South Hamilton’s Drake Relays crew was up early on Thursday to head to Des Moines. Making the trip were (left to right) throws coach Carlton Ness, Ashlyn Erickson, Kate Barkema, Austin Busch, Tanna Thompson, Kelbe Krumm and girls’ head coach Dan Brodie. Submitted photo

DES MOINES — Webster City’s JJ Moore and South Hamilton’s Austin Busch have been neck and neck with their performances in the shot put and discus throughout the first month of the track and field season.

So it only makes sense that they finished side-by-side at the Drake Relays.

Moore finished one place in front of Busch in the shot put yesterday morning, and then in the afternoon Busch finished one rung higher in the discus, as they highlighted the area’s six entrants at Drake Stadium.

On the Blue Oval, Webster City’s Kaiyu Levongkhom competed in the 110-meter high hurdles, and the South Hamilton girls’ 4×100-meter relay also hit the track to take on the state’s best regardless of class.

Moore and Busch both waited until their third of three attempts to unleash their best performances in the shot put. Moore’s toss measured 51 feet, 111⁄4 inches to move him up to 11th on the leaderboard, while Busch turned in a toss of 51-103⁄4, good for 12th.

Pella’s Kody Huisman won the shot put title with a throw of 58-7.

Moore competed in the first of two flights in the discus and had just one legal throw that measured 149-6. It left him in second place entering the second flight and it eventually placed 13th overall.

Busch, who was in the second flight, got all three of his throws in bounds. His second attempt — 151-10 — was his best and it was good enough for 12th place.

Woodbine’s Layne Pryor unleashed a heave of 185-0 on his fifth attempt to overtake previous leader McKade Jelinek of Linn-Mar (178-9) en route to the title. Jelinek was second and Huisman (177-5) took third.

Levongkhom finished 29th among the 32 entrants in the high hurdles with a clocking of 16.30 seconds. He was sixth in the second of four heats.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Drew Bartels was crowned the hurdles champion, as he raced down the straightaway in 14.40.

The Hawks’ 4×100 relay — Kate Barkema, Kelbe Krumm, Tanna Thompson and Ashlyn Erickson — was seventh in its heat and 44th among the 48 teams in the preliminary field. They turned in a time of 52.93.

Waukee won the gold in 48.59, just a blink ahead of runner-up Ankeny.

All seven of the area athletes that competed hope to return to Drake Stadium next month for the state meet. Busch and Moore are both among the throws leaders in their respective classes.