Prep track and field: Subsin soars into Drake Relays

Apr. 22—OTTUMWA — Entering Thursday night, no one this season Iowa High School girls track and field had reached 43 feet with a shot put throw.

Delilah Subsin closed the gap on that mark, throwing a shot put further than any Ottumwa girls track and field athlete has thrown one before. Subsin set a new school record reaching 42 feet and 9.25 inches on Thursday at the Ron Werling Relays, posting the best throw this season among all Class 4A female athletes to clinch a trip to the upcoming Drake Relays.

Subsin nearly went into Drake with the best shot put throw in the entire state. Hampton-Dumont junior Charlee Morton overtook Subsin on Thursday, becoming the first female high school thrower to cross 43 feet in competition reaching a state-best mark of 43-6 at the Roland-Story meet, setting up a potential showdown for a title at Drake Stadium this Thursday afternoon.

Subsin will be competing in both the girls discus and shot put throws. The Ottumwa sophomore broke the school record in the discus earlier this season, reaching 128 feet and six inches at the Gary DouBrava Invitational on Apr. 9 qualifying for Drake with one of the state's overall top 21 throws tying for 18th-best along with Charles City junior Leah Stewart.

Subsin, a state medalist as a freshman in the 4A girls shot, will be joined by another one of the area's top throwing sophomores this week in the girls discus and shot put competitions at Drake. Pekin sophomore Anna Hadley, Class 1A's defending state discus champion, posted the fifth-best overall throw in the state back on Mar. 21 at the Iowa-Missouri Border Battle in Bloomfield reaching 140 feet and nine inches while also qualifying seventh overall in the shot put with a throw of 41-3.5 at Mediapolis one week later.

Field events could be the highlight among area athletes heading into the Drake Relays. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont junior Molly Shafer will compete on Thursday afternoon in the girls high jump, tying for the fifth-best overall height reached crossing five feet and five inches last Monday at the Eddy Relays just two inches shy of Ankeny junior Reagan Hanfelt's state-leading jump of 5-7 achieved back on Apr. 4.

Shafer will also be back at Drake Stadium to compete in the girls 4x400 relay for the first time since helping the Rockets win a 2A state championship last May along with twin sister Kate. The Shafers will be joined by Abby Jager and Caroline Van Utrecht in running in the prelims at the Drake Relays on Friday night after qualifying with the 18th-fastest overall time in the state at Newton on Thursday in 4:04.57.

Both Cardinal and Davis County qualified for the girls 4x100 relay prelims, which will be run on Saturday morning on the final day of the Drake Relays. Cardinal teammates Brinlee Ostrander, Emma Becker, Makenna Chickering and Addison Adam qualified in 52.16 seconds at Fort Madison on Apr. 9, just 0.02 seconds ahead of Davis County teammates Isabelle Carnahan, Sydney Utt, Brooklyn Batterson and Cassidy Van Laningham's Drake-qualifying time of 52.18 achieved last Monday at the Eddy Relays.

Hank Bulechek, Cason Young, Tyler Burton and Charlie Warren held on to the final qualifying berth into the boys 4x400 relays at Drake. The Davis County teammates posted a time of 3:27.06 at the Chariton Invitational on Apr. 9, edging Center Point-Urbana by 0.15 seconds for the Drake Relays trip.

Three area athletes will be competing on Friday in the boys high jump. Albia junior Ryan Little reached the Drake Relays 'blue standard' to automatically qualify on Apr. 12 at the Dennis Anderson Relays with a jump of 6-7, tied for the fourth-best overall jump in the state, while Fairfield teammates Ryan Giberson (6-6) and Eli Zillman (6-5.5) will also be part of the field.