(Greenfield) Nodaway Valley has four events that they’ll compete in at the Drake Relays.
The Wolverines have qualified in the Long Jump with Maddie Fry, 100M Hurdles with Maddax Devault, 4X100 and Shuttle Hurdle.
After the timing system crashed at Guthrie Center last week, PCM and Nodaway Valley both jetted up to Ogden for what coach Brett Welsch describes as a surreal and neat moment that doesn’t happen all the time in life. Welsch explains a PCM assistant coach has some connections with the coach at Ogden. “They got ahold of the Ogden coach and he got ahold of the AD. I heard they were heading to Ogden to get some times because their system was working.”
Welsch admits he was hesitant at first. “I didn’t want to intrude, but then I had an assistant coach ask why not just make the call. So I called and the PCM coach said they’d love to have us. They called back and said to get up there.”
The next series of events to transpire could be described as chaotic. “They were forgetting things at camp and it was just kind of a good feeling that they were excited. One headline said they were freaking out and that was probably a good way to describe it. We might have been above the speed limit a little bit heading to Ogden.”
The 4X100 relay of Jena Yonker, Annika Nelson, Maddie Fry, and Maddax DeVault and the Shuttle Hurdle Relay of Maddie Fry, Natalie Yonker, Annika Nelson, and Maddax DeVault each qualified based on their times in Ogden last Thursday night. Meanwhile, given the special circumstance, the Drake Relays did change their policy to allow some hand held times last Thursday from Guthrie Center to qualify. Frantic qualifying notes aside, for a 1A team to have four entries at Drake is quite the feat. “It means a lot. It means we have some dedicated athletes. The whole team supports each other. Two years ago we had one event, the 4X100. This year we are more diverse with four events there. It’s kind of neat.”
Coach Welsch gives a lot of credit to assistant coaches Amy DeVault and Chase Green for pushing the kids. They’ll be shooting for the school record in the 4X100 and Shuttle Hurdle. Coach Welsch adds it’s a great dress rehearsal for the state meet later this spring.
