Waukee Northwest leans on youth with standard-setting 4x100 performance at Drake Relays
There is winning, and then there is setting the standard.
One Waukee Northwest relay team accomplished both.
As the storm clouds returned and then departed over Drake Stadium – in symmetry with the meet-postponing weather from the night before – Avery Winter moved through a series of warm-up starts ahead of the girls 4x100-meter relay.
On your marks.
Winter jumped a few times in the air, leaned down and placed her cleats against the blocks. She wiped the water from her hands on the back of her uniform and settled her fingers along the line.
Set.
The Wolves squad already ran a season high (47.65) in the preliminary round – run Saturday morning under a cloudless, sun-filled sky.
After a three-hour delay – which Northwest spent staying warm in the Bell Center, according to third-leg runner Katie Stahl – Northwest came out ready to claim the white flag.
Winter exploded off the blocks, and her teammates – Keziah Caldwell, Ayrissa Robinson and Stahl – didn’t slow down.
Northwest finished in 47.89 seconds, good enough for first place and faster than the previous statewide best of 48.05 this season — which the Wolves ran at the Jim Duncan Invitational on April 13.
Caldwell crossed the finish line after anchoring the Wolves to another relay victory and was immediately enveloped in a hug from Winter.
“Good job,” Winter exclaimed. “You did so good.”
It was a good job by Caldwell, especially since the win almost slipped away from the Wolves. Western Dubuque’s Brynn Walters came on strong after the final turn, and Northwest pulled off the win by just five one-hundredths of a second.
Caldwell, a freshman, reminded herself to relax and focus on her finish.
“Just relax,” Caldwell said. “You run fastest when you’re relaxed.”
The Northwest relay team must have been relaxed, even as the day dragged on longer than planned.
The Wolves concurred one event in the sunny: Caldwell, Robinson, Stahl and Winter finished first in the 4x200 and set a Drake Relays record with a time of 1:40.46.
With fresh legs and four familiar faces, Waukee Northwest pulled off another win in the 4x100, and then Caldwell and Winter rushed out of post-race interviews to compete in the 4x400-meter relay.
The Wolves couldn’t pull out three wins in the sprint relay events.
But, with not so fresh legs, Caldwell and Winter joined Anna Sheriff and Sadie Maas to pull off a fourth-place finish in the 4x400.
The focus now turns to the state track meet, where Waukee Northwest will certainly be the team to beat.
And the Wolves are up for the challenge.
“We’ve been working hard for it all year,” Stahl said. “We’ve been working in the summer, fall, we just keep trying hard.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waukee Northwest wins girls 4x100-meter relay at Drake Relays
