New-look Iowa City West places 3rd in the Drake Relays girls’ shuttle hurdle relay

DES MOINES — They were virtually unrecognizable.

Gone, at least for this weekend, were Iowa City West’s trademark bright yellow girls’ track and field uniforms. “Banana suits,” coined by some.

In their place, all black.

“We just got these in time for Drake,” Jaylin Herring said.

There was some speed in those news duds Saturday. Erinn Varga, Herring, Eriniah Carter, Sophia Olivo ran to third place in the Drake Relays girls’ shuttle hurdle relay at Drake Stadium.

The Trojans finished in 1 minute, 4.87 seconds. West Des Moines Dowling won in 1:01.43, followed by Adel ADM (1:04.86), then West.

“I’m pretty happy that I caught one,” said Olivo, who very nearly caught another.

Herring said she felt “like I could have run a better leg. I got too close to the first hurdle, then I couldn’t three-step because I was too close.”

That third-place finish was the second-best of any area girls’ competitor all weekend. Mount Vernon’s Sydney Maue was the high jump runner-up Thursday.

The meet was delayed at 4:14 p.m. due to severe weather in the area, with three events yet to be run — the 400-meter relay, the 1,600-meter run and the 1,600-meter relay.

Pleasant Valley set a Drake Relays record and an all-time Iowa best in the 3,200-meter relay, running away with it in 9:01.47.

The previous mark of 9:09.09, set by Iowa City West, had stood for 23 years.

Drake Relays: Saturday girls’ results

3,200 relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Wedemeyer, Johnson, Mowen, Boleyn), 9:01.47 (Drake record and all-time Iowa best); 2. Dallas Center-Grimes, 9:14.68; 3. Johnston, 9:15.10; 4. West Des Moines Valley, 9:21.23; 5. Ankeny, 9:23.52; 6. Waukee Northwest, 9:24.87; 7. Gilbert, 9:27.52; 8. Van Meter, 9:28.50.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. West Des Moines Dowling (Smith, Brooks, Gaskell, Leman), 1:01.43; 2. Adel ADM, 1:04.86; 3. Iowa City West, 1:04.87; 4. West Des Moines Valley, 1:05.15.

400 hurdles — 1. Reese Brownlee (Clear Lake), 1:00.75; 2. Eden Moore (Van Meter), 1:02.55; 3. Jessie Clemons (Pleasant Valley), 1:02.98; 4. Avery Winter (Waukee Northwest), 1:03.11; 5. Angelica Attinger (Ames), 1:03.64; 6. Jaya Kleemeier (Winterset), 1:04.59; 7. Eastin Whisner (Mount Vernon), 1:05.22; 8. Alayna Schulte (Waukee Northwest), 1:05.86.

400 relay — Delayed.

1,500 — Delayed.

1,600 relay — Delayed.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com