Nick Corbett will leave running for political office to his father. He just likes to run on an all-weather track, and he's becoming very good at it.

Corbett blazed to victory in the 400 meter dash in 50.78 seconds Saturday at the John Ask Relays and anchored Cedar Rapids Washington to an impressive win in the 4x400 relay.

His father, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett, was in Mexico on city business Saturday and unable to attend the meet on a cool day at Kingston Stadium, but he was rooting for his son from afar.

"He texted me this morning," Corbett said after his strong showing in the open 400. "He said 'good luck,' so that was nice of him. He's always rooting for me."

Corbett, a junior at Washington, said he has no political ambitions of his own. "I try to stay away from politics," he said. "It's not my thing."

Corbett qualified for the 400 meter dash at the Class 4A state meet last year as a sophomore, but finished 23rd and dead last in Des Moines. "If he qualifies this year, I guarantee he won't be dead last again," Washington distance coach Will Harte remarked.

Corbett's personal best in the 400 last year was 51.9 seconds, so he's already chopped more than a second off his P.R. and the season is just starting to heat up. He'd love to crack 50 seconds and appears well on his way.

"I hope so," he said. "I was definitely happy with my time today. It's what I've been working for."

The Warriors put a strong 4x400 unit together with Drake Hickok, Noah Dostal, Robert Hogg and Corbett clocked in a winning time of 3:27.44, which would have been good enough to place at state last year.

Iowa City West won the John Ask title with 330 points. Linn-Mar finished second with 303 markers, followed by Bettendorf, Washington, Prairie, Jefferson and Kennedy.

The Linn-Mar Lions won five events to reinforce their status as the top boys track team in the Metro area at this point. Brandon Ophoff claimed two of those victories by taking the 110 high hurdles in 14.69 seconds and notching the 400 low hurdles in 55.47 seconds.

Ophoff also ran the opening leg on Linn-Mar's victorious shuttle hurdle relay with Mike Keiser, Ryan Wirth and Colton Sanchez in 1:00.22. The Lions also took the 4x800 relay with Jabez Walker, Duggan Trenary, Tanner Rathje and Matt Simon in 8:04.98.

Linn-Mar junior Josh Evans, the runnerup at the Class 4A state cross country meet last fall, won the 1600 in 4:31.16 and placed second in the 3200 in 9:36.35.

"I was really happy with my times today. I think it's been a good season so far," he said after winning the 1600.

Evans trailed Daniel Gardarsson and Bailey Wetherell of Iowa City West on the final lap of the 1600 and appeared to be fading, but he picked up the pace in the final 200 meters and won by more than two seconds.

"I said I'm not going to let them go. I stayed on those guys," Evans remarked of his strong kick. "We got to the back stretch and I felt I could probably go by one of them.

"I just felt strong," he said. "It was fun. It was a good race."

Cedar Rapids Jefferson junior Timauntay Jones left a calling card at Kingston Stadium by claiming the 800 meter run in 1:58.51. He also finished second in the 400 behind Corbett in 51.76.

Cedar Rapids Prairie won the sprint medley in 3:36.59 with Austin Dellamuth, Demetrius Harper, Tristan Beyer and Jacob Aune carrying the baton.

Kennedy sophomore Derek Jacobus won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 3 inches.

JOHN ASK RELAYS
Kingston Stadium

Team Standings

1. Iowa City West 330, 2. Linn-Mar 303, 3. Bettendorf 264.5, 4. Washington 256, 5. Prairie 233.5, 6. Jefferson 203, 7. Kennedy 148.

High Jump

1. Dondre Alexander (ICW) 6-3, 2. Jeremy Morgan (ICW) 6-1, 3. Willie Rhodes (CRK) 6-1, 4. Jordan Bonner (BETT) 6-0, 5. John Koelling (CRK) 5-6, 6. (tie) Jacob Aune (CRP) 5-4, Jake Hayles (BETT) 5-4.

Long Jump

1. Derek Jacobus (CRK) 21-3, 2. Richard Bryant (ICW) 20-11 1/3, 3. Armando Williams (ICW) 20-10, 4. Colton Sanchez (LM) 19-4, 5. Demetrius Harper (CRP) 19-4, 6. Jarred Edmons (CRP) 18-5.

Discus

1. Jacob Hayes (BETT) 155-4, 2. Tyler Burrell (CRW) 128-11, 3. Robbie Hanson (ICW) 128-0, 4. Zach Gillis (CRW) 125-10, 5. Sam Techau (CRJ) 124-6, 6. Sam Manternach (CRP) 122-6.

Shot Put

1. Jacob Hayes (BETT) 49-9, 2. Ryan Eivens (CRJ) 46-9 3/4, 3. Storhm Henry (CRW) 46-6 1/4, 4. Jack Halupnik (LM) 44-3 1/2, 5. Zach Gillis (CRW) 43-11 1/2, 6. Stephen Breitbach (ICW) 42-7 1/2.

3200 Meters

1. Matt Butler (BETT) 9:29.69, 2. Josh Evans (LM) 9:36.35, 3. Isaac Jensen (ICW) 9:46.96, 4. Jacob Aune (CRP) 9:50.13, 5. Chase Grabau (LM) 10:05.96, 6. Taylor Mueller (CRJ) 10:11.74.

4x800 Meter Relay

1. Linn-Mar (Jabez Walker, Duggan Trenary, Tanner Rathje, Matt Simon) 8:04.98, 2. IC West 8:05.97, 3. Washington (Robert Hogg, Matthew Wittman, Joe Berry, Trevor Luebe) 8:18.90, 4. Prairie (Mitch Pritts, Luke Galloway, Steven Wallace, Coen Brown) 8:47.14, 5. Jefferson (Tim MacDonald, Colton Cortez, Aaron Carter, Devin Stone) 9:00.94, 6. Bettendorf 9:21.24.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay

1. Linn-Mar (Brandon Ophoff, Mike Keiser, Ryan Wirth, Colton Sanchez) 1:00.22, 2. IC West 1:02.53, 3. Prairie (Mitchell Dellamuth, Keagan Pinter, Jarred Edmons, Haakon Wilz) 1:05.65, 4. Bettendorf 1:07.62, 5. Jefferson (Savaun Bounds, Tanner Lund, Michael Moncivais, Lucas Vanous) 1:07.95.

100 Meters

1. Tyler Younkin (BETT) 11.24, 2. Armando Williams (ICW) 11.27, 3. Will Griffin (CRW) 11.35, 4. Nate Karlan (CRJ) 11.59, 5. Jake Luerkens (LM) 11.72, 6. Tavian Smith (ICW) 11.84.

Wheelchair 100 Meter Dash

1. Jordan Houdeshell (LM) 23.15.

400 Meters

1. Nicolas Corbett (CRW) 50.78, 2. Timauntay Jones (CRJ) 51.76, 3. Gabe Rees (BETT) 52.35, 4. Tre Goode (ICW) 53.70, 5. Devon Clarke (BETT) 54.63, 6. Noah Dostal (CRW) 55.03.

Wheelchair 400 Meter Dash

1. Jordan Houdeshell (LM) 1:20.69.

4x200 Meter Relay

1. Bettendorf 1:31.26, 2. Prairie (Austin Dellamuth, Tristan Beyer, Jarred Edmons, Demetrius Harper) 1:32.47, 3. Washington (Drake Hickok, Morris Williams, Mitch Bredeson, Braedon Tovey) 1:32.62, 4. Iowa City West 1:33.11, 5. Linn-Mar (Travis Kvach, Tristan Freese, Tommy Feller, Jake Luerkens) 1:33.22, 6. Jefferson (Nate Karlan, Chance Tiedtke, Aaron Gruwell, Alex Baxter) 1:33.44.

110 Meter Hurdles

1. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 14.69, 2. Drake Hickok (CRW) 15.58, 3. Mike Keiser (LM) 15.59, 4. Lucas Brenneman (ICW) 15.89, 5. Tom Kaiser (CRK) 16.18, 6. Forest Vega (CRW) 16.39.

1600 Meters

1. Josh Evans (LM) 4:31.16, 2. Daniel Gardarsson (ICW) 4:33.67, 3. Bailey Wetherell (ICW) 4:38.37, 4. Isaiah Vlasek (CRP) 4:46.86, 5. Joe Berry (CRW) 4:49.58, 6. Matthew Wittman (CRW) 4:50.40.

200 Meters

1. Armando Williams (ICW) 22.72, 2. Will Griffin (CRW) 23.09, 3. Jake Luerkens (LM) 23.29, 4. Blake Younkin (BETT) 23.82, 5. Tre Goode (ICW) 24.06, 6. John Koelling (CRK) 24.10.

400 Meter Hurdles

1. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 55.47, 2. Forest Vega (CRW) 58.17, 3. Jabez Walker (LM) 58.64, 4. Lucas Vanous (CRJ) 59.79, 5. Haakon Wilz (CRP) 1:01.80, 6. Lucas Brenneman (ICW) 1:02.36.

Sprint Medley

1. Prairie (Austin Dellamuth, Demetrius Harper, Tristan Beyer, Jacob Aune) 3:36.59, 2. Bettendorf 3:40.01, 3. Iowa City West 3:47.03, 4. Linn-Mar (Mason Renner, Tommy Feller, Ellis McBrayer, Will Fuhrmann) 3:50.70, 5. Washington (Nicolas Corbett, Mason Taylor, Trevor Luebe, Matthew Wittman) 3:53.84, 6. Kennedy (Tom Kaiser, Donovan Kosman, John Koelling, Chris Blum) 4:02.95.

800 Meters

1. Timauntay Jones (CRJ) 1:58.51, 2. Chase Grabau (LM) 2:00.73, 3. Matt Simon (LM) 2:03.16, 4. Mitch Pritts (CRP) 2:03.98, 5. Phillip Laux (ICW) 2:04.51, 6. Taylor Mueller (CRJ) 2:07.12.

4x100 Relay

1. Iowa City West 43.10, 2. Washington (Braedon Tovey, Joseph McBride, Mitch Bredeson, Will Griffin) 43.80, 3. Bettendorf 43.85, 4. Prairie (Austin Dellamuth, Jarred Edmonds, Mitchell Dellamuth, Demetrius Harper) 44.69, 5. Linn-Mar (Travis Kvach, Tristan Freese, Tommy Feller, Jake Luerkens) 45.01, 6. Kennedy (Alex Hillyer, Tom Kaiser, Jacob Shannon,
Derek Jacobus) 45.04.

4x400 Relay

1. Washington (Drake Hickok, Noah Dostal, Robert Hogg, Nicolas Corbett) 3:27.44, 2. Linn-Mar (Ryan Wirth, Duggan Trenary, Jabez Walker, Brandon Ophoff) 3:29.03, 3. Iowa City West 3:36.17, 4. Jefferson (William Orr, Alex Baxter, Ryan Deerberg, Aaron Gruwell) 3:36.20, 5. Prairie (Mitchell Dellamuth, Jace Hanna, Alex Nelson, Tristan Beyer) 3:39.57, 6. Kennedy (John Koelling, Chad Slaymaker, Famiek Cook, Donovan Kosman) 3:48.15.