Ham flips his fortune in the high hurdles

DES MOINES - It's no longer a traumatic event. Last year's misfortune is been downgraded to a 'little incident.”

Connor Ham completed a full circle of Drake Relays fortune in the 110-meter hurdles. The senior from Solon High School won the event Friday in 14.31 seconds.

'It feels amazing,” he said. 'To finish second as a sophomore, then last year's little incident ... it feels great to come back and win it.”

Ham fell in the prelims here last year. Friday, he stayed vertical and outlasted Mount Pleasant's Cole Phillips.

'It was a close race, a great race,” Ham said. '(Phillips) is a great competitor. Today was my day, I guess.

'But I'm definitely not done. The most important meet is at state, and that's what I'm looking forward to most.”

Ham is the defending Class 3A state champion. He'll likely run into Phillips here again in four weeks. Phillips came into Drake with the top time in the state, and posted the best effort in the preliminaries earlier Friday. But Ham ran the better, cleaner race in the finals.

'The rain was coming down, and I was definitely a little anxious about it,” Ham said. 'I hit a few (hurdles), but (the title) was right there for me.”

Two Metro relays - the Cedar Rapids Jefferson 800-meter relay and Cedar Rapids Prairie's medley - narrowly missed joining Ham in the winner's circle.

Jefferson's Jacob Beaton, Manny Olutunde, Jimmy Itangishaka and Dan Larson ran 1:29.79, second to Cedar Falls' 1:29.74.

'This is the first time we've run with this squad,” Larson said. 'With our girls' success, we've been running under the radar. We really want to get our name out there.”

Cedar Rapids Washington finished fourth despite running in the first heat.

Prairie's Marty Borseth, Keagan Pinter, Jalen Rima and Tysen VanDraska were clocked in 3:27.08, just behind West Des Moines Dowling's Drake-record effort of 3:26.48.

Rima gave the Hawks a slight lead with a 48.8-second 400 leg. Van Draska followed in 1:52, but Dowling's Ryan Schweizer ran 1:49.7 to prevail.

'You're never happy with a loss,” VanDraska said. '(Schweizer) is an outstanding runner, but we came here to win. It's heartbreaking to know you're the anchor, and you couldn't get it done.”

Schweizer returned about three hours later to capture another Drake record, winning the 800 in 1:52.15. Nolan Teubel of Mount Vernon was fifth.

Isaiah Trousil of West Burlington-Notre Dame was the 100-meter winner, in 10.95 seconds. Erik Nelson of Waukee and Chandler Diercks of Clear Lake claimed the discus and long jump, respectively.

Cooper Koenig of West Branch was fourth in the long jump. Jackson Coker of Cedar Rapids Kennedy was fifth in the discus.

DRAKE RELAYS: BOYS RESULTS

Discus - 1. Erik Nelson (Waukee), 187-8; 2. Ben Canby (Mount Pleasant), 175-7; 3. Tom Yezek (Northwood-Kensett), 169-0; 4. Dylan Landess (Urbandale), 168-10; 5. Jackson Coker (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 166-11; 6. Garret Jansen (Pella), 166-8; 7. Levi Paulsen (Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central), 165-6; 8. Jess Jacobsen (Bettendorf), 162-9.

Long jump - 1. Chandler Diercks (Clear Lake), 22-8 1/2; 2. Xavior Williams (West Burlington-Notre Dame), 22-2; 3. Bryce Newcomb (Garwin GMG), 22-2; 4. Cooper Koenig (West Branch), 21-9 1/2; 5. Xavier Scarlett (Sioux City North), 21-4 1/2; 6. Chase VanSant (Pella), 21-3; 7. DeAngelo Jackson (Dubuque Senior), 21-1 3/4; 8. Willie Rhoads (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 20-10.

1,600 medley relay - 1. West Des Moines Dowling (Deskin, Gorsche, Kasap, Schweizer), 3:26.48 (Drake record); 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 3:27.08; 3. Johnston, 3:30.69; 4. Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central, 3:31.02; 5. Algona, 3:31.96; 6. Linn-Mar, 3:31.97; 7. Iowa City West, 3:33.49; 8. Pleasant Valley, 3:33.62.

110 hurdles - 1. Connor Ham (Solon), 14.31; 2. Cole Phillips (Mount Pleasant), 14.52; 3. Deonne Harris (Newton), 14.72; 4. Bryce Kemp (Baxter CMB), 14.83; 5. Dane Kruse (Glenwood), 14.98; 6. Thomas Brantley (Camanche), 15.02; 7. Nick Wessels (Waukee), 15.18; 8. Jacob Smith (West Burlington-Notre Dame), 15.31.

100 - 1. Isaiah Trousil (West Burlington-Notre Dame), 10.95; 2. Hunter Weldon (Albia), 11.09; 3. Tanner Dunkin (Knoxville), 11.10; 4. Ryan Van Baale (Ankeny Centennial), 11.12; 5. Moussa Kuyateh (Southeast Polk), 11.17; 6. Cray Washington (Fort Dodge), 11.18; 7. Tayshaun Cooper (Waterloo West), 11.22; 8. Andrew Smith (Carlisle), 11.31.

800 relay - 1. Cedar Falls (Turcotte, Harrington, Lavallee, LaBeaux), 1:29.74; 2. Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 1:29.79; 3. Waukee, 1:30.25; 4. Cedar Rapids Washington, 1:30.29; 5. West Des Moines Dowling, 1:30.31; 6. Ames, 1:30.39; 7. Davenport Central, 1:30.40; 8. Albia, 1:30.42.

800 - 1. Ryan Schweizer (West Des Moines Dowling), 1:52.15 (Drake record); 2. Daniel Chan (Ames), 1:53.87; 3. Jay Wolfe (Creston), 1:54.32; 4. Nic Scheelhaase (Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central), 1:54.90; 5. Nolan Teubel (Mount Vernon), 1:54.95; 6. Eldon Warner (Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson), 1:56.06; 7. Josh Borwick (Johnston), 1:56.22; 8. Kyle Dolecheck (Mount Ayr), 1:56.77.

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