DES MOINES — Solon’s varsity boys track and field team was represented in the 113th running of the Drake Relays Thursday through Saturday at Drake University in Des Moines.
Ben Kampman was the top Spartan of the weekend with a sixth-place finish Friday in discus with a 165’-1” throw. Adam Smith was eighth in the event at 161’-1.”
Jeremy Bachus, Michael Yeomans, Grant Knipper, and Blake Timmons took 13th in the 4×400 in 3:27.49.
Oaken Foster finished 21st in the high jump after clearing 6’-3” Thursday.
Brayden Moore, Nash Kotar, Milo Ashbacker, and Blake Timmons finished 40th out of 89 teams competing in the 4×100 with a time of 44.31 seconds, winning their heat and coming in just 1.07 seconds behind the eighth-place team (in the preliminaries) from Columbus Junction, As an example of how close the competition was, the Spartan foursome was only 2.60 seconds behind eventual winner Cedar Rapids Washington.
“We were proud of the way we represented Solon on a highly competitive stage,” said Coach Mark Sovers. “When you can go out and compete against some of the best athletes across the state of Iowa you are going to get better. We were able to compete and identify the areas we can still grow in. This will allow us the opportunity to reach the high level we call the Spartan Standard moving forward. Our Best is ahead of us.”