The Drake Relays will conclude Saturday, and four local 4×100 teams will compete.
The Dike-New Hartford girls will compete in the event for the fifth straight season. Abby Jensen, Chloe Paulsen, Kailyn Meester and Macie Graves will represent the team, with Jensen being the only new member of the group this season. Meester says the group has continued to fire on all cylinders and improve in each meet.
“We picked right up where we left off last year,” Meester says. “I mean, we’re still really good friends on and off the field, which definitely helps when we’re doing handoffs and stuff. So yeah, I think we’ve all become closer as friends and I’m excited to continue that down at Drake.”
The South Hardin group of Akana Ayers, Alli Sheldahl, Katie Allison and Ayda Eller will compete. Sheldahl, the only senior in the group, is joined by three sophomores, but says this appearance is a long time in the making.
“It started off with middle school and just competing really hard,” Sheldahl says. “And I remember we made it when I was in eighth grade, we had state track for middle school, and we always wanted to win and beat other teams. And then carrying that into high school has been cool, and wanting to work hard, and knowing they’re coming up, it was a good opportunity because they also try their best. And then making it to state last year is also cool, and knowing that we got to bring it to this year as well.”
The girls prelim race will be at 9:40 a.m., and those who qualify for the finals will race later in the day at 2:51.
The Grundy Center group of Devin Hinders, Brody Zinkula, Grant Newton and Brayden Davie were a somewhat unexpected entrant, currently with the 104th-fastest time in an event in which 96 teams qualify. But due to some other eligible teams not entering, the Spartans got the nod. Hinders says the school record of 44.2 is within reach. They’re currently at 44.35.
“I think we’re really going in as the underdogs, and I think we all know that we can run a way faster time than the time that we’ve ran,” Hinders says. “We’ve just got to be a lot more confident with our handoffs and things like that. But I think our main goal is to beat our school record.”
The Dike-New Hartford group of Jacob Burch, Noah Borcherding, Aiden Walston and Devon Lotts will round out local competitors. Lotts says the group has progressed better than he could’ve imagined when the season started.
“When I initially saw this relay put together for the first time, I was kind like, oh, jeez, this is our group,” Lotts says. “And we’ve worked with it, our handoffs have gotten better as the year’s gone on, and yeah, really proud of what we’ve done so far.”
The boys prelim will be at 10:12 a.m., and the final will be at 3:04 p.m.
Find interviews and results at radioonthego.com, Facebook and X.
Dike-New Hartford girls 4×100:
Dike-New Hartford boys 4×100:
Devin Hinders, Grundy Center – 4×100 (other 4×100 and 4×400 participants unavailable at time of interview):
South Hardin girls 4×100:
