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Stafford, Hartman lead way at Drake
Mid-Prairie senior wins again; Washington thrower has huge performance
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
DES MOINES — Southeast Iowa certainly came to compete this weekend at the 2025 Drake Relays in Des Moines.
The area had at least one competitor in 13 high school events, with over 30 local athletes competing, and a handful of area names walked out of the arena as Top-5 finishers.
Two of those competitors are no stranger to the blue oval. Mid-Prairie’s Jayden Stafford and Washington’s Josh Anderson went toe-to-toe once again on the big stage, this time in the 400-meter wheelchair event.
It was Stafford who collected another flag at the relays, competing in his final Drake Relays event ever. Stafford crossed the tape in one minute, 3.22 seconds to win the race by just over a second.
Stafford hit his personal best in the race, finishing his Drake Relays career on top.
Anderson, in his junior year for the Demons, finished fourth behind his friend and wheelchair basketball teammate, crossing the tape in 1:09.95.
Washington’s best performance of the weekend came on Day 1, as Greyson Hartman made one of the most clutch throws of the weekend, tossing his third shot put attempt 58 feet, 11 inches.
Hartman had previously scratched in his first and second attempt, and was one more mistake away from not even registering a throw. The third heave earned him three extra throws in the finals, but it proved to be his best of the six.
“Coach (Nicholas) Williams and Greyson spend a lot of time together working on technique,” said Washington head coach Steve Roth. “I’m just real happy for both of them.”
Fairfield had two of the more decorated area athletes competing in the high jump, and both Eli Zillman and Ryan Giberson continued to add to their legacies, finishing in a tie for fourth place.
Zillman and Giberson both cleared six-foot-four on their first attempt, but neither could get past six-foot-six. The Two Fairfield leapers finished in a five-way tie with three others, setting the stage for what promises to be an exciting state meet next month.
Former state discus champion Anna Hadley took sixth to represent the Pekin girls. She threw the discus 135 feet, 10 inches in her very first toss, which proved to be her best throw of the weekend. She also took 15th in the shot put throw.
The area got an eighth-place finish out of Mid-Prairie’s Jeorgia Evans in the 100-meter dash. Evans qualified for the finals with an eighth-place finish on Thursday, and crossed the line in 12.33 seconds to take eighth in Friday’s finals.
The area’s only other Top-10 performance came courtesy of Winfield-Mount Union’s Kohlby Newsom. Newsom took 10th place in the 800-meter run, finishing in 1:55.79.
