Distance runners Rondi Quass of Ankeny Centennial and Drew Beason of Ankeny found themselves near the back of the pack after the opening lap of the girls’ 3,000-meter run at the Drake Relays on Thursday.
The duo didn’t stay there for very long.
Quass, a junior, gradually worked her way up toward the front. Beason, a freshman, was right with her most of the way.
Quass eventually placed fifth in a personal-best time of 10:09.05.
“I’m super excited,” said Quass, who entered the race with the seventh-fastest time. “My goal was to medal, so I’m super happy.”
Beason finished 10th in 10:13.68. Like Quass, she made the decision to hang back early in the race.
“I can never go out fast because I won’t be able to hold it,” Beason said. “I just stay back and then get ready to go fast at the end. I’m pretty happy about how I ran.”
Paityn Noe of Ballard won the race in 9:53.31. She finished nearly 4 seconds ahead of Addison Dorenkamp of Valley.
Quass initially thought that her start was too slow.
“I realized about 400 meters in that I shouldn’t be this far back, but then I looked at the time and I still went through in 74 (seconds),” she said. “So I think it was a smart decision to be like basically last.”
Quass nearly met her pre-race goal.
“Cog had me at like 10:08, and he’s usually not wrong,” she said of Centennial assistant coach Eric Cogdill. “I ran 1 second off of that, so that proves how good of a coach he is.”
The girls’ 3,000 was part of Thursday’s distance carnival. Four high school field events were also contested.
Ankeny freshman Reagan Hanfelt placed 11th in the girls’ high jump. She recorded a personal best with a jump of 5 feet 4 inches.
“I’m very happy,” said Hanfelt, who was seeded 20th in the event. “That was definitely one of my goals to make 5-4, and I’ve been working on it with my coaches.”
Hanfelt cleared 5-0 and 5-2 on her second attempts. She then made 5-4 on her third try.
“This is great,” Hanfelt said of the favorable weather conditions. “This is just like the Ames meet (on April 12) when I jumped 5-3.25. That definitely helped a lot.”
Maddie Olson of Sheldon and Taylor Jochum of Bishop Heelan both cleared 5-7 on their first attempt and then missed all three tries at 5-8. Olson won the title based on fewer misses at 5-6.
“I like the atmosphere at Drake and just getting a preview of what state could possibly be like,” Hanfelt said.
Ankeny junior Kendra Winfrey took 14th in the girls’ shot put. She entered the meet with the fourth-longest throw in the state.
Winfrey had a toss of 37-9.75 on her first attempt. She fouled on her second try, then had a throw of 36-2.5 on her final attempt.
Jadan Brumbaugh of Mount Pleasant won the event with a throw of 47-7, one of her four tosses over 47 feet. She finished more than 5 feet ahead of the field.
Brumbaugh’s first throw of the day went 47-0.25, which essentially allowed her to wrap up the title before Winfrey even made her first attempt.
“I wish it wasn’t at Drake,” Winfrey said of her subpar performance. “I haven’t had a ton of super close competition, and so it got to my head.”
On the boys’ side, Isaiah Valentine of Centennial placed 19th in the long jump with a leap of 20-7.5 on his second attempt. The senior scratched on his other two attempts.
Abu Sama of Southeast Polk jumped 23-11 to win the crown.
“As a first-time qualifier for the Drake Relays, it can be challenging to execute your best performance,” Centennial assistant coach Mike Gettemy said of Valentine. “The past week and a half we practiced with the wind because we knew what the conditions would be and what pit we would be jumping at. Isaiah looked great in practice, and we believe he had a shot at the finals. I knew it would take a 21-4 to qualify for finals, and Isaiah is more than capable of that.
“I believe his first jump would have put him in finals, but he fouled by a small amount. The next jump we just needed to get in clean so we could get a mark. We made a slight adjustment and decided to really go for it on the third attempt, and it resulted in a foul as well. It was a good experience for Isaiah to compete down there because we are hopeful he’ll be back there in three weeks (for the state meet),” Gettemy added.
