A Drake Relays title? Cross that off these Solon Spartans’ bucket list

DES MOINES — As Emma Bock approached the finish line, the emotion registered on her face.

History was only a stride or two away.

“I was thinking, ‘No way this is happening,’” Bock said.

It happened.

Meghan O'Neill, Kaia Holtkamp, Gracie Federspiel and Bock earned the first Drake Relays girls’ relay championship in Solon High School history, claiming the grand finale — the 1,600-meter relay — Saturday afternoon at Drake Stadium.

“This is really special,” Holtkamp said. “This has been on our bucket list since we were freshmen. It’s been our dream for so long. It’s indescribable.”

Bock sped past Ames anchor Ellie Lynch down the stretch, giving the Spartans the title in 3 minutes, 56.24 seconds. Ames was timed in 3:56.57.

“On the backstretch, I made up some ground, then decided to stick behind her to see what I had left,” Bock said.

She had plenty. Bock anchored in 57.02 seconds. That came on the heels of a 1:01.27 opener by O’Neill, 59.15 by Holtkamp and 58.81 by Federspiel.

“When I saw the girl in front of me, I wanted to get Emma the baton so that she had a chance,” Federspiel said.

And when it was over, Bock covered her face in disbelief.

Bock will run at Texas Tech next year, Holtkamp at Iowa State.

Cedar Rapids Prairie did not win a relay this weekend (the Hawks were second in the sprint medley relay Friday and the 3,200-meter relay Saturday), but the Hawks earned the Drake Relays Cup.

Prairie scored 19 points in the four scoring relays (4x100, 4x400, 4x800 and sprint medley). Waukee Northwest and Solon tallied 16 apiece.

The Hawks entered as the No. 1 seed in the 3,200-meter relay, and ran the same people in the same order. But the Hawks couldn’t recapture the magic they stirred at Williamsburg on April 5, when they ran 9:20.32.

Dubuque Hempstead won the event Saturday in 9:22.28. Prairie edged Solon for second, in 9:28.13.

“We’ve been running together since seventh grade,” anchor Lily Johannes said. “I really wanted to move us up there at the end; I wanted to do it for my teammates.

Gabby Cortez, the 400-meter champion Friday, put the Hawks in the lead with a 2:15.6 opening leg. Alexis Moses, Alyza Koppes and Johannes ran the final three legs.

Solon was third in 9:28.61.

Iowa City High’s shuttle hurdle unit of Sierra Pruessner, Te’Nia Ansley, Martha Hamilton and Mia DePrenger ran together for just the third time this season, but continued to drop time quickly.

The Little Hawks were a surprising third Saturday in 1:04.70.

“It’s been a process, a long process,” Ansley said. “There’s a commitment to what we want to accomplish.”

Three of the four runners have battled an assortment of leg maladies. Shin splints, sprained ankles, you name it.

“We haven’t been able to have as many reps,” DePrenger said. “It’s been quality over quantity.”

Mid-Prairie’s Danielle Hostetler and Iowa City Liberty’s Ashlyn Keeney were fourth and fifth in the 1,500.

It was only Hostetler’s second 1,500 of the season, due to a stress reaction in her left shin.

“I had been doing a lot of cross training and no running until the last couple of weeks,” Hostetler said. “Today, I gave it everything I had. I was running against some amazing girls that I really look up to, and I don’t have any regrets.”

Drake Relays: Saturday’s Girls Results

Drake Relays Cup leaders — 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 19, 2. (tie) Solon and Waukee Northwest 16, 4. Ames 11.

3,200 relay — 1. Dubuque Hempstead (Kay, Gehl, Leitzen, O'Brien), 9:22.28; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 9:28.13; 3. Solon, 9:28.61; 4. Pleasant Valley, 9:30.46; 5. Des Moines Roosevelt, 9:30.59; 6. Southeast Polk, 9:31.95; 7. Waukee Northwest, 9:38.80; 8. West Des Moines Valley, 9:39.39.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Waukee Northwest (Millsap, Harris, Weers, Carney), 1:01.86; 2. West Des Moines Dowling, 1:02.67; 3. Iowa City High, 1:04.70; 4. Winterset, 1:06.38.

400 hurdles — 1. Mackenzie Carney (Waukee Northwest), 1:02.87; 2. Ellie Rickertsen (Northeast), 1:04.39; 3. Darci Wiseman (Winterset), 1:04.74; 4. Ali Frandsen (Ames), 1:04.79; 5. Abby LaSale (Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln), 1:05.35; 6. Erinn Varga (Iowa City West), 1:05.51; 7. Gracie Schoonhoven (Unity Christian), 1:05.78; 8. Taylor Kvale (Dike-New Hartford), 1:06.02.

400 relay — 1. Adel ADM (Crannell, Grove, Tollari, Henfling), 48.48; 2. 2. Waukee Northwest, 48.69; 3. Davenport Assumption, 49.42; 4. Madrid, 49.53; 5. Sioux City West, 49.75; 6. Southeast Polk, 49.90; 7. Dubuque Wahlert, 53.20.

1,500 — 1. Ainsley Erzen (Carlisle), 4:36.27; 2. Addison Dorenkamp (West Des Moines Valley), 4:38.91; 3. Kaia Downs (Sioux City East), 4:44.12; 4. Danielle Hostetler (Mid-Prairie), 4:45.99; 5. Ashlyn Keeney (Iowa City Liberty), 4:46.83; 6. Abi Hahn (Des Moines Roosevelt), 4:46.87; 7. Adrienne Buettner-Cable (Des Moines Roosevelt), 4:47.18; 8. Clare Kelly (Van Meter), 4:47.21.

1,600 relay — 1. Solon (O'Neill, Holtkamp, Federspiel, Bock), 3:56.24; 2. Ames, 3:56.57; 3. Iowa City High, 4:01.16; 4. Waukee Northwest, 4:01.58; 5. Southeast Polk, 4:03.85; 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 4:05.36; 7. Ankeny, 4:05.91; 8. Van Meter, 4:09.79.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com