Knights track runners (l-r) Evan Hanus, Trevor Clark, Garrett Kaalberg, and Levi Hadachek pictured on April 12 at the Falcon Coed Invitational in Parkersburg after breaking Union High School's record in the boys 4x100 relay. The speedy quartet is now headed to the storied Drake Relays in Des Moines this Saturday as one of 96 high school boys teams who qualified this year for the 4x100 event. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNION MENS TRACK/FACEBOOK

LA PORTE CITY – Fresh off breaking the school record, the Union Knights boys 4×100 relay team is heading to the Blue Oval this week after qualifying for the 114th Drake Relays.

The Drake Relays are hosted each spring by Drake University in Des Moines on the storied Drake Stadium ‘Blue Oval.’ The meet is part of Drake Relays Week – widely considered one of the United States’ top track and field events.

Back on April 12 at the Falcon Coed Invitational hosted by Aplington-Parkersburg, Knights runners Evan Hanus (junior), Trevor Clark (junior), Garrett Kaalberg (freshman), and Levi Hadachek (sophomore) broke Union High School’s record in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 44.58. The quartet came in second in the race just behind Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s team which finished in 43.78.

This year’s Drake blue standard in the high school boys 4×100 relay was set at 43.50 which 27 teams achieved, while the cut-off mark for the race landed at 44.87 which Union’s team qualified under as one of 96 teams. Union is seeded 71st in the race.

The team is scheduled to compete in the preliminaries on Saturday (April 27) at 10:12 a.m. If the quartet advances, the finals take place later that day at 4:29 p.m. following the girls race.

Drake Relays live results can be viewed here: https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/2015/11/24/DR_1124152133

A list of all the 114th Drake Relays high school qualifiers can be viewed here: https://godrakebulldogs.com/documents/2024/4/20/2024_HS_accept.4-20-24.1250p.pdf