Hockey or running, VanDraska beats the competition

CEDAR RAPIDS - The sport between track and cross-country season for most guys is either basketball or wrestling. You'll get an occasional swimmer in there, too.

But Tysen VanDraska skates and shoots pucks during his winter. That's pretty unusual.

'It's hard being a runner and a hockey player,” the Cedar Rapids Prairie junior said after a solid first outdoor performance of the spring at Saturday's John Ask Relays at Kingston Stadium. 'You want to get big for the hockey season, but you want to be out and running. All these other kids have two months more of training of running, so coming in, I think I'm a little behind there. But I think I'm coming along and catching back up.”

VanDraska anchored a victorious Prairie 3,200-meter relay team that beat second-place Linn-Mar by over 17 seconds and won his specialty, the 800 meters, with a time of 1 minute, 59.70 seconds. He placed fourth in Class 4A in that event at last year's state meet.

His indoor track season was pretty phenomenal, winning the 3,200 at a meet at Central College and finishing second to Iowa State recruit Thomas Pollard of Gilbert by .18 of a second in a meet at Iowa State. VanDraska was seventh in 4A at last fall's state cross-country meet.

'I've been pretty surprised, actually,” he said. 'Last week, I ran a 1,600 and was not expecting that time (4:25.42). It feels really good to be this fast and getting these times this early.”

By the way, the kid's no slouch in his 'other” sport, either. Playing for the Cedar Rapids High School RoughRiders, he was named a Midwest High School Hockey League all-star this season.

'I've been playing since I was about 4,” VanDraska said. 'I just can't give it up. I love it too much.”

Cedar Rapids Kennedy won Saturday's team title by a 141-125.5 margin over Linn-Mar. Cedar Rapids Jefferson was third in the seven-school event with 98 points.

The Cougars won just a single running event (Matt Gardner in the 400 hurdles), but were all over the field events, placing first and second in the high jump, first, third and fifth in the long jump, third and fourth in the discus and first and second in the shot put.

Kennedy's winners were Willie Rhoads in the high jump and long jump and Dalles Jacobus in the shot. Linn-Mar was runner-up despite winning seven events.

'Very pleased with our first day out,” said Kennedy Coach Curt Pakkebier. 'It was just a whole team effort. We knew coming in our field events would be strong.”

The day's best race came in the 200 meters, as Jefferson's Merje Bokoyo and Cedar Rapids Washington's Isaiah Nimmers were originally ruled to have had a dead heat. But a frame-by-frame look of the track camera showed Bokoyo's torso crossed the finish line incrementally ahead of a leaning-forward Nimmers.

Their official times were posted as 23.601 and 23.610. Bokoyo, originally from Congo and a transfer from Galesburg High School in Illinois, also won the 100.

'For me, I knew that I got it,” Bokoyo said. 'I was surprised when they said (originally) I got second. My brother had a video of it. I was a little confused.”

JOHN ASK RELAYS

(At Kingston Stadium)

Team scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 145, 2. Linn-Mar 125.5, 3. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 98, 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 79.5, 5. Bettendorf 49, 6. Cedar Rapids Washington 38, 7. Iowa City West 22.

High jump – 1. Willie Rhoads (CRK) 6-4, 2. Shaun Beyer (CRK) 6-0, 3. Dylan Hart (CRJ) 5-10; Long jump – 1. Rhoads (CRK) 20-11 1/4, 2. Jimmy Itangishaka (CRJ) 20-6, 3. Beyer (CRK) 20-3 ¼; Discus – 1. Xavier Hotley (Bett) 152-0, 2. Jess Jacobson (Bett) 150-5, 3. Jackson Coker (CRK) 149-9; Shot put – 1. Dalles Jacobus (CRK) 50-0 ½, 2. Coker (CRK) 49-3 ½, 3. Jared Eivins (CRJ) 47-10.

3,200 meters – 1. Daniel Murphy (LM) 9:57.29, 2. Robert Laue (CRP) 10:24.42, 3. Matthew Schneider (ICW) 10:26.50; 3,200 relay – 1. C.R. Prairie (Matt Lorenz, Jake Moore, Levi Lefebure, Tysen Vandraska) 8:10.30, 2. Linn-Mar 8:27.71, 3. C.R. Jefferson 8:35.81; Shuttle hurdle relay – 1. Linn-Mar (Daniel Gorsich, Isaac Baumhoefener, Gavern Dochterman, Nick House), 1:01.82; 2. C.R. Kennedy 1:03.36, 3. Linn-Mar ‘B' 1:06.23; 100 – 1. Merje Bokoyo (CRJ) 10.92, 2. Trevor Northrup (CRP) 11.14, 3. Alex Herzog (CRW) 11.20; 400 – 1. Dalton Gosch (LM) 51.37, 2. Mark Schulz (CRK) 51.99, 3. Isaiah Nimmers (CRW) 52.08; 800 relay – 1. Linn-Mar (Austin Flieder, Tristan Freese, Griffin Freese, Sean Zimmerman) 1:31.79, 2. C.R. Jefferson 1:32.39, 3. C.R. Prairie 1:33.00; 110 hurdles - 1. Daniel Gorsich (LM) 15.08, 2. Austin Coats (CRK) 15.47, 3. Shaun Beyer (CRK) 15.58; 1,600 – 1. Greyson Dolezal (LM) 4:42.64, 2. Ryan Murphy (LM) 4:43.27, 3. Brandon Cooley (Bett) 4:43.28; 200 – 1. Bokoyo (CRJ) 23.601`, 2. Nimmers (CRW) 23.610, 3. Ty Bolden (CRP) 23.93; 400 hurdles – 1. Matt Gardner (CRK) 57.90, 2. Coats (CRK) 59.26, 3. Chris Krystofiak (CRK) 1:00.36; Sprint medley relay – 1. C.R. Prairie (Northrup, Marty Borseth, Matt Lorenz, Moore) 3:46.00, 2. C.R. Jefferson 3:49.78, 3. C.R. Kennedy 3:50.80; 800 – 1. VanDraska (CRP) 1:59.70, 2. Thomas Doyle (LM) 2:02.58, 3. Parker Hill (Bett) 2:06.71; 400 relay – 1. Linn-Mar (Zimmerman, T. Freese, G. Freese, Gorsich) 44.14, 2. C.R. Jefferson 44.82, 3. C.R. Washington 45.48; 1,600 relay – 1. Linn-Mar (Flieder, Gorsich, T. Freese, Joe A'Hearn) 3:28.56, 2. C.R. Prairie 3:29.38, 3. C.R. Kennedy 3:35.98.

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