Evans rests, Ophoff blazes

By Mike Condon

Correspondent

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn-Mar's Josh Evans has picked up in the track season right where he left off last fall at the end of the cross country season. And teammate Brandon Ophoff is shattering records in the hurdle events.

Evans, a sophomore, was dominant in the cross country season, taking second place in the Class 4A state meet. He is off to a solid start in the spring track season in the distance events.

Evans competed in the 1,600 meters at Tuesday's Hawkins Relays at Cedar Rapids Prairie.

He sat out his specialty, the 3,200, resting for Thursday's Forwald Relays in Iowa City, where the Lions will see teams from Des Moines and the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

“There are going to be a lot of good runners there,” Evans said, “so I just ran the (1,600) tonight.”

And he ran that race well, winning in 4:22.73, edging Iowa City West's Baily Wetherell, who finished in 4:23.20. The Lions also captured the team title, finishing with 104 1/2 points. Marion was second (98 1/2) and Cedar Rapids Xavier took third (92).

While Evans was taking a break from his specialty, Ophoff did not, setting meet records in the 110 hurdles (13.90 seconds) and 400 hurdles (53.49). His 110 time broke the school record of 13.96 held by Kyle Dunn and is tied for third best in Iowa history.

Ophoff has the best times statewide in both events this season.

“Ophoff is having a pretty good year,” Dunn said. “We lost a good one (Dunn) from last year, but we still have some pretty good athletes.”

Linn-Mar also won the 3,200 relay.

Evans had an impressive outing in last Saturday's Draxton-Stiers meet at Kingston Stadium, winning the 3,200 in 9:31.36. He said his training regimen hasn't really changed from what he did during cross country.

“There are some things that I do a little different, but I still put in plenty of miles,” he said.

“On the track, you have a little less distance to go, so you have to have a little more speed.”