Linn-Mar eeks into the girls’ 4x100 final, then roars to a runner-up finish

DES MOINES — They barely made the finals.

“We were really disappointed in ourselves,” Ja’Niya Crawford said after Linn-Mar’s performance in Saturday’s preliminaries of the Drake Relays girls’ 400-meter relay.

The negative vibes didn’t last into the afternoon.

Running out of Lane 8 in the 4x100 final, the Lions climbed all the way to second place.

Brooklyn Guild, Abby Mecklenburg, Sarah White and Crawford circled the track in 48.31 seconds. Waukee Northwest won it in 47.65.

“We did a lot of reflecting (between the prelims and the final),” White said. “We knew we didn’t do our best in the prelims, but we came here seeded fourth.”

For Mecklenburg, second place Saturday felt a whole lot better than it did two days prior, when she was edged by Clear Lake’s Reese Brownlee for the long jump title.

“I’m so proud to do this with the team,” Mecklenburg said. “To see their reaction ... it makes my day.”

“Just speechless,” Guild said. “I knew we could do better than we did this morning.”

A lot better. Nearly a whole second better.

“I took ahold of the baton, and I heard (White) yell, ‘Go!’ Crawford said. ”I was hauling down the stretch.“

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FOR A VERY FEW, Drake is about victory laps and white flags.

For the majority, it’s about personal bests. And sometimes, motivation by corn chips.

That’s where the Marion girls’ 3,200-meter relay was.

“(Jayda Carnes) loves corn chips and hummus,” Wolves anchor Kyra Cordes said.

Addison Dabroski continued ...

“So we told her, ‘If you run a 2:25 split, we’re getting you corn chips.’”

A purchase is imminent.

Carnes blew away that benchmark, and the Wolves did the same to their season-best. Their effort of 9:23.32 was good enough for eighth place.

Marion’s previous season-best was 9:31.87, established April 3.

“We’re insanely happy,” Greta Hansen said. “Going against the big schools, Drake is another workout. State is the end goal.”

Hansen and Carnes opened with legs of 2:21.9 and 2:22.6, then it was 2:19.1 for Dabroski and 2:19.5 for Cordes.

Pleasant Valley won the event in 9:07.54. Six of the seven quartets that beat Marion are 4A units.

In other girls’ highlights Saturday:

* Brownlee became the second girl to win three individual events in a single Drake Relays. She added the 400-meter hurdles crown (59.86) to her long jump and open 400 titles.

“Drake is so special,” said Brownlee, a Kansas State recruit. “I’m still in the middle of my training block, and that keeps me humble and keeps me stable.”

* Waukee Northwest prevailed in an all-Central Iowa shuttle hurdle relay final, running in 1:00.70 and holding off West Des Moines Valley (1:01.15).

* Cedar Falls freshman Charlee Gall added the 1,500-meter title to the 3,000 crown she won Thursday.

* Northwest capped a brilliant day by winning the 4x400 in 3:51.02, and captured the Relays Cup in convincing fashion, outscoring runner-up Pleasant Valley by a 38-20 margin.

Drake Relays: Saturday’s girls results

3,200 relay — 1. Pleasant Valley (Wedemeyer, Johnson, Mowen, Boleyn), 9:07.54; 2. Waukee Northwest, 9:10.22; 3. Johnston, 9:13.81; 4. Dallas Center-Grimes, 9:14.67; 5. Ankeny, 9:16.34; 6. Gilbert, 9:17.09; 7. Dubuque Senior, 9:22.33; 8. Marion, 9:23.32.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Waukee Northwest (Schulte, Van Zetten, Willits, Twigg), 1:00.70; 2. West Des Moines Valley, 1:01.15; 3. Adel ADM, 1:02.06; 4. Indianola, 1:02.50.

400 hurdles — 1. Reese Brownlee (Clear Lake), 59.86; 2. Avery Winter (Waukee Northwest), 1:01.77; 3. Josie McGraw (Indianola), 1:02.71; 4. Angelica Attinger (Ames), 1:03.21; 5. Bella Lamp (Avoca AHSTW), 1:03.44; 6. Ada Hansen (Anita CAM), 1:03.78; 7. Anna Lursen (Fort Dodge St. Edmond), 1:04.29; 8. Tatum Miller (Bettendorf), 1:04.63.

400 relay — 1. Waukee Northwest (Eddy, Willits, Distefano, Vogt), 47.65; 2. Linn-Mar, 48.31; 3. Pleasant Valley, 48.31; 4. Waukee, 48.58; 5. Spirit Lake, 48.65; 6. West Des Moines Valley, 48.87; 7. Adel ADM Adel, 49.12; 8. Southeast Polk, 50.85.

1,500 — 1. Charlee Gall (Cedar Falls), 4:31.54; 2. Lili Denton (Council Bluffs St. Albert), 4:32.04; 3. Piper Messerly (Dallas Center-Grimes), 4:33.72; 4. Kadence Huck (Nashua-Plainfield), 4:34.56; 5. Laura Streck (Van Meter), 4:34.95; 6. Makenna Madetzke (Ankeny), 4:36.22; 7. Grace Boleyn (Pleasant Valley), 4:37.78; 8. Jordyn Brown (Indianola), 4:38.11.

1,600 relay — 1. Waukee Northwest (Winter, Dani, Vogt, Vogt), 3:51.02; 2. Indianola, 3:51.16; 3. Pella, 3:55.03; 4. Ankeny, 3:55.64; 5. Pleasant Valley, 3:56.23; 6. Dubuque Wahlert, 3:56.50; 7. Ankeny Centennial, 4:02.00; 8. Mount Vernon, 4:02.95.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com