DES MOINES — A sinister storm that prompted tornado warnings and power outages across the state Thursday night turned into a sunny day the following morning, just in time for the 116th annual Drake Relays Friday, April 24.
Athletes from all over the country took to Drake University with the goal of walking away with the Drake Relays victory flag in-hand. Several Solon athletes, a mix of rookies and veterans, strived to etch their names in the history books on the iconic blue oval.
The Spartans’ day started shortly after 10 a.m. with its boys 1,600-meter medley team. Jackson Burk, a junior, and Eli Kampman, a senior, started with a 200– meter race apiece, and Kampman was in sixth place by the time he handed the baton off to Paxton Holtkamp.
The sophomore’s 400-meter sprint resulted in Solon falling back a spot by the time he completed his handoff — which was disturbed after bumping another racer — with senior anchor Owen Young.
Holtkamp was bumped on his exchange, knocking the Spartans back a place and ruining the flow of the start of Young’s 800-meter race. Solon finished 7th in its heat and 21st out of 24 teams with a time of 3:37:41.
“It’s just a great experience to get out here,” Holtkamp said. “Good prep for state because it’ll be easier and get more people opportunities.”
On the flip side, the girls’ 4×400-meter relay team waited all day before competing in the second-to-last event at 8:30 p.m. The Spartans had the shortest oval race in their heat being in lane one.
Jerzey Haluska, a junior, got her team off to a strong start, sitting in fourth place after her handoff with fellow junior Ava Rowles, And like the boys’ 1600-meter medley race, Rowles’ rhythm was disturbed with a cluster of racers attempting to do their handoffs in the second-to-third leg transition.
Rowles’ handoff with freshman Tenley Levin knocked Solon back two spots. Levin was still in sixth place when Mailee Schmidt, a freshman, took over. However, Schmidt was passed up by the last two racers during the final leg, resulting in an 8th place finish in the heat and 21st overall with a time of 4:04:38.
Standout freshman Mac Svalstad was the lone Spartan to qualify for an individual event, let alone two events, in the 400-meter and 800-meter races.
Svalstad’s 800-meter race took place right around 2 p.m., where he struggled to break into the top four throughout the entire race. Despite a new personal record of 1:53:49 and pushing himself to a point of puking post-race, he finished 6th in the heat.
Nearly three hours went by before he took the blue oval once again for his 400- meter race. Svalstad had an advantage starting in the eighth lane but was passed up by multiple runners right out of the gate.
After finishing last in his heat and 13th overall out of 16 sprinters, Svalstad disclosed a lingering hip injury that started affecting him the day before at practice.
“It kind of got a little worse at the end there,” Svalstad said. “But overall, I just don’t think I ran very well in general. I don’t think I was ready enough.
“This race is definitely a big motivator for me, just to know how it feels to be so far behind and how much more work I still have. This is a really good race for me coming up in the state.”