A gold-filled, bittersweet Saturday for area boys at the Drake Relays

DES MOINES — Nicholas Gorsich doesn’t merely tolerate distraction.

He welcomes it.

“I like distractions,” the Linn-Mar High School senior said. “It prevents me from focusing on myself.

So when a light rain began to gain momentum before the Drake Relays boys’ high school 400-meter hurdles, it tickled Gorsich’s funny bone.

“I wanted the rain,” he said. “It’s not the Drake Relays without rain.”

Gorsich thrives amid distraction, and he thrived in the drizzle, winning a championship in 52.28 seconds Saturday afternoon at Drake Stadium.

As is habit, he pulled away in the final stretch.

“I knew I had a shot,” said Gorsich, who came into the race as the favorite. “I had a shot in the shuttle hurdle relay and the (110-meter) high hurdles, too, but neither worked out.

“I needed to finish this one out.”

Gorsich was the lone area individual boys’ champion Saturday, but three area relay units accompanied him on the victory stand.

Cedar Rapids Washington motored to a bittersweet 400-meter relay crown, Iowa City High earned the championship in the 3,200-meter relay and Cedar Rapids Kennedy topped the shuttle hurdle field.

The Warriors should have been full of joy after their climbing to No. 3 all-time in the 4x100, but their thrill of victory was short-lived.

About five strides after crossing the finish line, anchor Michael Blank pulled up, holding his hamstring, his grimace reflecting physical agony.

“Michael came up clutch for us,” Miles Thompson said. “I honestly just hope he’s OK.”

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Miles Parlet, Thompson, Noah Johnson, and Blank circled the track in 41.71 seconds.

“That race was all about Michael,” Johnson said. “The only thing that matters is if he’s good.

Blank got the baton in third place and tracked down the leaders.

Earlier in the day, Ford Washburn’s third-leg effort of 1:54.9 put City High’s 4x800 in front to stay, then 800-meter champion Ammon Smith put a bow on it. The Little Hawks finished in 7:48.83, more than 3 seconds ahead of second-place Johnston.

“I only got five hours of sleep (Friday night, after a 4:07 effort in the Elite Mile),” Washburn said. “I woke up today and thought, ‘OK, it’s going to be a tough race.’”

Smith said, “Yeah, 1:54 ... really tough.”

Truman Thompson and Ayman Noreldaim ran City’s first two legs.

The start of the race was delayed by two restarts, a false start, then a misfired gun.

“At first it was kind of annoying,” Thompson said. “Then the cheering hyped me up. Let’s go!”

Thompson (1:57.2 opener) and Noreldaim (1:58.6) put the Little Hawks’ hammers in position to bring it home.

“Winning an open event is great, but I love the relays. Doing it with your teammates is such a good feeling,” Smith said.

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Kennedy entered the shuttle finals as the No. 3 seed, then Tyler Bartels, Cyrus Courtney, Ryan Bartels, Landen Dougherty claimed the school’s third title in the last four years in the event.

The victorious time: 58.64 seconds.

“Kennedy is a hurdling school,” Dougherty said. “The culture behind it ... the time we put in, the effort we put in ... we keep the tradition going.

“It takes time. This week, you saw what we can do.”

With 40 hurdles to clear and three exchanges, the shuttle is a crapshoot full of potential peril. But the Cougars nailed it.

“We ran clean. We ran our hardest. We were ready for it,” Courtney said.

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Mount Vernon ran a close second to Ankeny in the 1,600-meter relay. Jensen Meeker’s 48.6-second anchor got the Mustangs close, but Ankeny’s Jake Bosch was able to hold on.

“He came out wide, I tried to go inside of him, then he came back in,” Meeker said.

Ankeny finished in 3:19.19; Mount Vernon in 3:19.48.

Caden Stimmel, Zach Fall and Brady Erickson ran for the Mustangs.

“We knew what we wanted, and we came really close to it,” Fall said. “(The big schools) count us out a little, but we know how good we are.”

Johnston won the boys’ Relays Cup, with 28 points. Ankeny was second with 21 points, followed by Iowa City West (20) and City High (18).

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Drake Relays: Saturday’s boys results

Relays Cup leaders -- 1. Johnston 28, 2. Ankeny 21, 3. Iowa City West 20, 4. Iowa City High 18, 5. Mount Vernon 13, 6. Cedar Rapids Washington 10.

3,200 relay — 1. Iowa City High (Thompson, Noreldaim, Washburn, Smith), 7:48.83; 2. Johnston, 7:52.46; 3. Ankeny, 8:00.53; 4. West Des Moines Dowling, 8:01.28; 5. Iowa City West, 8:07.83; 6. Mediapolis, 8:08.05; 7. Waukee, 8:08.50; 8. Cedar Falls, 8:09.19.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (T. Bartels, Courtney, R. Bartels, Dougherty), 58.64; 2. Pleasant Valley, 58.66; 3. Spirit Lake, 59.17; 4. Linn-Mar, 59.28.

400 hurdles — 1. Nicholas Gorsich (Linn-Mar), 52.28; 2. Ryce Reynolds (Mount Ayr), 52.57; 3. Aidan Jacobsen (Iowa City West), 52.83; 4. Logan Piper (Indianola), 54.12; 5. James Gruver (Lynnville-Sully), 54.45; 6. Tristan Rheingans (DeWitt Central), 54.70; 7. Kale Hobart (Mason City), 54.73; 8. Jack Follmann (Anita CAM), 54.82.

400 relay — 1. Cedar Rapids Washington (Parlet, Thompson, Johnson, Blank), 41.71; 2. Johnston, 42.02; 3. Iowa City West, 42.19; 4. Ankeny, 42.55; 5. Hampton-Dumont/CAL, 43.00; 6. Columbus Community, 43.13; 7. Harlan, 43.38; 8. West Burlington-Notre Dame, 43.57.

1,600 — 1. Gabe Nash (Sioux City North), 4:12.30; 2. Chase Lauman (Pella), 4:12.64; 3. Ethan Zuber (Ankeny), 4:16.81; 4. Jaden Merrick (Cedar Falls), 4:17.02; 5. Tommy Tyynismaa (South Tama), 4:17.35; 6. Miles Wilson (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 4:18.33; 7. Jaxson Plumb (Johnston), 4:19.19; 8. Max Derocher (West Des Moines Dowling), 4:19.26.

1,600 relay — 1. Ankeny (Van De Mortel, Miller, Belding, Bosch), 3:19.19; 2. Mount Vernon, 3:19.48; 3. Johnston, 3:20.12; 4. West Des Moines Valley, 3:20.51; 5. Mason City, 3:20.60; 6. Cedar Falls, 3:20.77; 7. Linn-Mar, 3:23.91; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 3:24.17.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com