West's Valerie Welch is a triple-winner at Forwald-Coleman

IOWA CITY — Valerie Welch heads to the Drake Relays next week as a top contender in three different individual events. You'd think she'd be supremely confident.

Here's her view on it:

'I know Drake is next week, and I know I'm terrified,' she said.

Welch continued a memorable first half to her junior track and field season Thursday night, picking up three titles at the Forwald-Coleman Relays at Bates Field.

She picked up titles in the long jump (17 feet, 11 1/2 inches), the 100-meter hurdles (15.12 seconds) and the 400-meter hurdles (1:03.89). She's a threat to win any — or all — of them next week in Des Moines.

'I didn't feel my best today,' she said. 'My legs felt heavy, just overall tiredness. But my training carried me through.'

Welch lowered her state-best time in the 400 hurdles; she pulled away from Mary Gray of Waukee in the final stretch. Linn-Mar's Stephanie Jenks was third, and probably earned a spot at Drake in four events (along with the 800, 1,500 and 3,000).

West's boys and Waukee's girls were team champions.

The Trojans prevailed in a balanced boys' field, winning four events and scoring 138.33 points. Iowa City High was second with 116, followed by West Des Moines Valley (111.83).

'That's really big,' said West sprinter Wali Parks. 'We hadn't won a meet since the conference meet my sophomore year, so it's been over 20 meets.

'To come here and have a lot of guys put it on the line, that's a good thing.'

Parks won the 200 meters in 22.25 seconds. The Trojans also got titles from Ali Ali in the 3,200 (9:39.43), Tremaine Hoover in the long jump (21-3) and Jonathan Gannon in the discus (137-9).

City High won three boys' events, Linn-Mar two. The Lions outdueled the Little Hawks in the 3,200 relay, with both teams breaking 8 minutes.

Waukee claimed seven events and tallied 195.5 points in a loaded girls' field. West was second with 135, followed by defending 4A state champion Pleasant Valley (101).

Rose Gamamou of City High moved into the state lead in the high jump, clearing 5-6 on a final jump in which she nicked the bar, and it teetered on the standard before staying put.

'I have no clue how it stayed up there,' Gamamou said. 'I'm just glad it did.

'This feels so good. I'm going to have to clear 5-6 at Drake to place high, and now I feel confident that I can.'

Jenks motored through the 1,500 in 4:31.24, less than 5 seconds off the all-time Iowa best set by Shelby Houlihan of Sioux City East in 2011. Jenks ranks No. 2 all-time in 4:27.76, last year.

FORWALD-COLEMAN RELAYS

At Iowa City High

BOYS

Teams — 1. Iowa City West 138.33, 2. Iowa City High 116, 3. West Des Moines Valley 111.83, 4. Pleasant Valley 95, 5. Linn-Mar 89, 6. Muscatine 70.83, 7. Southeast Polk 67.5, 8. Des Moines East 11.

Shot put — 1. Naba Bedale (WDMV), 55-6; 2. Alex Kleinow (ICW), 52-10; 3. Dallas McFarland (LM), 49-0; Discus — 1. Jonathan Gannon (ICW), 137-9; 2. Micah Martin (ICH), 135-0; 3. Jordan Brockway (SEP), 130-6; High jump — 1. Austin Reding (WDMV), 6-3 1/4; 2. (tie) Tariq Brown (WDMV), Jared Sams-Merriweather (ICW) and Drew Greenhaw (Musc), 5-10; Long jump — 1. Tremaine Hoover (ICW), 21-3; 2. Keshaun Baker (PV), 20-9; 3. Parker Drees (SEP), 20-7 1/2.

3,200 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Mather, Murphy, Long, Seitz), 7:56.15; 2. Iowa City High, 7:57.90; 3. Muscatine, 8:05.81; 3,200 — 1. Ali Ali (ICW), 9:39.43; 2. Trevor Kirk (WDMV), 9:42.19; 3. Moise Habineza (WDMV), 9:48.02; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Southeast Polk (Mortale, Northway, Salyers, Barclay), 57.77; 2. Iowa City High, 58.00; 3. Linn-Mar, 58.02; 100 — 1. Alfonso Soko (Musc), 11.10; 2. Vance Dillon (ICH), 11.23; 3. Arthur Braden (PV), 11.24; 400 — 1. Keshaun Baker (PV), 49.77; 2. Dalton Gosch (LM), 50.50; 3. Austin West (ICW), 50.89; 800 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Freese, Petesich, Dochterman, Miller), 1:30.72; 2. Iowa City West, 1:31.47; 3. Iowa City High, 1:31.53; 110 hurdles — 1. Jack Wilson (WDMV), 15.00; 2. Max Hill (ICW), 15.42; 3. Parker Marschel (WDMV), 16.07; 1,600 — 1. Karson Sommer (PV), 4:13.16; 2. Ryan Murphy (LM), 4:25.79; 3. Nicholas Yanek (PV), 4:26.46; 200 — 1. Wali Parks (ICW), 22.25; 2. Keshaun Baker (PV), 23.00; 3. James Martinez-Burney (ICH), 23.26; 400 hurdles — 1. Wade Barclay (SEP), 53.80; 2. Garrett Northway (SEP), 56.50; 3. Nick House (LM), 56.65; 1,600 medley relay — 1. Muscatine (Greenhaw, Bogart, Smith, Olson), 3:42.04; 2. Iowa City West, 3:42.45; 3. Pleasant Valley, 3:43.24; 800 — 1. Jim McMillan (ICH), 1:57.20; 2. Karson Sommer (PV), 1:58.77; 3. Patrick Karanja (ICW), 1:59.64; 400 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Roggevenn, Keita, Martinez-Burney, Dillon), 43.54; 2. Iowa City West, 43.60; 3. Muscatine, 44.17; 1,600 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Scott, Jones, Rethwisch, Firmstone), 3:23.57; 2. Iowa City West, 3:24.82; 3. Linn-Mar, 3:30.93.

GIRLS

Teams — 1. Waukee 195.5, 2. Iowa City West 135, 3. Pleasant Valley 101, 4. Linn-Mar 91, 5. Iowa City High 87, 6. C.R. Kennedy 47.5, 7. Muscatine 45, 8. West Des Moines Valley 34.

Shot put — 1. Chandler Haight (ICW), 41-1; 2. Morgan Nealey (Wau), 40-10; 3. Zainab Makky (ICW), 37-10; Discus — 1. Danielle Wegter (Musc), 132-9; 2. Leah Dusterhoft (ICW), 129-3; 3. Lindy Jones (Wau), 129-2; High jump — 1. Rose Gamamou (ICH), 5-6; 2. (tie) Chloe Havermann (Wau) and Kelli DeGeorge (PV), 5-2; Long jump — 1. Valerie Welch (ICW), 17-11 1/2; 2. Micaela Gravelin (ICW), 16-10 1/2; 3. Katie Beer (CRK), 16-10.

3,000 — 1. Rachel Brush (Wau), 10:29.70; 2. Brina Kraft (Musc), 10:29.92; 3. Bailey Nock (ICW), 10:30.95; 3,200 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Arch, Lindower, Jones, Smith), 9:43.57; 2. Linn-Mar, 9:45.83; 3. Waukee, 9:52.10; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Waukee (Schau, Winger, Modrell, Gray), 1:02.84; 2. Pleasant Valley, 1:03.31; 3. Iowa City West, 1:08.65; 100 — 1. Talia Buss (Wau), 12.21; 2. Emily Paul (PV), 12.40; 3. Elma Vojic (Wau), 12.72; Distance medley relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Rolle, Renner, Nickel, Wensel), 4:18.60; 2. Waukee, 4:20.44; 3. Iowa City West, 4:29.20; 400 — 1. Logan Akason (Wau), 1:00.16; 2. Tia Saunders (ICW), 1:00.56; 3. JanJay Peters (Wau), 1:02.68; 800 relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Donahue, Swanson, Arthorfer, Paul), 1:42.77; 2. Waukee, 1:45.21; 3. WDM Valley, 1:46.76; 100 hurdles — 1. Valerie Welch (ICW), 15.12; 2. Sydney Winger (Wau), 15.86; 3. Kelli DeGeorge (PV), 15.94; 800 — 1. Larkin Chapman (Musc), 2:14.38; 2. Lily Campbell (Wau), 2:14.81; 3. Amber Decker (LM), 2:17.89; 200 — 1. Talia Buss (Wau), 25.38; 2. Payton Wensel (LM), 25.56; 3. Rose Gamamou (ICH), 27.13; 400 hurdles — 1. Valerie Welch (ICW), 1:03.89; 2. Mary Gray (Wau), 1:04.90; 3. Stephanie Jenks (LM), 1:05.75; Sprint medley relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Paul, Arthorfer, Donahue, Swanson), 1:48.23; 2. Waukee, 1:48.45; 3. WDM Valley, 1:55.40; 1,500 — 1. Stephanie Jenks (LM), 4:31.24; 2. McKenzie Yanek (PV), 4:37.75; 3. Rachel Brush (Wau), 4:52.05; 400 relay — 1. Waukee (Sehman, Schau, Witte, Vojic), 49.84; 2. Linn-Mar, 50.84; 3. Iowa City High, 52.17; 1,600 relay — 1. Waukee (Buss, Gates, Akason, Gray), 4:01.58; 2. Muscatine, 4:06.24; 3. Iowa City High, 4:07.84.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com