Pella Christian girls 4x400 shatters 45-year-old record on final day of Drake Relays
Apr. 29—DES MOINES — The final day of the 114th Drake Relays was filled with rain and delays but that didn't stop the athletes from hanging around and posting some impressive times to wrap up a fantastic week of track and field.
The Pella Christian girls 4x400 was the highlight of the day for area kids. It had been a busy couple of days for the Eagle girls and they finished it off late on Saturday in spectacular fashion. The quartet of Rachel Kacmarynski, Meredith Van Wyk, Maisy Meinders and Bailey entered the event ranked 10th and were expected to race in the prelims on Friday night before severe weather pushed it back to all-finals on Saturday night.
The girls showed out and ran a blistering time of 3:53.87 to not only jump all the way up to third place overall, but also smashing the previous school record of 4:01.50 from 1979 in the process.
Several hours earlier in the day, the races got started in the girls 4x100 prelims. Pella Christian and Pella were just two of the 96 teams vying to get into the top eight to make the finals. The Eagles would end up 80th with a time of 51.88 while the Lady Dutch finished 85th with their time of 52.14.
The Lady Dutch distance girls were next up in the 4x800 with Macy Schroeder, Lizzie Neumann, Raegan Snieder and Marissa Ferebee taking on the Blue Oval. That group came in ranked 15th and would end up improving their placing to 11th while setting a new school record time of 9:32.03.
Ferebee would get a breather before coming back out for the 1500. Alabama commit Addison Dorenkamp of WDM Valley, who ran away with the 3000, took the 1500 as well while Ferebee ended up grabbing third and setting another school record time of 4:31.72.
The boys were up next in the 1600 and Canaan Dunham and Nathan Vander Waal were both in the field for Pella. Dunham would get a little stuck in the pack and would end up taking eighth with a time of 4:14.32 while Vander Waal finished in 17th with his time of 4:19.86.
For all the area kids competing this week, the relays will provide them with a boost going into postseason competition in May where they will look to get back to the Blue Oval and make some more noise at state.
Saturday Area Girls Results
4x100 Prelims: 80. Pella Christian (Claire Westerkamp, Amelia Boender, Lexi Terpstra, Amaia Agre, 51.88), 85. Pella (Abigail Melvin, Bray-Lynne VanZante, Avery Parks, Mara Schiebout, 52.14)
4x800 Finals: 11. Pella (Macy Schroeder, Lizzie Neumann, Raegan Snieder, Marissa Ferebee, 9:32.03)
1500 Finals: 3. Marissa Ferebee (Pella, 4:31.72)
4x400 Finals: 3. Pella Christian (Rachel Kacmarynski, Meredith Van Wyk, Maisy Meinders, Bailey Vos, 3:53.87)
Saturday Area Boys Results
1600 Finals: 8. Canaan Dunham (Pella, 4:14.32), 17. Nathan Vander Waal (Pella, 4:19.86)
Colin Peters can be reached at 641-672-2581, by email at cpeters@oskyherald.com or on Twitter @ColinPetersOH.
