Prairie goes on a record run in the Drake medley

DES MOINES — His legs were churning. His memory was racing.

'I kept thinking back to last year,' Tysen VanDraska said. 'That was a huge disappointment.'

This year was a huge thrill.

VanDraska held off a challenge by West Des Moines Dowling ace Ryan Schweizer to finalize a record-setting win by the Cedar Rapids Prairie boys' 1,600-meter medley relay team Friday morning at the Drake Relays.

Trevor Northrup, Marty Borseth, Jalen Rima and VanDraska were clocked in 3 minutes, 25.94 seconds, eclipsing the old mark of 3:26.48, set last year by Dowling.

Schweizer outdueled VanDraska in that race. Not this time.

After Rima split 47.8 seconds in his 400-meter leg, VanDraska took the baton with the lead. Schweizer made up a 10-meter deficit — 'I could feel him on my shoulder,' VanDraska said — but VanDraska had the most at the end, anchoring in 1:52.0.

'My goal was to get the baton around the track and let our two aces do their thing,' Borseth said.

Borseth was referring to VanDraska and Rima, who later finished second in the 800 and third in the 100, respectively.

There's another talent blossoming in junior Joah Wallace, who captured the 110-meter hurdles title.

Wallace didn't run track at Prairie last year, opting to compete for a club team and work out for football. He returned this year, because 'I knew what kind of team this was going to be. With Jalen and Tysen, I knew this team could be pretty special.

'This is everything I've wanted since the beginning of the year.'

Wallace was seeded fourth after the morning preliminaries, but was the victor in the final, finishing in 14.35 seconds. Jack Wilson of West Des Moines Valley was second in 14.41, JoJo Frost of Center Point-Urbana was third in 14.45.

Linn-Mar's Griffin Freese, David Petesich, Gavren Dochterman and Daniel Gorsich reigned in the 800-meter relay with an effort of 1:28.40.

It was Petesich's first appearance at Drake Stadium.

'I was excited,' he said. 'It's been a goal of mine to run here since I was a freshman. You just can't all let the people get to you.'

Gorsich's prime identity is as a hurdler.

'I wanted to show that we are strong in all areas,' he said. 'All I cared about was getting the win. I looked up, and we PR'd.'

After finishing second in the discus on Thursday, Mount Vernon's Tristan Wirfs eclipsed that by winning the shot put with a heave of 60-11 1/2.

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'It was one of those throws in which it feels effortless,' said Wirfs, a junior who has committed to play football at Iowa. 'It's really nice. Hopefully I can come here next year and get two titles.'

Jared Brinkman of Iowa City Regina and Levi Duwa of Mid-Prairie were second and third.

DRAKE RELAYS: FRIDAY BOYS RESULTS

Shot put — 1. Tristan Wirfs (Mount Vernon), 60-11 1/2; 2. Jared Brinkman (Iowa City Regina), 56-8; 3. Levi Duwa (Mid-Prairie), 56-6; 4. Coy Kirkpatrick (Madrid), 55-11 1/2; 5. Nick Phelps (KP-WC) 55-5 1/4; 6. William Blaser (Western Dubuque), 55-3 3/4; 7. Zach Timm (Monticello), 54-8 3/4; 8. Dalles Jacobus (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 54-5.

High jump — 1. Xavior Williams (WB-ND), 6-9; 2. (tie) Cade Kirkpatrick (Madrid), Cody Durbin (Ida Grove OA-BCIG), Blake Vande Hoef (Hinton), Cole Moeller (Calamus-Wheatland), 6-5; 6. Cameron Cantrall (Spencer), 6-5; 7. (tie) Miles Rupiper (Carroll Kuemper) and Mitchell Martin (Danville), 6-5.

1,600 medley relay — 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie (Northrup, Borseth, Rima, VanDraska), 3:25.94*; 2. West Des Moines Dowling, 3:27.31; 3. Pleasant Valley, 3:28.65; 4. Waukee, 3:29.44; 5. Monticello, 3:30.45; 6. Dike-New Hartford, 3:31.18; 7. KP-WC, 3:32.91; 8. Urbandale, 3:33.15.

110 hurdles — 1. Joah Wallace (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 14.35; 2. Jack Wilson (West Des Moines Valley), 14.41; 3. JoJo Frost (Center Point-Urbana), 14.45; 4. Wade Barclay (Southeast Polk), 14.54; 5. Duane Sleet (Davenport Central), 14.63; 6. Ethan Hanna (Ankeny), 14.69; 7. Austin Reed (Oskaloosa), 14.79; 8. Hunter Wargo (West Branch), 14.88.

100 — 1. Isaiah Trousil (WB-ND), 10.64; 2. Ryan Van Baale (Ankeny Centennial), 10.72; 3. Jalen Rima (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 10.86; 4. Tavien Gardner (Urbandale), 10.89; 5. Elijah Hicks (Boone), 10.93; 6. Tayshaun Cooper (Waterloo West), 10.93; 7. Michael Santi (Madrid), 10.95; 8. Brady Wall (Sergeant Bluff-Luton), 10.95.

800 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Freese, Petesich, Dochterman, Gorsich), 1:28.40; 2. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 1:28.61; 3. Sioux City East, 1:29.06; 4. Pleasant Valley, 1:29.14; 5. Boone, 1:29.22; 6. West Burlington-Notre Dame, 1:29.25; 7. Albia, 1:29.34; 8. Ankeny Centennial, 1:29.34.

800 — 1. Ryan Schweizer (West Des Moines Dowling), 1:51.76*; 2. Tysen VanDraska (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 1:54.03; 3. Karson Sommer (Pleasant Valley), 1:54.40; 4. Matt Frazier (West Des Moines Dowling), 1:54.47; 5. Hunter Lavallee (Cedar Falls), 1:54.51; 6. Matt Manternach (Monticello), 1:54.74; 7. Ethan Smith (Cedar Falls), 1:55.09; 8. Wyatt Gatrost (Center Point-Urbana), 1:55.33.

*Drake record

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