Four local 4×100 relay teams competed at the Drake Relays Saturday, though none advanced from the prelims.
In the girls race, the South Hardin group of Akana Ayers, Alli Sheldahl, Katie Allison and Ayda Eller placed 95th in 1:01.63. Dike-New Hartford’s Abby Jensen, Chloe Paulsen, Kailyn Meester and Macie Graves placed 56th in 51.20, 0.07 shy of tying a PR. Graves on the competition.
“It was an awesome experience,” Graves says. “We came in really confident. We might have not necessarily gotten the result that we wanted, but just to be able to compete was an awesome experience.”
The Wolverines were in Heat 9, which was exclusively returning qualifiers from last season.
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In the boys race, Grundy Center’s Brayden Davie, Ryker Thoren, Devin Hinders and Brody Zinkula placed 64th in 44.40. Zinkula says it was an adjusted lineup from usual.
“We’re feeling good about it,” Zinkula says. “I mean, coming down here is a great feeling, just to be a part of the Drake Relays. We lost Grant Newton, so we added Ryker to it and our handoffs were little rough, like Ryker and Devin’s handoff wasn’t the best, and then we had to switch up our order, and I’ve never ran the anchor in the 4×1 so that was a little different.”
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The Dike-New Hartford group of Jacob Burch, Noah Borcherding, Aiden Walston and Devon Lotts didn’t finish due to a missed handoff.
