A stirring Drake Relays finish, then a tame celebration for Lisbon’s Kole Becker

DES MOINES — You can classify Kole Becker’s championship celebration as tame.

“I’m going to shower, then I’m going to sleep on the way home,” he said. “Then I’ll sleep through the night.”

Sweet dreams, kid.

After a pair of second-place finishes earlier in the weekend, the Lisbon High School senior punctuated it all with a stirring, glorious finish in the Drake Relays boys’ 400-meter hurdles Saturday afternoon at Drake Stadium.

Still trailing by a significant margin as he approached the final hurdle, Becker kicked it in and edged Mount Ayr’s Ryce Reynolds by the slimmest of margins.

Becker was timed in 53.49 seconds, Reynolds in 53.50.

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“That’s kind of how I run the race,” said Becker, an Iowa State University recruit. “When I start getting tired, my hurdle form breaks down. But I really focused on my form and staying strong at the end.

“I saw (Reynolds) start to slow down a little before the last hurdle, and I thought I really needed to pick it up to make it close.”

He did, it couldn’t have been closer, and the late surge made Becker the first Drake champion for Lisbon.

“I had four chances (this weekend) to get one, and I got it on my fourth try,” he said. “I had tons of support, and I’m glad I could do this for Lisbon.”

Becker finished second in the long jump Thursday, second in the 110-meter high hurdles Friday.

“It was good for me to have good competition here. And it was good for me to get beat a couple of times,” he said. “That’s good motivation.”

Iowa City High’s Ford Washburn ran his second distance gem of the Relays, finishing third in the 1,600 meters.

Dallas Center-Grimes’ Aidan Ramsey capped a 3,200/1,600 sweep in 4:15.96. Washburn was clocked in 4:17.90.

“I was hoping to win it,” said Washburn, a junior who ran sub-9 in a runner-up finish in the 3,200 on Thursday. “Third is still really good; I can’t be disappointed with this. Everybody went out really slow, and that’s not what I was expecting.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie advanced to the shuttle hurdle relay final, where it finished third in 1:00.50. Pleasant Valley claimed the title in 59.72 seconds.

“We were really wanting to win that one,” Prairie’s Carter Prull said. “The weather might have gotten to us a little bit, but it was the same for everybody.”

Iowa City West placed third in the 400-meter relay, in 42.94 seconds. Southeast Polk won it in 42.00. Earlier in the day, Southeast Polk ran a Drake-record 41.82 in the preliminaries, climbing to No. 4 on the all-time list.

Johnston and Ankeny both scored 17 points in the Drake Relays Cup race. The Dragons win the Cup based on criteria, their higher finish in the 800-meter relay.

Drake Relays: Saturday’s Boys Results

Drake Relays Cup leaders — 1. Johnston 17 (wins on criteria), 2. Ankeny 17, 3. Iowa City High 15, 4. West Des Moines Dowling 13.

3,200 relay — 1. Sioux City North (Kifle, Kifle, Lohr, Nash), 7:48.21; 2. West Des Moines Dowling, 7:50.85; 3. Johnston, 7:57.17; 4. Iowa City High, 8:02.52; 5. Dubuque Hempstead, 8:05.01; 6. Ankeny, 8:06.31; 7. Urbandale, 8:06.74; 8. Western Dubuque, 8:08.84.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Doran, Necker, Zietlow, Wilson), 59.72; 2. Spirit Lake, 1:00.27; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 1:00.50; 4. Pella, 1:07.23.

400 hurdles — 1. Kole Becker (Lisbon), 53.49; 2. Ryce Reynolds (Mount Ayr), 53.50; 3. Alex Pitts (Bellevue), 54.28; 4. Jaden Damiano (Iowa Falls-Alden), 54.49; 5. Matthew Kruse (Dubuque Senior), 54.90; 6. Aidan Jacobsen (Iowa City West), 55.12; 7. Matt Schaeckenbach (Iowa City High), 55.81; 8. Nicholas Gorsich (Linn-Mar), 56.14.

400 relay — 1. Southeast Polk (Sama, Christiansen, Sisler, Filloon), 42.00; 2. Ankeny, 42.60; 3. Iowa City West, 42.94; 4. Johnston, 42.98; 5. West Des Moines Dowling, 43.20; 6. Ankeny Centennial, 43.22; 7. Spirit Lake, 43.29; 8. Cedar Falls, 43.54.

1,600 — 1. Aidan Ramsey (Dallas Center-Grimes), 4:15.96; 2. Jackson Mace-Maynard (Newton), 4:16.27; 3. Ford Washburn (Iowa City High), 4:17.90; 4. Carson Houg (Des Moines Christian), 4:18.92; 5. Riley Witt (Saint Ansgar), 4:20.24; 6. Carter Eckhoff (Johnston), 4:21.51; 7. Hayden Kuhn (Linn-Mar), 4:21.94; 8. Alex McKane (Iowa City West), 4:22.69.

1,600 relay — 1. Mason City (Hobart, Fingalsen, Wynter, Tyler), 3:21.55; 2. Cedar Falls, 3:21.59; 3. Ankeny, 3:23.49; 4. West Des Moines Valley, 3:24.01; 5. Dubuque Senior, 3:25.49; 6. Johnston, 3:26.90; 7. Mount Vernon, 3:27.93; 8. Dubuque Hempstead, 3:30.68.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com