Patton improves on seed at Drake Relays

DES MOINES — Murray senior Kate Patton finished 14th out of 32 competitors here Friday in the Drake Relays high school girls 100 meter dash.

Patton entered the 2014 Drake Relays in a three-way tie for 31st in qualifying. The top 32 performers gained entry to the Drake Relays.

Having been selected out of that tie to compete in the Drake Relays, Patton moved up 17 spots from her seed, running 12.87 in the prelims.

That time was just off her season best of 12.80.

“Last year I got 20th, so I wanted to do better than that,” Patton said. “There’s three 1A girls, so I wanted to beat all the 1A girls.”

Patton ended up finishing second out of the three Class 1A competitors, as Montezuma sophomore Katie Maschmann finished seventh, running 12.76 in the finals after having the fifth-best time in prelims at 12.70.

Des Moines Roosevelt senior Jalynn Roberts-Lewis won in 12.24.

It marked the second straight year Patton had qualified for the Drake Relays 100 meter dash.

Patton got a bad start out of the blocks at the 2013 Drake Relays, but felt she had a better start this year.

“I was really relaxed,” she said. “I was talking to the girl beside me the whole time, so that really helped. I did my practice start and I noticed my back block wasn’t quite right, so I fixed that and hoped it was better.

“Everyone is a lot better out of the blocks than me, and I realize that. So when I run at this level, it kind of hurts me.”

Still, Patton was able to make up ground in the later part of the race.

“I got out and I saw the girls ahead of me,” she said. “I started closing, and I felt like I did a good job of closing.”

The level of competition was much different from what Patton sees at a typical track meet, where she often wins the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters.

“Typical track meets, I can have a bad start or whatever and it doesn’t matter,” she said. “Up here, you have to have everything, I don’t want to say perfect, but it needs to be perfect in order to do good. I think next year, going into college, this is good prep for it. It’s also good prep for going back to state, if I make it.”

2014 Drake Relays

High school girls

(medalists and area results)

100 meters — 1. Jalynn Roberts-Lewis, DSM Roosevelt, 12.24; 2. Talia Buss, Waukee, 12.35; 3. Kari Dufoe, ADM, 12.37; 4. Briyana Carter, DSM Roosevelt, 12.50; 5. Maddie Bell, Hudson, 12.73; 6. Shariah Smith, Fort Dodge, 12.73; 14. Kate Patton, Murray, 12.87.