Area athletes quailfy for Drake Relays

Area schools will be sending three field events, three relays and five individual running events to the elite Drake Relays this weekend. Southwestern Community College is sending two relays.

Today at 2:30 p.m., East Union’s Morgan Cooley and Clarke’s Cole White will compete in the discus. Cooley’s personal best throw of 160-07 ranks 24th in Iowa. White is right behind, ranking 27th with 159-00.5.

Friday

Cooley will compete again Friday at 9 a.m. in the shot put. His stronger event, Cooley ranks 12th in the state with his PR of 54-08.5. Both his shot put and discus best marks are East Union school records.

Junior Gabe Funk of Lenox qualified in three events, the first taking place Friday morning at 8:44 where he will compete in the 110m hurdle preliminaries. His best time this season, :14.87, ranks 18th in the state. If he qualifies, finals will be two hours later at 10:34.

Murray senior and reigning 200m dash state champion Leksi Gannon will be competing in the 100m dash at 8:58 a.m. Last season, Murray placed second at state in the 100. Her season-best time of :12.48 ranks 18th in the state. If she qualifies for finals, she will run again at 2:50 p.m.

Mount Ayr senior Ryce Reynolds will look to hold his 400m dash Drake title after winning in a dramatic comeback photo-finish last year.

His season-best time of :48.76 ranks fifth in the state. Last year he ran a :48.46 in his Drake win. His race is at 5:44 p.m.

Friday closes out with the SWCC men’s sprint medley relay. The team is comprised of Cyrus Hancock, Tyus Wills, Rouce Sayee and Chase Oates. Alternates are Jedd Weinkoetz and Sam Foreman. The team comes in ranked 21st.

Saturday

Saturday morning opens with the Lenox shuttle hurdle relay team competing at 8:25. The team comprised of Jordan Martin, Donald Bashor, Dawson Evans and Funk ranks 20th in the state with the time of 1:00.92. The relay has a history of success, placing at state last year and winning it the year before. Finals are at 12:17 p.m.

The Nodaway Valley and Clarke girls are each sending a 4x100m relay team. The Clarke team of Maisy McCoy, Victoria Henry, Alissa Henry and Kya Thornton will compete in the first heat of the prelims at 9:40. The alternates are Finley Cooper and Josephine Moore.

The Wolverines team consists of Grace Britten, Maddie Weston, Annika Nelson and Emma Lundy. They will compete in heat four. Alternates are Addison Glade and Allie Cornelison. Finals are at 4:24 p.m.

SWCC will be sending a freshman shuttle hurdle relay team comprised of Sayee, Peyton Embree, Ross Stephens and Foreman. They come in ranked 13th and will compete at 12:22 p.m.

At 1:24 p.m. will be a small school showdown between Mount Ayr’s Reynolds and Lenox’s Funk in the 400m hurdles. The two are ranked third and fourth in the state with times of :53.41 and :53.43, respectively. Thursday, Reynolds ran a :53.23 at home, but the time came after the Drake cut off. That time moves Reynolds up to the second-fastest time of the year in Iowa.

Funk was able to beat Reynolds in Lenox earlier this season, edging him out in the final sprint. In Mount Ayr, Reynolds topped Funk. Reynolds won the event at state last year with a :52.57 while Funk took third. Funk has already far surpassed his state time of last year.