Final fling vaults Joens to Drake discus crown

DES MOINES -- How's that for clutch?

Staring at a sixth-place finish in the boys' discus, Sam Joens of Cedar Rapids Prairie uncorked the throw of a lifetime on his final attempt to win the Drake Relays championship Friday morning.

"There was some extra adrenalin on that last throw," Joens said, his championship flag at his feet and a box of Hi-C drink in his hand. "I just gave it all I had.

"I needed to crank one out there, hit it fast and let the wind carry it."

Joens entered the final round with a best effort of 163 feet, 8 inches. That trailed Michael Smithburg of Fairfield by more than 11 feet.

Then, Joens unleashed a biggie -- a career-best 176-5.

The senior comes from a family of throwers. His father, Scott, along with numerous aunts and uncles, competed in the event.

None of them accomplished what Sam did Friday.

"A personal-best and a Drake championship ... what could be better?" he said.

Cedar Rapids Washington's Will Griffin had the fastest preliminary time in the 100, but James Harrington of Cedar Falls got away at the gun and prevailed in the finals in 10.84 seconds, repeating as Drake champion.

Griffin and teammate Alex Carr were 2-3; both were clocked in 11.10.

"That's what we do," Griffin said. "We're going to go for it at state."

Carr is one of the state's fastest sprinters, but was making his finals debut in the Drake 100.

"I hadn't made it before this year," he said. "I was trying to go out with a win, but sometimes your best isn't quite good enough."

Davenport Central's Kenny Gilmore repeated as the long jump champ at 23-5 3/4. Caleb Mere of Cedar Rapids Kennedy was second at 23-0, a career-best by almost 10 inches, despite not jumping for nearly three weeks due to sore hamstrings.

"I came out and jumped really well," Mere said. "Honestly, I didn't think I would be jumping this well at all. I was feeling pretty rusty, but it obviously worked out pretty well."

Harrington was on Cedar Falls' winning 1,600-meter medley relay and 800-meter relay.

Kyle Wheeler of Glenwood was the victor of the inaugural 800-meter run (Matt Stocker of Prairie was third) while Tyler Donels of Southeast Polk claimed the 110-meter high hurdles.