Linn-Mar shuttle squad hurdles to a record

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hurdling can be such a fickle activity. It's exhilerating, breathtaking, dangerous.

Daniel Gorsich felt both extremes of the spectrum at the John Ask Relays on Saturday at Kingston Stadium.

He crashed in the 110-meter hurdles. That was the bad part.

The good more than outweighed it: Gorsich anchored Linn-Mar's shuttle hurdle relay to a meet record of 57.30 seconds.

'We're right where we were at the end of last year,' he said. 'Everyone's a year older, and we have a lot of time to get better.'

Consider this — the Lions' foursome of Zeal Baker, Gavren Dochterman, Nick House and Gorsich ran 57.26 at state last year. The same quartet basically matched that Saturday. They were in a dead heat with Cedar Rapids Kennedy until Gorsich pulled away in the anchor leg.

Saturday's time blistered the old meet record by more than a second and ranks No. 1 in Iowa this spring. The Lions were Class 4A state shuttle runners-up to Waukee last year.

'We want the state record (55.78),' Gorsich said. 'We've just got to keep working.'

Kennedy used its field-event prowess — get used to it, you'll be hearing that a lot again this season — to take top honors at the seven-team meet. Led by discus and shot put champion Jackson Coker, the Cougars scored 62 field-event points and scored 124 overall.

Iowa City West was second with 93 points, followed by Cedar Rapids Prairie (84).

Coker, a junior, unleashed a mammoth throw in the discus, flinging it 177 feet, 6 inches, setting a school record. He added a winning toss of 55-7 1/2 in the shot put.

Add in a triumph from Shaun Beyer in the high jump and another from Terrell Jordan, Jr., in the long jump, and it was a field-event sweep for the Cougars.

Prairie stacked its 1,600-meter medley relay — Joah Wallace and Marty Borseth opened with the 200-meter legs, then it was Jalen Rima in the 400 and Tysen VanDraska anchored with the 800 — and the Hawks ran away with it in 3:36.29, beating the closest competitor by nearly 17 seconds.

'We knew today might be our best chance to get into the fast heat at Drake,' VanDraska said. 'We had to get it done.

'We came up a little short last year at Drake, so we definitely have a chip on our shoulders.'

Wallace and Rima were triple-winners; Wallace captured the 110-meter high hurdles, Rima claimed the 100, and they both ran on the winning 400 relay.

Cedar Rapids Washington's Andrew Dostal won the 200 and was a member of the Warriors' victorious 800- and 1,600-meter relays.

BOYS TRACK & FIELD: JOHN ASK RELAYS

At Kingston Stadium

Teams — 1. C.R. Kennedy 124, 2. Iowa City West 93, 3. C.R. Prairie 84, 4. Bettendorf 79, 5. Linn-Mar 72, 6. C.R. Washington 66, 7. C.R. Jefferson 40.

Shot put — 1. Jackson Coker (CRK), 55-7 1/2; 2. Dalles Jacobus (CRK), 53-1; 3. Gerry Alt (CRW), 50-0; Discus — 1. Jackson Coker (CRK), 177-6; 2. Cole Webster (Bett), 153-1; 3. Dalles Jacobus (CRK), 152-10; High jump — 1. Shaun Beyer (CRK), 6-2; 2. Marty Borseth (CRP), 6-2; 3. Jared Sams-Merriweather (ICW), 6-0; Long jump — 1. Terrell Jordan Jr. (CRK), 21-1; 2. Carlos Wilson (Bett), 20-11; 3. Shaun Beyer (CRK), 20-7.

3,200 — 1. Ali Ali (ICW), 10:00.66; 2. Chris Oehlert (CRP), 10:07.23; 3. Matthew Schneider (ICW), 10:16.49; 3,200 relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Mather, Long, Schmidt, Murphy), 8:14.24; 2. Iowa City West, 8:18.73; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 8:19.36; Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Linn-Mar (Baker, Dochterman, House, Gorsich), 57.30*; 2. C.R. Kennedy, 58.55; 3. C.R. Jefferson, 1:01.62; 100 — Jalen Rima (CRP), 10.87; 2. Carlos Wilson (Bett), 10.95; 3. Trey Leonard (CRW), 10.98; 400 — 1. Dalton Gosch (LM), 50.75; 2. Darien Porter (Bett), 51.48; 3. Austin West (ICW), 52.06; 800 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (Nimmers, Leonard, Dostal, Herzog), 1:30.37; 2. C.R. Jefferson, 1:30.94; 3. Linn-Mar, 1:31.27; 110 hurdles — 1. Joah Wallace (CRP), 14.39; 2. Terrell Jordan, Jr. (CRK), 14.75; 3. Keeler Dix (CRK), 15.15; 1,600 — 1. Ryan Murphy (LM), 4:35.72; 2. Brandon Cooley (Bett), 4:38.14; 3. Patrick Karanja (ICW), 4:38.25; 200 — 1. Andrew Dostal (CRW), 23.41; 2. Carlos Wilson (Bett), 23.43; 3. Manny Olutunde (CRJ), 23.53; 400 hurdles — 1. Austin Coates (CRK), 56.02; 2. Isaiah Nimmers (CRW), 56.11; 3. Max Hill (ICW), 58.18; 1,600 medley relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Wallace, Borseth, Rima, VanDraska), 3:36.29; 2. Linn-Mar, 3:53.18; 3. C.R. Jefferson, 3:55.27; 800 — 1. Matt Lorenz (CRP), 1:58.65; 2. Derek Nugent (ICW), 2:02.58; 3. Colton LaGrange (CRP), 2:04.30; 400 relay — 1. C.R. Prairie (Wallace, Rima, Borseth, Northrup), 43.92; 2. C.R. Jefferson, 44.15; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 44.39; 1,600 relay — 1. C.R. Washington (Herzog, Dostal, Leonard, Nimmers), 3:28.68; 2. Iowa City West, 3:30.46; 3. (tie) Bettendorf and C.R. Kennedy, 3:31.01.

*meet record

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com