CPU girls zoom to the top of Class 3A in the distance medley relay

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Drake Relays are done, so the distance medley relay quickly becomes a relevant event on the girls’ track scene.

Center Point-Urbana fired one of the first shots — and the fastest one — in Class 3A.

“We have the runners,” Emily Bowe said. “We’d might as well try it.”

Addilyn Wade, Bowe, Grace Estling, Deni Katcher combined to run 4 minutes, 19.11 seconds Tuesday at Saints Field as part of the Xavier Invitational track meet.

That ranks No. 1 in 3A, No. 6 in all classes.

“The first few meets, we were more concerned about the 4-by-8 and 4-by-4,” Katcher said.

Seventeen events are part of the high school girls’ program at the Drake Relays, which was last weekend in Des Moines.

The distance medley is one of the two that isn’t contested at Drake; the 200-meter dash is the other.

“We’re strong at the start, strong in the middle, strong at the end, for sure,” Bowe said. “It’s really exciting. It’s monumental.”

Bowe, Estling and Katcher are sprint multi-sporters; they all are starters on the CPU soccer team that sports a 7-1-1 record and a No. 12 ranking in Class 1A.

Iowa City High won eight events and rolled to the girls’ team title with 165 points. Linn-Mar was second with 112, followed by Cedar Rapids Kennedy (102).

The boys’ race came down the final event; Cedar Rapids Prairie won the 1,600-meter relay and edged Kennedy, 165-159, for the crown.

West Branch junior Brandon Pedersen continued his status as one of the fastest guys in Class 2A.

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Pedersen won the 100 (11.19) and 200 (22.15).

“When I get to top speed, I’m able to stay there and keep my body relaxed,” he said.

Talent helps. Newfound motivation might get him over the top at state in 3 1/2 weeks.

“Last year, I didn’t really try that hard in all of the sports,” Pedersen said. “They didn’t really matter. Now, I care a lot more.”

Other highlights Tuesday:

* CPU’s Nathan Miller followed a big Drake Relays (second in the 400, fourth in the 400 hurdles) with a career-best 52.56-second effort in the 400 hurdles, climbing to No. 2 statewide.

* At 57 feet, 10 inches, Kennedy’s Shem Mally beat his former career-best in the shot put by more than 2 feet and won by more than 9. He climbs to No. 4 in the state.

* Linn-Mar’s Ji’Naya Crawford won the girls’ 100 and 200.

* Prairie won five boys’ relays.

Girls Results

Teams — 1. Iowa City High 165, 2. Linn-Mar 112, 3. C.R. Kennedy 102, 4. C.R. Xavier 64, 5. Center Point-Urbana 63, 6. West Branch 55, 7. Iowa City Regina 15, 8. C.R. Prairie 11.

Shot put — 1. Alyssa Pierce (West Branch), 39-7; 2. Rachel Haack (City High), 38-10; 3. Isabelle Gasper (Kennedy), 38-1.

Discus — 1. Rachel Haack (City High), 125-8; 2. Hannah Braun (City High), 124-4; 3. Erica Kinn (Linn-Mar), 115-7.

High jump — 1. Ava Van Berkum (Xavier), 5-2; 2. Claire Lorenz (Linn-Mar), 5-2; 3. Macie Lupkes (Xavier), 5-0.

Long jump — 1. Adalyn Thorstenson (Kennedy), 17-3; 2. Sofia Musick (Xavier), 16-7; 3. Addi Schultes (West Branch), 16-1 1/2.

Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (Gieseman, Garsayne, Blocker, Lovell), 1:54.50; 2. Center Point-Urbana, 1:55.31; 3. Iowa City High, 1:56.32.

3,000 — 1. Abigail Burns (City High), 10:35.95; 2. Hailey Kozloski (Linn-Mar), 10:46.12; 3. Calissa Fruin (City High), 11:05.64.

3,200 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Doster, Sherburne, Downing-Sherer, Locher), 10:03.23; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 10:51.56; 3. Linn-Mar, 10:52.67.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Iowa City High (Konu, Kenlin, Hamilton, Schultz), 1:11.27; 2. Linn-Mar, 1:11.88; 3. C.R. Xavier, 1:11.95.

100 — 1. Ja’Niya Crawford (Linn-Mar), 13.15; 2. Molly Gieseman (Kennedy), 13.39; 3. Brooklyn Guild (Linn-Mar), 13.39.

Distance medley relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Wade, Bowe, Estling, Katcher), 4:19.11; 2. West Branch, 4:26.83; 3. C.R. Xavier, 4:28.49.

400 — 1. Maeve Bowen-Burt (City High), 1:00.20; 2. Ellie Fraga (City High), 1:00.36; 3. Anna Sojka (Linn-Mar), 1:01.65.

800 relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (Lovell, Blocker, Thorstenson, Garsayne), 1:48.10; 2. Iowa City High, 1:52.31; 3. Center Point-Urbana, 1:53.84.

100 hurdles — 1. Reese Naeve (Regina), 15.45; 2. Kayla Langerman (Kennedy), 16.77; 3. Willow Schultz (City High), 17.36.

800 — 1. Grace Hamann (West Branch), 2:27.82; 2. Aaliyah Causey (CPU), 2:28.43; 3. Nicole Peterson (City High), 2:28.62.

200 — 1. Ja’Niya Crawford (Linn-Mar), 26.06; 2. Emily Bowe (CPU), 26.67; 3. Molly Gieseman (Kennedy), 27.22.

400 hurdles — 1. Grace Hamann (West Branch), 1:10.52; 2. Charley Lovell (Kennedy), 1:12.40; 3. Josephine LeClair (City High), 1:12.70.

1,500 — 1. Nina Peterson (City High), 4:52.01; 2. Abigail Burns (City High), 4:56.65; 3. Hailey Kozloski (Linn-Mar), 4:57.59.

400 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Aboussa-Folly, Fraga, Newell, Bowen-Burt), 50.81; 2. C.R. Xavier, 52.89; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 54.14.

1,600 relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Wade, Katcher, Bowe, Estling), 4:08.89; 2. Linn-Mar, 4:13.26; 3. Iowa City High, 4:15.44.

Boys Results

Teams — 1. C.R. Prairie 165, 2. C.R. Kennedy 159, 3. Iowa City High 97, 4. Center Point-Urbana 72, 5. West Branch 48, 6. C.R. Xavier 31, 7. Ottumwa 12, 8. Iowa City Regina 5.

Shot put — 1. Shem Mally (Kennedy), 57-10; 2. Preston Mensah (City High), 48-6; 3. Charlie Morgan (Ottumwa), 46-6.

Discus — 1. Jackson Rhinehart (Kennedy), 152-1; 2. Henry Wilkes (Kennedy), 147-5; 3. Cohen Spurlock (CPU), 141-4.

High jump — 1. Adams Kane (ICH), 6-2; 2. Brayden Peck (Kennedy), 6-2; 3. Abe Bidanis (City High), 6-0.

Long jump — 1. Carter Andrews (CPU), 21-11; 2. Denzil Green (Prairie), 21-5; 3. T.Y. Pour (Prairie), 21-5.

Sprint medley relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Kpahn, Peterka, Bennis, Krambeer), 1:35.57; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 1:35.68; 3. C.R. Xavier, 1:36.95.

3,200 — 1. Cole Carrizales (Prairie), 9:53.63; 2. Lincoln McMahan (Kennedy), 10:00.79; 3. Jasper McRoberts (City High), 10:16.38.

3,200 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Nove, Miller, Lange, Allred), 8:15.48; 2. Iowa City High, 8:17.10; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 8:24.95.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. C.R. Kennedy (McCrary, Bartels, Richards, Keller), 58.28; 2. C.R. Prairie, 59.72; 3. Iowa City High, 1:00.89.

100 — 1. Brandon Pedersen (West Branch), 11.15; 2. Chauncey Bodden (Kennedy), 11.28; 3. Nathan Miller (CPU), 11.32.

Distance medley relay — 1. Center Point-Urbana (Maloney, Andrews, Crouchet, Grimm), 3:42.15; 2. C.R. Prairie, 3:43.43; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 3:50.03.

400 — 1. William Roelfs (Prairie), 51.14; 2. Kaleb Wilgenbusch (Xavier), 51.60; 3. Max Patterson (Prairie), 52.66.

800 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Byishimo, Erickson, Cooling, Pour), 1:29.72; 2. Iowa City High, 1:31.70; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:33.19.

110 hurdles — 1. Quinton Alexander (Prairie), 13.92; 2. Jackson Goslin (Kennedy), 14.91; 3. Brayden Peck (Kennedy), 15.76.

800 — 1. Lincoln McMahan (Kennedy), 2:00.01; 2. Nicholaus Lee (Prairie), 2:00.26; 3. Kyle Johnson (Prairie), 2:02.55.

200 — 1. Brandon Pedersen (West Branch), 22.19; 2. Dawson Dougherty (Kennedy), 22.30; 3. Jacob Doyle (Kennedy), 22.50.

400 hurdles — 1. Nathan Miller (CPU), 52.56; 2. Anthony Zachar (Kennedy), 57.21; 3. Dane Mai (Prairie), 57.76.

1,600 — 1. George Karr (City High), 4:30.42; 2. Emmett Palmberg (City High), 4:30.44; 3. Carter Mulford (Prairie), 4:33.57.

400 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Alexander, Stumpff, Erickson, Pour), 42.42; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 42.49; 3. Center Point-Urbana, 43.06.

1,600 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Franklin, Roelfs, Krambeer, Lee), 3:31.86; 2. Iowa City High, 3:33.76; 3. West Branch, 3:34.00.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com