DES MOINES, IA – For the second time in school history, Indian Hills took home a title from the prestigious Drake Relays, only this time, the Warriors hauled in a pair of wins, and nearly captured a third over the weekend.
IHCC legend Kenny Bednarek was the first Warrior competitor to ever take home first-place hardware from the blue oval at Drake the last time the event was held in 2019, winning the 200-meter elite invitational over a star-studded field that included Olympic-level competition. After a one-year hiatus, the Relays were back this weekend, and Indian Hills continued their winning ways.
Freshman Damoy Allen sprinted to the men's college 200-meter championship in 21.23 seconds in a race that IHCC Head Coach Brent Ewing called impressive.
"Damoy led from the git-go and had a pretty convincing win. He's such a competitor," Ewing said. "Coaching him is a lot of fun, and I think he's a kid whose name you're going to hear for quite a while, even after he's done at Indian Hills."
Some of Allen's stiffest competition came from teammates as fellow freshmen Ashton Sanders and Kalen Walker were in the mix throughout the race. Sanders finished in fourth with a 21.77 clocking and Walker was in position to take home third, but was disqualified for toeing the lane line too many times.
The Warriors weren't done taking home gold from Drake, however, as IHCC saw the quartet of Justin Walden, Elijah Berry, Nathan Simons and Kendrick Winfield blazed to a Relays title in the 4x400 event, finishing in 3:12.41.
"The event that stood out the most this weekend was the men's 4x400m relay at Drake. Anytime you can close a meet with a 4x4 victory, you're a happy coach," admitted Ewing. "These guys led from the gun and didn't look back. I loved their aggressiveness. It was a really cool moment for them."
Indian Hills just missed collected a couple more titles in the 100 meters and later in the 4x100 relay.
Isiah Thomas (10.67) and Aurel Tchanbi (10.75) teamed up to finished third and fourth, respectively in the 100-meter sprint while the pair joined Walker and Allen in the 4x100 which came within an eyelash of first, finishing in 40.81, just .05 away from the title.
"We were hoping to have a one-two sweep in the 100 meters, but third and fourth was impressive nonetheless," Ewing said. "The 4x100 relay had to run just 30 minutes after the entire quad finished competing in the open 100 and 200 meter finals. That squad is super competitive. We were hoping to get the victory there, but fell just short. Their time was very impressive considering the lack of rest they had."
Sophomore Jackson Burnett continued his assault on the IHCC record books as the New Jersey native set new Warrior standards in the 800 and 1500-meter events. Burnett's 1:53.86 in the half mile was good enough for tenth place, and his school record time of 3:57.78 in the 1500 meters netted him 13th place.
Despite chilly conditions throughout the weekend with temperatures hovering in the 30s and low 40s, IHCC flashed its depth in the 400 meters, as 4x400 members Winfield, Berry and Simons joined Dorian Craven in the open 400, and all four ran under 49 seconds as Indian Hills collected fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth in the event.
"I was very proud of our team's performance at Drake and Simpson. We went into this meet knowing that the conditions were going to be less than ideal so we were focused more on race execution and place than times and marks," Ewing said. "Despite the weather, Dorian Craven was able to walk away with a personal best of 48.99."
As if running in one of the most prestigious track meets in the world wasn't enough on the team's plate over the weekend, the Warriors split time in the frigid weather between Drake Stadium and Simpson College in Indianola as IHCC participated in portions of the Kip Janvrin Open as well.
Allen followed up his Drake title in the 200 meters with a runner-up finish in the 100 at Simpson, clocking in at 10.44 seconds, good enough for second fastest in IHCC history. The Warriors sprint specialists also collected both first and second in the 200 meters as Simons and Walden were the first two to break the tape in 21.67 and 21.69 seconds, respectively.
"Nathan Simons and Justin Walden had a great 1-2 finish at Simpson in the 200," Ewing said. "Nathan works his butt off and has been a tremendous leader for our program. It was cool to see him get the W."
Ewing tipped his cap to three other competitors for their efforts in Indianola as Corrion Matthews, Herman Chongwain and Jaxson Sharp had memorable performances.
"Corrion Matthews had his best meet of his life at Simpson, ending the day with two personal bests. His 400m mark makes him the 10th Indian Hills athlete this year to break 50 seconds. I was really happy for him," said Ewing. "Herman Chongwain also had two season bests in the 100 and 200 meters, and Jaxson Sharp continued his consistent throwing in the javelin, picking up a third place finish at Simpson. Prior to this season, Jaxson barely had any experience throwing the javelin. He's stepped up and filled a big need for us in the throws events."
IHCC now looks ahead to this weekend's Region XI Championships that will be hosted by Iowa Western in Council Bluffs. Ewing hopes that the weather has turned the corner and that his student-athletes will have better conditions to compete in.
"As a whole, I was happy with the way our athletes competed despite the chilly conditions," Ewing concluded. "They were running in 35-45 degree weather basically the entire weekend. I think you'll see some significant drops in time if the weather warms up as we enter the last few meets of the year."
Drake Relays top performances
Damoy Allen - 200m, 21.23, Relays Champion
Ashton Sanders - 200m, 21.77, 4th place
Isiah Thomas- 100m, 10.67, 3rd place
Aurel Tchanbi - 100m, 10.75, 4th place
Kendrick Winfield - 400m, 48.52, 5th place
Elijah Berry - 400m, 48.55, 6th place
Nathan Simons - 400m, 48.75, 7th place
Dorian Craven - 400m, 48.99, 10th place
Jackson Burnett - 800m, 1:53.86 (school record), 10th place, 1500m 3:57.78 (school record) 13th place
4x800 Relay – Aytonn Bar-Shimon, Jerry Harper, Dante Salomon, Nick O'Connor, 8:02.92 (school record)
4x400 Relay - Justin Walden, Elijah Berry, Nathan Simons, Kendrick Winfield, 3:12.41, Relays Champions
4x100 Relay - Kalen Walker, Damoy Allen, Isiah Thomas, Aurel Tchanbi, 40.81, 2nd place
Kip Janvrin Open top performances
Damoy Allen - 100m, 10.44, 2nd, (#2 all time in IHCC history)
Kendrick Winfield - 100m, 10.60, 3rd, (national qualifier)
Kalen Walker - 100m, 10.65, 4th place
Ashton Sanders - 100m, 10.85, 7th place
Herman Chongwain - 100m, 10.86, 8th place
Nathan Simons - 200m, 21.67, 1st place
Justin Walden - 200m, 21.69, 2nd place
Elijah Berry - 200m, 22.04, 4th place
Herman Chongwain - 200m, 22.11, 5th place
Corrion Matthews - 200m, 22.37, 8th place
Justin Swann - 400m, 49.25, 2nd place
Jerry Harpe r- 400m, 49.74, 4th place
Corrion Matthews - 400m, 49.92, 5th place
Kenneth Greene - 400m, 51.30
Calvin Brindle – 400 hurdles, 57.28, 6th place
Rylan Seberg - long jump, 6.15 meters
Jaxson Sharp - javelin, 46.04m, 3rd place