Goodell knows it, then she does it

DES MOINES -- Dakotah Goodell had a feeling.

"I just knew it," said the junior thrower from Williamsburg High School. "I had good practices all week. I told my coaches I was going to win it."

Thursday afternoon, she delivered.

Goodell captured the girls' discus championship at the Drake Relays, flinging it an even 140 feet.

She took the lead with her third preliminary throw. And it stood.

"It just felt good," she said. "I did a couple of imitations before I threw, and I knew my throw was going to be good."

The discus is contested a block north of Drake Stadium. And Thursday, it was held in a crosswind.

"The wind helped me, to be honest," Goodell said. "It kept a couple of my throws from going out of bounds."

Amanda Piche of Linn-Mar, the 2010 champion, was second at 137-9, a personal record. She overcame some tense moments in the preliminaries to throw well in the finals.

Piche's first throw was around 112 feet, then before she went into the ring, she was informed that she was wearing the wrong number.

Her number was 4186. She was wearing 4184, which belonged to distance runner Carolyn Newhouse.

Piche scratched her second throw, then struggled to refocus as coaches scrambled to make the Piche/Newhouse number switcheroo.

Her third throw was good enough to get into the finals, then she moved from seventh to second on her fourth throw of the night.

"I was able to relax," said Piche, who will compete at DePaul next year. "Once you get to the finals, it's a whole new meet."

Lauren Smith of North Fayette was third.

Logan-Magnolia star Alex Gochenour scratched on five of her six long-jump attempts, but her one legal leap was a winner -- 18 feet, 2 inches.

Gochenour is favored in multiple events this weekend. So is Shelby Houlihan of Sioux City East, who took the first step with a victory in the 3,000 in 9:56.71. Iowa City High's Rebecca Rethwisch (10:09.58) was third.