Alabama athletes seek some normalcy at Relays

By Rob Gray, Correspondent

DES MOINES - The branches of a once firmly rooted tree now pierce the interior of Alabama thrower Bekah Hoppis' Tuscaloosa family home.

She's one of the lucky ones.

Tornados tore through her hometown this week and swiftly snaked across the South, killing more than 300 people and turning familiar landscapes into unrecognizable debris fields.

“There's no more landmarks,” said Hoppis, who after countless delays arrived in Des Moines five minutes late for the javelin competition, where she ended up 17th. “The place, I drive up and down it every day, and it's just gone.”

What remained for Hoppis and her teammates is competition and a desire to rediscover a sense of safety and routine.

“We're really happy to be up here,” said Alabama women's coach Sandy Fowler, who Thursday was inducted into the Drake Relays hall of fame with Tide men's coach Harvey Glance and two others. “It brings some normalcy, which we haven't had for a couple days.”

Ten of Hoppis' teammates decided to travel to Des Moines, as well. Several elected to stay behind.

“There was nothing I could do at home, because the power's out and we have a tree in our house, so we can't live there, obviously,” said Hoppis, who added her family is all safe. “So this would give me a chance to kind of get away ... focus on something else, possibly.”

Fowler said the Relays' welcoming atmosphere provides at least a small respite from racing thoughts and widespread uncertainty.

“When we walk down the street in Des Moines, people will say, ‘Roll Tide,' and ‘Go Alabama,'” she said. “We feel like we're at home here.”

This and that

• Northern Iowa standout Holli Hosch wanted to chase, not lead.

Nonetheless, she paced the university-college 800 meters field most of the race until faltering to fourth in 2:07.15 just .62 back of winner Shakeeri Cole of Oklahoma.

“I was trying to speed up to finish, but just had a lot of lactic acid at the end,” Hosch said.

• Iowa State's women finished second to Utah in the university distance medley relay. The Cyclones won the event in 2010, but returned just one member of the team, Kianni Elahi.

• Former North Tama star Sara Stoakes ran the first leg of Kansas State's winning university division 3,200 relay. The race also featured Tipton's Ashley Miller and former North Tama teammates Blaire and Brooke Dinsdale, who helped Nebraska to a fourth-place finish.