By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Track and Field: Drake Relays Highlights
Over 2,000 boys and girls high school track and field athletes converged on Drake Stadium in Des Moines for the Drake Relays Thursday, Friday and Saturday. As usual, the opportunity to compete in “Americas Athletic Classic” produced a number of highlights. Among them…
* A.G. Bradford of Davenport North set a new meet mark in the 400-meter hurdles, doubling up with another win in the 100-meter hurdles. She won the 400-meter event by a full three seconds over her competition at 1:01.1 and set the meet record by a full second, running the event for only the second time this year. The clocking is the second-fastest girls’ time in Iowa high school history and the best in 33 years.
* Jennifer Jorgensen of Southeast Webster-Grand won the long jump for the third-straight year, leaping 18-3 ½ for the championship.
* The Waukee 4x400 meter girls’ relay team set a new meet record, breaking a record that had stood for 28 years. The Warriors fashioned a time of 3:53.65, bettering Indianola’s 3:53.90 effort in 1980.
* The Cedar Falls girls’ 4x100 meter relay team took the event for the fifth time since 2002.
* West Des Moines Dowling’s Betsy Flood edged Sioux City East freshman sensation Shelby Houlihan to win the 1,500-meter run in 4:39.18.
* Jordan Mullen of Atlantic won the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 14.36 seconds, the fastest performance in the Drake Relays finals in 14 years.
* Burlington won the 4x100 meter relay boys’ title for the third time in school history. The Grayhounds won the event in 43.07 seconds, marking the third Burlington Drake championship of the weekend. Burlington also won the 4x200 meter relay, and Jarred Herring claimed the 100-meter dash championship. Herring’s 10.69 second clocking was the sixth fastest in Drake history.
* The boys’ sprint medley event was held without teams from Des Moines cross-town rivals Roosevelt and East. A qualifying time was incorrectly reported from a meet in early April and the dispute about it resulted in both teams being disqualified.
Girls Soccer: Xavier Dominates Class 1-A
The top-ranked team in Class 1-A girls soccer in Iowa is Cedar Rapids Xavier, trying to continue a stretch of success they’ve enjoyed the previous two seasons.
The Saints are 41-1 in coach Raven Blackwell’s third season as coach. During her tenure, Xavier has outscored its previous six state tournament challengers by a 24-5 margin. The only loss in that time span came to cross-town rival Kennedy; a 3-1 regular-season defeat last year.
Xavier is one of only three Iowa high school girls soccer teams to have won at least three state championships, joining Dubuque Wahlert and West Des Moines Valley at that lofty level.
The Saints are led by future Iowa Hawkeyes Morgan Showalter and Suzy Levett, along with All-Stater Ali Schmitt.
Football: New Coach Named at West Waterloo
West Waterloo has named a new football coach, as Stan Wienke has been named to take over the Wahawk program this fall. Wienke was the head coach for Tuscola (Ill.), a school that finished second in last fall’s Class 1-A Illinois state playoffs, losing to Galena in the championship game.
Wienke, who guided Tuscola to 14-straight playoff appearances, is also in the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
He replaces Doug Gee, who was 13-23 in four years for the Wahawks.
Wienke inherits a team that brings 16 starters back from last year’s 5-4 squad. He might also be bringing a quarterback of the future with him to Waterloo, as his son Jud is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound freshman signal-caller.
"I've talked to people, and I've done my homework pretty good, and it sounds like (the Wahawks) have some talent on different levels,” Wienke told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. “I think we just need more numbers in the program."
Wrestling: Wahlert Searches For New Wrestling Coach
Third-year wrestling coach Rick Samuelson did not have his contract renewed as wrestling coach at Dubuque Wahlert.
Activities director Tom English has not commented on the reasons, but Samuelson told the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald newspaper his record and a lack of participants was behind the move.
"They said not enough wins and not enough numbers. I was kind of flabbergasted with it, and there's some parents trying to get them to change their mind, and that's all you really know,” Samuelson said.
The Golden Eagles were 3-51 overall and 0-24 in Mississippi Valley Conference meets under Samuelson, who took over after taking a Wisconsin school to a state title in 2004. He replaced Brian Ehlinger, who was with the program for seven years.
Samuelson will stay at the Dubuque Catholic high school as a physical education teacher, but is unsure if he will coach again. English says he looking for a replacement and hopes to have a new coach within a few weeks.
