Yokom, West relay highlight area effort

DES MOINES -- Ashlynn Yokom escaped the trap.

"I didn't want to get trapped in the box," the Iowa City West distance runner said after a third-place finish in the Class 4A girls' 1,500-meter run at the state track meet Saturday at Drake Stadium.

It was one of few area highlights in the 4A girls' division Saturday. West's second-place 400-meter relay was another.

The Central Iowa Metro League swept the top four spots in the 4A girls' team race. Waukee claimed the championship with 82 points, followed by West Des Moines Dowling (69.5), Urbandale (66) and West Des Moines Valley (58).

Iowa City High tied for sixth, West was eighth. And Cedar Rapids Jefferson was the highest-finishing Metro team at 14th.

The center of power, for one year at least, has unquestionably shifted to the center of the state.

Yokom isn't a big girl, but she doesn't shy away from contact. And she termed Saturday's 1,500 race as physical.

"As long as I don't get tripped, I'm OK with it," Yokom said. "There was a lot of pushing and shoving. You've got to be aggressive, right along with everybody else."

Emma Huston of Des Moines Roosevelt won the race in 4:45.28; Yokom finished in 4:48.13.

West's Kiana Wilson, Courtney Dauber, Rebecca Tanner and McKennan Cronbaugh finished the 400 relay in 48.36. Urbandale won it in 48.00.

"We would have liked to have brought home the gold, but we still ran (well)," Dauber said.