As it turned out, the Hawks were able to walk away satisfied on both fronts.

Logan Peters, Conner Hill, Cole Berg and Quinton Grove pooled their middle distance talents to place eighth in the elite 4×800-meter relay field at the Drake Relays. Their time of 8:07.82 shattered South Hamilton’s school record of 8:10.28, set in 1988 by Dan Henderson, Scott Mason, Mark Baker and Peter Hill.

“The place is great, but to get the school record probably means a little bit more,” Peters, South Hamilton’s 2018 Class 2A state champion in the mile, said. “We honestly didn’t even check to see what place we got.”

The 16-team 4×800 field consisted of 14 4A programs and one 3A program. South Hamilton was the smallest school on the track, but that didn’t matter.

Conner Hill, South Hamilton's No. 2 runner.

“We competed really well with all of those big schools,” South Hamilton head coach Darrell Paulsen said. “I thought maybe they would be really nervous, but they weren’t. I’m just really proud of them.”

Peters opened up with a 1:59.64 split on the opening leg. Hill turned in a 2:01.46 on the second leg, Berg was next with a 2:04.71, and Grove anchored the group with a 2:02.02 and nearly tracked down Cedar Falls (8:07.72) for seventh.

“I like this order,” Paulsen said. “Cole had a little bit of a cold, he was all stuffed up, so he can run faster and Conner’s still figuring the race out. He passed three people down the straightaway, so he just needs to start his kick a little sooner and he’ll be below two minutes. (Grove) looked really strong.”

Friday’s performance solidifies South Hamilton’s standing as the 2A favorite to win the state title in the event next month on the same blue track. But pressure is nothing new to the four runners, who made up 80 percent of the starting lineup for the Hawks’ basketball team that placed third at state last month.

“If you go down to the Drake Relays you know you’re considered one of the best in the state, so to have that target on our backs is good because it will push us in practice,” Peters said. “I think we’ll be ready for that target when we get down to state.”

Cole Berg, South Hamilton's No. 3 runner.

Lynx 43rd in 4×100

Webster City spent the cold, rainy Saturday morning at Drake to compete in the 4×100 preliminaries and the Lynx fared well in the elements.

The quartet of Garrett Whitmore, Trey Mathis, Carson Struchen and Lincoln LaSourd turned in a time of 44.85 seconds to win its heat and place 43rd overall in the field of 96 entrants.

“We ran well,” WCHS head coach Chad Hisler said. “It was a great to have them get that experience and hopefully they’ll get a chance to do it again at state.”

A 43.77 was needed to reach Saturday afternoon’s finals.

Quinton Grove, South Hamilton's anchor runner.

WCHS, which jumped into the top 10 in Class 3A last week, was just off its season’s best time of 44.68.