Drake Relays Day 2: MAC has pair of Drake champs

April 30, 2011

By Brian Rathjen of North Scott Senior High School

Area athletes, including those from the Mississippi Athletic Conference, had another great showing at the Drake Relays Friday in Des Moines.
The MAC had no less than two championships, with one of those a repeat winner. In addition, Class 3A power Central DeWitt turned in a strong second-place finish in an event packed with excellent Class 4A teams.
Kenny Gilmore of Davenport Central became a two-time Drake champion in the long jump. At a school rich in tradition in the long jump (and track in general), Gilmore won the school's 13th overall long jump title with a leap of 23-feet-5 3/4. He is now within 4 inches of the state's all-time record, held by fellow Blue Devil alum Chris Walker.
Maurice Terrell of Pleasant Valley was fifth in the event with a jump of 21-feet-10 1/2, while Central DeWitt's Chris Campbell was 13th with a jump of 21-feet-2. Rounding out the locals in this event was Dwayne Phillips of Davenport Central with a jump of 20-feet-7, good for 18th place. 
The other MAC winner was Burlington's Khanishah Williams. The Grayhound senior won the girls' high jump with a leap of 5-feet-10, besting a field that also included teammate Victoria Ita, Maquoketa's Laura Osterhaus, Pleasant Valley's Kelly Hering and Muscatine's Shalyn Greenhaw. Osterhaus and Hering were part of a tie for seventh place with their 5-feet-3 jumps, while 13th-place Greenhaw had fewer misses at 5-feet-1 than 20th place-finisher Ita.
Williams added a bronze medal to her collection with a third-place showing in the 100-meter hurdles, with a time of 15.21. That time was 0.1 better than her qualifying time int the preliminaries. Pleasant Valley's Laura Rodriguez, the area's other finals qualifier in the event, was seventh in the finals with a time of 15.66; she had the fourth-best time in the preliminaries to advance.
Central DeWitt continued to prove they have one of the state's best boys' track teams, regardless of class, with their second-place finish in the sprint medley relay. The team of Joe Feldpausch, Chris Lubben, Brandon Jasper and Ben Niemann turned in a time of 3:32.30, just 0.86 seconds off the pace set by Cedar Falls. Bettendorf's contingent of Tyler Younkin, Tamrick Atwood, Devon Clark and Matt Butler was eighth in the sprint medley with a time of 3:33.89.
Rounding out the day were these finishes:
* Girls' sprint medley: Two local teams finished in the top 8. Davenport North -- whose team included Pauline Wright, Kayshia Mason, Tamika Tucker and Alisha Jones -- was fifth with a time of 1:50.28. Bettendorf (with Olivia Drexler, Abby Zimmerman, McKay Matheson and Mahnee Watts) was seventh with a time of 1:50.60.
* Girls' shot put: North Scott's Sam Butlett, the area's lone entry in the event, was 12th with a best throw of 38-feet-1.

* Boys' discus: A small school led the area schools here, as Durant-Bennett's Brady Grunder had a throw of 147-feet-9, good for 16th place. Jacob Hayes was 18th with a throw of 142-feet-7, and Joe Carber of Central DeWitt was 21st with a throw of 139-feet-9.  
There were no local entries in the boys' 100-meter hurdles, and no local finalists in the 100-meter dash.

Update from Thursday
Family Ties Production wants to acknowledge its overlooking a MAC athlete who finished second in the girls' long jump on Thursday. Congratulations to Drake runner-up Hannah McCorkle of Davenport Central, who turned in a leap of 17-feet-11 1/2.