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Washington Evening Journal
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Hostetler, Wildcats, shine on Saturday
Final day of Drake Relays host long list of area athletes
DES MOINES — The blue oval was packed with track stars on Saturday as the field events took a back seat to the runners, and a few Union area runners took advantage of the opportunity.
Among those was one runner who is no stranger to the blue oval. Fresh off a 10th-place finish in the 3000 two days prior, Mid-Prairie’s Danielle Hostetler battled to a third-place finish in the 1500.
“All the glory to God. He truly gave me the strength and courage to come back and run on the track again after I had a little bit of a bad experience at state,” Hostetler said. “I was a little fearful for a little while, but he really gave me the strength.”
Hostetler led for portions of the race, one she was seeded sixth in, and wound up crossing the finish line in 4 minutes, 37.03 seconds.
“I can truly say I pushed as hard as I possibly could,” Hostetler said. “I have no regrets.”
The Columbus boys’ 4X100 team was the top area relay team on Saturday. The Wildcats qualified by just one-hundredth of a second, getting eighth in prelims with a time of 43.24 seconds. The quartet of Jeff Hoback, Riley Kaalberg, Triston Miller and Kaden Amigon finished sixth in the finals, finishing in 43.13 seconds.
The Wildcats were joined in the preliminaries by Mt. Pleasant’s quartet of Mason Sloat, Will Davidson, Payson Coleman and Avin Truong, which finished 65th, in 44.80 seconds, as well as Washington’s Ethan Patterson, Aidan Ulin, Cameron Vongpanya and Austin Rebling, who took 85th, in 45.71 seconds.
On the girls’ side, Mid-Prairie’s Madeline Schrader, Amara Jones, Jovi Evans and Tabitha Evans took 21st, in 50.62 seconds. Mt. Pleasant’s Courtney Raub, Bailey Jalas, Tristian Shull and Andi Scott placed 51st, in 51.69 seconds, and Fairfield’s Maya Lane, Lilly Bergren, Kiya Robertson and Hayeley Reinier placed 92nd, in 53.10 seconds.
Also running on Saturday were a pair of 400-meter hurdlers. Mt. Pleasant’s Will Davidson ran the 400-hurdles one day after taking fourth in the 110-meter highs, and Winfield-Mount Union’s Gabriel Hemsworth represented the Wolves.
A little rain made for a slippery track, one that got more so for Davidson, Hemsworth and the other members of the second and final heat.
“It's not anything new,” Davidson said. “We're in Iowa in the middle of April, so things can change just like that.”
Davidson ended up finishing ninth, crossing the line in 55.02 seconds. Hemsworth took 16th, in 58.66 seconds.
“I started singing 'Jesus bring the rain,' and he really brought it,” said Hemsworth after the event. “I slipped and something went wrong, but I'm just happy I made it. I'm proud that I got here.”
