KOLBY HODNEFIELD OF SOUTH HAMILTON took third place in the 400-meter dash at the Drake Relays.

DES MOINES — Kolby Hodnefield showed why he is a strong contender to secure state gold later this spring with a banner performance at the Drake Relays last week.

Hodnefield, a junior for South Hamilton, placed third in the 400-meter dash on the Blue Oval inside Drake Stadium. The race was won by Johnston’s Jashua Anglo, one of the top runners in Class 4A, with Center Point-Urbana’s Nathan Miller second.

Anglo came out of the second heat, as Miller and Hodnefield went head-to-head in the first. While in separate races, Anglo and Miller nearly finished with identical times, as Anglo was clocked at 48.836 and Miller at 48.838. Hodnefield went 48.96.

“The run felt alright,” Hodnefield said. “The wind on the back stretch hit so I had to push through that. Going into the race, I knew if I didn’t get Top-2 in my heat, I probably wouldn’t place, so the goal was to win my heat and see where I landed.

“Waiting (through the second heat) wasn’t terrible as I was trying to gain myself after running. That’s when I saw I got third and felt a sigh of relief.”

Earlier this year, Hodnefield brought home gold in 1A at the IATC Indoor Championships in both the 200 and 400.

“Kolby ran a really good race,” South Hamilton head coach Kyle Galetich said. “He seemed to have quite a bit left and finished well.”

At state track last spring, Hodnefield was fifth in the 400, going 49.71 as former Hawk Ty Koehnk took home gold in 2A. He also ran on the state championship 4×100 and 4×200 relays, along with the runner-up sprint medley relay.

“This gives me a lot of confidence going forward,” Hodnefield said. “It always helps to come into events with confidence.”

Hodnefield took part in the 100-meter prelims earlier in the day before the 400. He clocked a time of 11.09 to finish eighth in his heat and 27th overall.

The South Hamilton 4×100 relay finished 33rd in the first round of action on Saturday. The quartet of Braden Young, Tanner Twedt, Nick Severseike and Hodnefield went 43.71, placing third in heat seven behind Newton and Urbandale.