Johnston had 33 athletes place in the top 25 in different events at the Drake Relays April 23-27. Defending champion junior Jack Bergstrom won boys 400 meter hurdles again. Bergstrom ran the race in 53.07 seconds beating senior Sydne Davis from DSM- Roosevelt by .4 seconds. He had been preparing since the beginning of winter by running two miles a day for conditioning. He also worked on speed and form with his coaches. “I was so relieved to get that second one in a row,” Bergstrom said. “There is a lot of pressure on you once you’ve won one. There is kind of a target on your back after that so it was relieving to win again.” Looking forward, Bergstrom is hoping to win a state championship. “It was kind of crushing not to win state last year so the goal is to win that one.” Bergstrom said.

Junior Jordyn Kleve ran a personal best and beat her defending school record in the girls 1500 meter run with a time of 4:38.74. She placed eight in the 1500  and 4th the girls 3000 meter run. “Being able to place better than I did last year made me happy to see that I’ve gotten stronger and have made improvement,” Kleve said. “In both races everyone was so close to each other and we were all able to push one another and go faster in the last few laps.”

Johnston also had athletes placed in a number of other events as well. Junior Jared Seay placed second in the boys high jump jumping six feet eight inches. “Well I thought I could have won it but unfortunately I haven’t jumped in awhile because I injured my knee,” Seay said. “Honestly I don’t really think I could have done anything better. I gave it all I had, that guy was just better than me on this particular day.”

In the boys 3200 meter run, sophomore Drew Hershey placed 15th with a time of 9:35.81 minutes, breaking the school record. He also placed 16th with a time of 4:24.51 minutes in the boys 1600 meter run. In the boys 4×100 meter relay, Bergstrom, Seay, sophomore T-Boy White and senior Camden Van Brocklin placed fourth with a time of 42.98 seconds. In the boys 4×200 meter relay Van Broklin, Bergstrom, Seay, and senior Anthony Kpedeh placed seventh with a time of 1:30.26 minutes. Bergstrom, Van Brocklin, Seay and junior Josh Borwick also placed fourth in the boys 1600 sprint medley with a time of 3:31.97 minutes. In the boys 4×800 meter relay Borwick, seniors Connor Westlake and Adam Johanson and junior Ben Renner placed eighth with a time of 8.00.56 minutes. Renner also placed 17th in the boys 800 mter run with a time of 2:00.53 minutes.

In the girls 4×800 meter relay, sophomores Anna Toot and Maddy Bradley, senior Kenzie Foldes and junior Jordyn Kleve placed sixth with a time of 9:38.55 minutes. In the girls 800 sprint medley, senior Ronnoja Ayers, juniors Kristen Stucker and Maddie MacGregor and freshman Elle Brown placed fourth with a time of 1:49.12 minutes. Freshman Ellie Roquet placed 15th in girls high jump, jumping five feet. In boys shot put, Hezekiah Applegate placed 20th throwing 45 feet and 8.5 inches.

Both the girls and boys coaches are happy with the outcomes of the Relays. “We did really well, it was good to see so many athletes place,” boys head coach Patrick Mattingly said. “Probably the best or one of the best outings the Johnston track team has ever done for the boys side.  I’m really looking forward to next year.”