 1. Layne Pryor (Woodbine) 185-0
Long jump – 1. Cooper DeJean (OABCIG) 22-11 ¼
High jump – 1. Ian Collins (Charles City) 6-7
100 – 1. Titus Christiansen (Southeast Polk) 10.94
400 – 1. TJ Tomlyanovich (Cedar Falls) 48.11
800 – 1. Aniey Akok (Ames) 1:56.01; 6. Jack Kinzer (Liberty High) 1:58.98; 12. Bowen Gryp (Liberty High) 2:01.06; 13. Gavin Keeney (Liberty High) 2:01.43; 14. Caden Noeller (West High) 2:01.59
1,600 – 1. Nate Mueller (ADM) 4:18.54; 9. Ford Washburn (City High) 4:26.26;
3,200 – 1. Nate Mueller (ADM) 9:09.88; 11. Alex McKane (West High) 9:32.38
110 hurdles – 1. Drew Bartels (CR Kennedy) 14.4; 13. John Aschenbrenner (City High) 15.67; 18. Harrison Rosenberg (Clear Creek Amana) 15.79; 30. Jason Lu (West High) 16.6
400 hurdles – 1. Tegan Bock (Boone) 53.7; 13. Matt Schaeckenbach (City High) 57.63
Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 57.95; 5. City High (Matt Schaeckenbach, Austin Rindels, Jovan Harris, John Aschenbrenner) 1:01.03
Distance medley relay – 1. Ames 3:32.03; 2. City High (Isaac Rohret, Ben Kueter, Jovan Harris, Ammon Smith) 3:35.1; 3. Clear Creek Amana (Harrison Rosenberg, Gage Freeman, Gavin Zillyette, Tom Johnson) 3:35.28; 21. Liberty High (Daqwan Sanders, Luke Meyers, Evan Chandler, Aidan Decker) 3:47.32
4×100 relay – 1. Southeast Polk 42.39; 14. City High (John Aschenbrenner, Jovan Harris, Ronnie Major, Isaac Rohret) 43.85; 19. Clear Creek Amana (Harrison Rosenberg, Ben Swails, Gage Freeman, Alex Figueroa) 44.05; 20. West High (Nathan Gudenkauf, Fabian Brown, Trey King, Mason Applegate) 44.06; 29. Liberty High (Michael Miller, Ben O’Connor, Brody Fishman, Luke Meyers) 44.55; 39. Solon (Trin Eidahl, Blake Timmons, Brady Jeworrek, Colton Hoffman) 45.06
4×200 relay – 1. Southeast Polk 1:28.36; 22. City High (Gable Mitchell, Akili Mattox, Isaiah Svoboda, Sam Rew) 1:35.22
4×400 relay – 1. Cedar Falls 3:16.67; 9. City High (Isaac Rohret, Ammon Smith, Ben Kueter, Jovan Harris) 3:28.12; 20. Liberty High (Luke Meyers, Jack Kinzer, Gavin Keeney, Bowen Gryp) 3:30.56
4×800 relay – 1. Cedar Falls 7:53.37; 2. Liberty High (Gavin Keeney, Jack Kinzer, Caleb Schillinger, Bowen Gryp) 7:54.63; 6. City High (Ford Washburn, Truman Thompson, Sullivan Hall, Ammon Smith) 8:04.74
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