Comet frosh Kiki Connell 3K qualifier for Drake Relays

Press Staff Report

It didn’t take long for it to become a two-person race.

During the Decorah Relays girls track meet held April 16, two-time state cross country champion Adrianna Katcher of Center Point-Urbana had Charles City freshman Kiki Connell nearly attached to on her backside for most of the 3,000-meter run.

Katcher eventually was able to gain a little distance on upstart rival Connell, who placed sixth during Katcher’s second XC title run despite running almost the entire race with one shoe.

On the final lap, Connell put the pedal to the metal and managed to close the gap.

Connell came up about 4 seconds short, but her runner-up time of 10 minutes, 44.53 seconds proved to be good enough to qualify her for the Girls 3,000 at the Drake Relays.

The event will be held 5:40 p.m. Thursday along Drake University’s blue track.

During a season where there haven’t been many opportunities for northern Iowa track athletes to qualify for the prestigious track meet, Connell managed to record the 19th fastest 3,000 time in all Iowa high school girls classes. The top 21 state times made the Drake cut.

With all events filled, Connell is the only Comet qualifier.

Last year, Charles City’s 4-by-100 relay team of Brianna Carey, Sadie Ruzicka, Sami Heyer and Alex Litterer qualified and competed at the Drake Relays.

Katie Foster, who helped the Comet relay team make the cut and qualified as an individual in the 200, was unable to compete due to an illness.