NXR Heartland Champion Marissa Ferebee Looks To Add More To  Impressive Junior Resume; Moustafa Tiea, Caleb Ten Pas Ready For Round Two In Boys 800; Charlee Morton Going For Three-Peat In Girls Shot Put And Discus

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

DyeStat archival photos

Iowa’s top prep athletes make way to the Blue Oval for an exciting weekend of competition at the 115th Drake Relays.

Here are 10 storylines to follow:

Ferebee Going For 1500/3000 Double

Marissa Ferebee’s rise to national prominence last fall was one of the best stories of the cross country season.

A couple of Drake Relays titles next to her name would add to a very successful junior year that already includes a NXR Heartland title and an All-American finish at Nike Cross Nationals.

The Pella junior will contest in both the girls 1,500-and 3,000-meter races. Last year at Drake, she finished second in the 3,000 in 9 minutes, 42.89 seconds and third in the 1,500 in 4:31.72.

Ferebee’s ran 4:42.86 for 1,500 and 10:06.40 for 3,000 this season.

Lili Denton of St. Albert Council Bluffs is scheduled to challenge Ferebee in both events. Denton is first in the state in the 3,000 this season, running 9:58.80.

Ani Wedemeyer of Pleasant Valley will race in the 1,500, too, finishing second in last year’s race.

Tiea vs. Ten Pas Part 2

As epic as the first race was, the 800 rematch between Moustafa Tiea and Caleb Ten Pas could be even better.

Tiea of Iowa City West and Ten Pas of Des Moines Christian went wire-to-wire in the boys 800 at the Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival on April 12, with Tiea winning in 1:50.40 to Ten Pas’ 1:51.51.

Not only are bragging rights and a distinguished white flag are on the line at Drake this weekend, but meet a record, set by Ryan Schweizer in 2016 in 1:51.76, is up for grabs too.

Quentin Nauman of Epworth Western Dubuque returns as the defending champion, winning last year in 1:52.22. He will be in contention with both Tiea and Ten Pas.

Incredible Girls 400 Race Assembled

No other high school event at Drake will feature as much depthas the girls 400.

Five girls who finished top four in their respective state championships last spring are all in the field, including two state champions.

3A champion Reese Brownlee of Clear Lake leads the field with a lifetime best of 55.56 from her state final last spring. Bailey Vos of Pella Christian won the 2A title in 57.08, but has already improved to 57.03 this season.

Kadence Huck of Nashua-Plainfield and Kloe Nissen of Don Bosco Gilbertville finished second and third, respectively, in the 1A final. Both are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the state this season.

Olivia Fehn of Johnston, who took fourth in the 4A final, is the state leader this season in 56.94.

Anna Lursen of St. Edmond Fort Dodge, second in the state this season in 56.97, is another contender in the field.

Another Year of Boys 1,600/3,200 Records?

Circling back over to the distance races, two meet records are also up for grabs in both the boys 1,600 and 3,200.

The meet record in the 1,600 was set last year by Tony Anania of Norwalk in 4:06.54, who’s back to defend his title.

Des Moines Christian’s Ten Pas will double back from the 800 in the 1,600, going up against Anania and Ankeny’s Ethan Zuber. Both Ten Pas and Zuber have also produced sub-4:10 races within the last year, with Ten Pas running 4:07.47 at adidas Track Nationals and Zuber running 4:09.49 at last year’s Drake Relays, finishing second overall to Anaia.

Nauman of Epworth Western Dubuque is another top returning athlete, finishing behind Anaia and Zuber in third in 4:10.44.

Anania, Zuber and Nauman are all scheduled to race the 3,200, too, with other great competition against Cedar Falls Jaden Merrick and Pella’s Canaan Dunham. Both Merrick and Dunham are scheduled for the 1,600 as well.

Merrick and Zuber both went under Aidan Ramsey’s meet record of 8:58.27 in last year’s race, with Merrick winning in 8:55.14 and Zuber in second in 9:56.68. Dunham finished third in 9:04.01 and Nauman was fourth in 9:05.46.

Anania rounded out the top five in 9:07.79.

Iowa’s Fastest Girl

The top three 100-meter sprinters in Iowa are going to be side-by-side with one another for a highly anticipated girls race.

Grace Erick of Sioux City East enters the meet ranked No. 1 in Iowa with her time of 12.00. The senior has taken a big leap from her junior season, lowering her personal best time by almost a half-a-second.

Just behind Erick are Katie Willits of Waukee Northwest and Kelly Grobstich of Assumption Davenport.

Willits has faced Erick once this season at the Northwest High School Girls meet, finishing second in 12.13, the second fastest time in the state.

Grobstich, with only one 100 race contested this season, ran the third-fastest time in the state in 12.16 in her season opener at the Steve Sherwood Relays.

Alayna Goldsberry of Southeast Polk and Rachel Kacmaryniski are the top returners, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in last year’s final.

Sub-14 Chasers

Only two boys in Drake Relays history have ran under 14 seconds for the 110 hurdles:

Jack Latham in 2022 (13.99); Jaden Damiano in 2024 (13.98p, 13.84f).

That number could double at this year’s meet.

Iowa has seen four boys run under 14 seconds in the event this season, including top entries Koby Higginbotham of Knoxville and Brady Wallace of Treynor.

Quinton Alexander of Prairie Cedar Rapids hasn’t gone under 14 seconds this year, but his lifetime best is 13.95 after claiming victory at the Iowa State Championships last spring.

Other sub-14 contenders include Cooper Winkel of Sprit Lake (14.05), Hayden Carlson of Ankeny (14.05) and Tay Seals of Clear Creek-Amana (14.10).

Relay Records On The Line

Even through the hardship of downpours and weather delays, relay teams still came together to produce memorable performances.

Four relay meet records fell last season; how many will there be with much better weather?

Waukee Northwest is looking to make it four in a row in the girls 4x200 relay and better their meet record of 1:40.46. Avery Winter is the only returning member from last year’s team. The edition of Willits on the anchor, along with Avery Vogt and Aunya Van Zetten on the other legs, could make for a faster team.

Ankeny, who broke the meet record in the boys 4x800 relay in 7:39.54, returned three of four members from that group in Zuber, Ike Smith and Nick Robie. Those three, along with Justice Rathje, have ran the fastest time in the state this spring in 7:52.09.

The Pleasant Valley girls 4x800 relay team is in the same scenario, returning Wedemeyer, Aerielle Johnson and Grace Boelyn from last year’s team that ran 9:01.47. In addition to Caitlin Quinn, this year’s group ranks second in Iowa with a 9:22.80 effort, trailing only Johnston in 9:20.68.

Ankeny lowered the boys 4x100 time first to 41.70, then it was Adel-DeSoto-Minburn in the finals to 41.38. Cedar Rapids Kennedy, which featured Dawson Dougherty, Jacob Doyle and Chauncey Bodden, produced a 41.27 at the Iowa State Championships last spring. Those three are scheduled to be on the Cedar Rapids Kennedy relay again this weekend.

Other records to keep close tabs on are the boys 4x200 relay (1:27.14) and boys 1,600 sprint medley relay (3:25.94).

Creeping Up On Seven Feet

Tyson Seeser knows seven feet is there for him in high jump; it’s just about putting it together on the right day.

The senior from Camanche aims to not only win a second consecutive Drake Relays title but also become just the 12th Iowa prep athlete to go over seven feet in high jump. Xavior Williams was the last Iowa prep to clear seven feet in 2016.  

Seeser cleared 6-10.25 in his season debut. He won last year’s Drake Relays title at 6-8.

Streak(s) On The Line For Morton

Charlee Morton is no stranger to streaks of any kind.

For the last 19 combined competitions between shot put and discus, Morton hasn’t lost any of them.

At the Drake Relays, Morton won the past two shot put and discus titles. She’ll be going for a third sweep in 2025.

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL standout won last year’s shot put with a throw of 41-4, followed by a comeback in the discus, throwing 141-2 in the fifth round. This season, she’s thrown a personal best 46-8.50 in shot put, No. 1 in Iowa, and a season-best 140-3 in discus.

Kunze Looking To Jump Past Walker

All it takes is one jump. That’s what Kaiden Kunze needs in the boys long jump to surpass one of the longest meet records at the Drake Relays.

The Norwalk junior has produced the best mark in the state this season at 23-10.25. That’s 1.5 inches off the 1984 meet record of 23-11.75 set by Chris Walker.

If the weather holds up on Thursday, which is expecting clear skies, than the 41-year-old record might see its days dwindling.