Drake Hickok is pleasantly surprised.

He figured he'd rank near the top of the 400 meter hurdles in Class 4A this season, but he didn't think he'd be No. 1.

There it was on the Iowa High School Athletic Association website Tuesday: Drake Hickok, Cedar Rapids Washington, the state leader at 54.28 seconds.

Hickof finished 11th in the 400 hurdles in the Class 4A state meet last year as a junior and figured to move up this season, since eight of the guys ahead of him in 2011 were seniors.

"I always knew that I was going to be up there my senior year, I just never saw myself as first," he said Tuesday. "So being first at this point in the season is a big surprise."

Hickok won his specialty at Linn-Mar's Clark Weaver Relays Tuesday, but it was not a night for fast times with the temperature in the low 40's. Hickok captured the 400 hurdles in 56.68, which was 2.4 seconds slower than his best clocking.

Hickok owns a slight edge over Brandon Ophoff of Linn-Mar in the 400 hurdles. Ophoff has been timed in 54.37 seconds, just nine-hundredths of a second behind Hickok, but Ophoff did not run in the 400 hurdles Tuesday.

Hickok and Ophoff have faced each other only once this season in the 400 lows and Hickok prevailed. They've been battling in track and field in the Metro area since the eighth grade, and Hickok finally beat his friendly rival in an event this year.

"I did the high jump in the eighth grade, and I would always get second in the city meet. He would always be in first," Hickok said. "I didn't start doing hurdles until high school and there he was, and he was always in first and I was always getting second."

Ophoff ranks second in Class 4A in the 110 meter hurdles, his speciality, and Hickok ranks sixth in that event. But right now, Hickok has the edge in the 400 lows.

"I finally found something I could beat him at," Hickok said with a good-natured smile.

Hickok gives the nod in the 110 hurdles to Ophoff, but he thinks their battle in the 400 hurdles could go all the way to the Drake Relays and the Class 4A state meet.

"It's going to be fun," he said. "The way I look at it, from here until the end of the season it's pretty much going to be me and him. It's whoever wins when it counts."

When the season began, Hickok thought he might have a shot to finish in the top-3 or top-4 in the 400 hurdles at state.

"But as the year keeps going on, why not win?," he said. "I'm right there and I can do it, so why not win?"

Ophoff captured the 110 hurdles in 14.39 seconds Tuesday, ran on Linn-Mar's triumphant 4x400 relay and also ran a leg on the shuttle hurdle relay to help the Lions take the team trophy at their own meet.

Josh Evans won the 3200, Jabez Walker took the 400 and Jack Halupnik won the shot put for Linn-Mar. The Lions also captured the distance medley.

The Washington Warriors finished third in the team standings and got victories from Hickok in the 400 hurdles, Robert Hogg in the 800 and in the 4x200 relay with Nick Corbett, David Tann, Mitch Bredeson and Will Griffin.

The Xavier Saints placed fourth in the eight-team field and got victories from Nick Ball in the 200, Alec Clasen in the high jump and Craig Murtha in the discus.

Jefferson captured the 4x100 relay and finished sixth in the standings. Kennedy placed seventh in the meet.

CLARK WEAVER RELAYS
At Linn-Mar Stadium

Team Standings

1. Linn-Mar 133, 2. Iowa City High 95, 3. Washington 91.5, 4. Xavier 81.5, 5. Waterloo West 65, 6. Jefferson 47, 7. Kennedy 31, 8. Waterloo East 8.

Long Jump

1. Dequayvious Martin (WW) 22-3 1/2, 2. Jason Millett (WW) 20-11 1/2, 3. Colton Sanchez (LM) 20-4 1/2, 4. Bryson Runge (ICH) 20-3 3/4, 5. Michael Detert (LM) 20-2 1/2, 6. Famiek Cook (CRK) 19-10 3/4.

High Jump

1. Alec Clasen (CRX) 6-2, 2. Jeremy Johnson (ICH) 6-2, 3. Cameron Spears (ICH) 6-0, 4. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 6-0, 5. Willie Rhodes (CRK) 6-0, 6. Ben Sagers (CRX) 5-8.

Discus

1. Craig Murtha (CRX) 152-8, 2. Kody Dailey (ICH) 139-2, 3. Tyler Burrell (CRW) 136-4, 4. Andrew Martin (WW) 132-11, 5. Zach Berryman (CRJ) 128-3, 6. Dustin Smith (LM) 124-9 1/2.

Shot Put

1. Jack Halupnik (LM) 46-6 1/2, 2. Craig Murtha (CRX) 46-4 3/4, 3. Nile Banks (ICH) 42-10, 4. Kody Dailey (ICH) 41-6 3/4, 5. Darrell Caldwell (WE) 41-0, 6. Sam Techau (CRJ) 40-11 1/2.

3200 Meter Run

1. Josh Evans (LM) 10:09.54, 2. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW) 10:09.88, 3. Tyler Chlystun (LM) 10:29.38, 4. Taylor Mueller (CRJ) 10:30.77, 5. Mitch Black (WW) 10:58.73, 6. Eugeney Kolyvanov (ICH) 11:02.53.

4x800 Relay

1. Iowa City High 8:20.68, 2. Linn-Mar 8:42.84, 3. Xavier 8:56.39, 4. Washington 9:00.80, 5. Waterloo West 9:01.82, 6. Jefferson 9:08.50.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay

1. Linn-Mar (Brandon Ophoff, Mike Keiser, Colton Sanchez, Tristan Freese) 59.67, 2. Kennedy (Tom Kaiser, Derek Jacobus, Famiek Cook, Josh Jahlas) 1:01.36, 3. Iowa City High 1:02.33, 4. Xavier (Noah Clasen, Josh Nelson, Chris Ball, David Kirpes) 1:03.03, 5. Waterloo West 1:03.72, 6. Jefferson (Tanner Lund, Savaun Bounds, Dakote Tomkins, Michael Moncivais) 1:07.04.

100 Meter Dash

1. Haris Nuhanovic (WW) 10.78, 2. Will Griffin (CRW) 10.82, 3. Aaron Taylor (WE) 10.83, 4. Tyrell Martin (WW) 10.84, 5. Bryson Runge (ICH) 11.15, 6. (tie) Joseph McBride (CRW) 11.41; Jordan Weber (CRX) 11.41.

400 Meter Dash

1. Jabez Walker (LM) 51.74, 2. Robert Hogg (CRW) 52.39, 3. Timauntay Jones (CRJ) 53.71, 4. Dylan Chittick (CRJ) 54.99, 5. Ben Valentine (CRX) 55.26, 6. Noah Dostal (CRW) 55.42.

4x200 Relay

1. Washington (Nick Corbett, David Tann, Mitch Bredeson, Will Griffin) 1:32.69, 2. Iowa City High 1:33.28, 3. Xavier (Nick Ball, Brandon Gradoville, Cal Stovie, Jordan Weber) 1:33.40, 4. Linn-Mar (Austin Fleider, Tristan Freese, Tommy Feller, Jake Luerkens) 1:33.68, 5. Kennedy (John Koelling, Josh Jahlas, Jacob Shannon, Derek Jacobus) 1:35.15, 6.
Waterloo West 1:35.90.

1600 Meter Run

1. Alex Hottle (WW) 4:34.65, 2. Anthony Ohl (WW) 4:35.02, 3. Daniel Murphy (LM) 4:36.42, 4. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW) 4:40.05, 5. Mohamed Traore (ICH) 4:44.54, 6. Keegan Cook (LM) 4:45.99.

110 Meter Hurdles

1. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 14.39, 2. Dan Roemerman (ICH) 14.60, 3. Mike Keiser (LM) 15.16, 4. Drake Hickok (CRW) 15.42, 5. Mason Greer (ICH) 15.43, 6. Tom Kaiser (CRK) 15.70.

200 Meter Dash

1. Nick Ball (CRX) 23.22, 2. Nick Corbett (CRW) 23.23, 3. Jasper Washington (ICH) 23.62, 4. Chance Tiedtke (CRJ) 23.90, 5. Tim Larson (CRJ) 23.93, 6. Noah Clasen (CRX) 24.25.

400 Meter Hurdles

1. Drake Hickok (CRW) 56.68, 2. Jeremy Johnson (ICH) 57.46, 3. Lucas Vanous (CRJ) 1:00.18, 4. Ellis McBrayer (LM) 1:01.05, 5. Chris Ball (CRX) 1:02.77, 6. Riley Fergus (CRK) 1:03.48.

Distance Medley

1. Linn-Mar (Tristan Freese, Jake Luerkens, Matt Simon, Chase Grabau) 3:37.02; 2. Kennedy (Jacob Shannon, Famiek Cook, John Koelling, Trevor Oates) 3:49.66; 3. Iowa City High 3:54.59; 4. Waterloo West 3:58.62; 5. Washington (Josh Snetzler, Robert Miley, Sam Kline, Joe Berry) 4:03.03; 6. Xavier (Miles Sullivan, Jim Moore, Raymond Wright, Nick Robinson) 4:11.26.

800 Meter Run

1. Robert Hogg (CRW) 2:00.54, 2. Trevor Luebe (CRW) 2:02.22, 3. Josh Evans (LM) 2:03.18, 4. Brandon Gradoville (CRX) 2:09.45, 5. Patrick Mullin (CRX) 2:09.85, 6. Tyler Schlystun (LM) 2:12.10.

4x100 Meter Relay

1. Jefferson (Shaquille Harbor, Dylan Chittick, Chance Tiedtke, Tim Larson) 45.19, 2. Linn-Mar (Austin Fleider, Tommy Feller, Travis Kvach, Tristan Freese) 45.32, 3. Xavier (Nick Ball, Josh Nelson, Cal Stovie, Jordan Weber) 45.55, 4. Kennedy (Famiek Cook, Tom Kaiser, Jacob Shannon, Derek Jacobus) 46.51.

4x400 Relay

1. Linn-Mar (Brandon Ophoff, Jake Luerkens, Duggan Trenary, Jabez Walker) 3:31.05, 2. Xavier (Ben Valentine, Noah Clasen, Zach Stovie, Brandon Gradoville) 3:38.31, 3. Jefferson (Asim Wallace, Alex Baxter, Aaron Gruwell, Ryan Deerberg) 3:38.40, 4. Kennedy (Josh Jahlas, John Koelling, Trevor Oates, Donovan Kosman) 3:44.57.