By:  Betsy Luck

What a day at the Blue Oval!!!  The team had it’s first Drake Relays Champion in 25 years!  Sophia Dykstra came home as the discus champion!  She joins Sarah DeRonde, the team’s assistant throws coach, as the only two Drake champions for the Oskaloosa Girls Track and Field team.  She out-threw the competition by almost 10 feet!  She was truly in a league of her own today!

Faith DeRonde had trouble keeping her throws in bounds and finished 13th in the discus. However, she showed true grit and bounced back in the greatest way ever to finish a strong third in the shot put, with a throw of 40-1.5 just a half inch off her personal record.  Sophia finished off her day with a tenth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 37-6.5

Maleah Walker had her first experience at the Blue Oval in 3 events.  She finished 16th in the 100 m dash and 18th in the long jump. The learning experience she had will pay huge dividends in four weeks at the state track meet.

The 4×100 of Jordan Czerwinski, Aby Thompson, Faith DeRonde and Maleah Walker finished with a season best time of 51.76 that placed them 30th.  To put that into perspective there are 328 4×100 teams in the state of Iowa.  This year more than ever it’s an honor just to make it to the Drake Relays in this event.

Since the record keeping for the team that started in 1994, this is the most events ever qualified for the Drake Relays for the girls team.  The work that these girls are putting in is top notch.  I couldn’t be prouder of these ladies!

As a coaching staff, we are looking forward to seeing where the rest of this season takes the entire team.

The entire team is back in action tomorrow night at Newton.