Metro Sports Report

J-Hawks nab 3 silver medals at Drake

DES MOINES - The Jefferson J-Hawks are extremely proud about setting the state record in the girls 4x200 relay last year, but the expecations are much higher now.

Now they expect to win the race every time, even though Jasmine Blue and Lucy Schneekloth are the only two holdovers from that record-setting quartet.

Jefferson finished second in the 4x200 relay Friday at the Drake Relays, getting nipped by Davenport Assumption by 33-hundreths of a second. They plan to do better the next time they run in a major event at the state meet.

By coincidence, the J-Hawks also placed second in the 4x200 relay at Drake last year before setting the all-time record in the event a month later at the Class 4A state meet.

It could be deja vu all over again.

Kernels withstand late Clinton rally

CLINTON - The Cedar Rapids Kernels held off a late rally by the Clinton LumberKings Saturday and held on to win, 7-6, in a Midwest League game before 552 fans at Ashford University Field.

The victory lifted the Kernels over the .500 mark to 11-10.

The Kernels led 7-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but the LumberKings tallied four runs to cut the lead to 7-6 before the Kernels escaped further damage.

Zach Larson paced Cedar Rapids, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Tanner Vavra recorded three hits. Felix Jorge (2-1) collected the win with six innings of work.

Jenks snaps state record in 3000 at Drake

DES MOINES - Stephanie Jenks idolized Katie Flood when she was younger and dreamed about becoming as good as the former Dowling star some day.

Now she's better. Now she's the all-time best in Iowa.

Jenks broke Flood's record in the 3000 meter run Thursday when she captured the race at the Drake Relays on a grey, blustery day in Des Moines.

Jenks set the new standard at 9 minutes, 26.87 seconds as she blew away the competition and topped Flood's old mark of 9:27.25 set as a high school senior in 2010.

"She was my idol when I was little," said Jenks, a sophomore at Linn-Mar. "I always heard about Katie Flood. It kind of made me work harder to get there."

By coincidence, Flood is competing at the Drake Relays this year as a senior at the University of Washington, where she's won an NCAA title in the 1500.

"I decided it would mean more to me and more to her if I broke it when she was here in town," said Jenks.

Evans breaks 3200 record, but gets 2nd

DES MOINES - Josh Evans succeeded in breaking the state record in the 3200 meter run at the Drake Relays Thursday, but somebody else was a little faster.

Albert Meier of Boone became the first high school runner in state history to break 9 minutes in the 3200 meter run when he crossed the finish line in 8:58.46.

Evans, who gave Meier a good battle, had to settle for second place in 9:01.55. They both eclipsed the old state record of 9:04.33 set by Jon Thomas of Des Moines Roosevelt and both broke the old Drake Relays mark of 9:05.58 set by Kevin Lewis of Ottumwa in 2005.

"I wanted to run a great race and that's exactly what I got," said Evans,a senior at Linn-Mar. "I can't ask for anything more than that. I ran what I wanted to run, so I'm very happy."

Evans was hoping to break 9 minutes as well, but he got jostled at the start of the race and had to wipe water off his face during the eight-lap event. It was not raining during the race, but the track was wet from rains earlier in the day.

He survived the jostling, but was a little distracted by the water.