T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • BCLUW junior Jack Garber, left, makes his way over one of the final hurdles in his preliminary heat of the 110-meter hurdles on Friday in the Drake Relays. Garber placed second in the heat to qualify for the finals, where he eventually took fourth overall.

DES MOINES — Last season Drake Stadium got an introduction to BCLUW’s Jack Garber when he ran a spectacular race to place fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in the Class 2A state championship.

On Friday Garber returned to the scene when he took to the blue oval for the first time in his career at the Drake Relays. This time, however, Garber wasn’t just competing against the best his class had to offer, but the other 23 best hurdlers in the state regardless of classification.

An early 8:15 a.m. start in the prelims didn’t phase him, as Garber ran a solid 14.82 seconds to qualify for the finals with the fifth-best time, setting up a date with destiny later that morning.

This time around Garber again would place fourth but in a completely different fashion, as he ran a 14.79 to tie his personal record and Comets team record. After the race he said that time honestly could have been even better had he executed everything as well as he can.

“I didn’t get out as fast as I did in prelims but I felt the middle of my race was a lot better,” Garber said, still breathless after his race. “I did hit a few more than I wanted to but I am overall I am pretty happy. I got a 14.79, which ties the record again and is only kind of frustrating.”

While he thought there were areas he could have improved, Garber said he did what he set out to do.

“That was really big to me, to come out here and put out my best times,” he said. “A lot of people think ‘hey it’s Drake, you made it,’ but I wanted to compete and do well so I achieved my goal of that too.”

Garber had the experience running at Drake Stadium in the state championships, but he said he wanted to know what the atmosphere of the Relays was like, and he got a first-hand look at that on Friday.

“I barely missed it last year so I was really happy I was able to come down here this year because I came in thinking it was going to be like state, but it’s nothing like state,” he said. “You are shuttled wherever you need to go, the atmosphere is just so much more tense and the competition was crazy. I really wanted to come out here and perform my best and I did.”

Not only did Garber gain some always-important confidence, he was able to face off with his direct competition in 1A with Mason Aschenbrenner from Cardinal in the field as well. The two actually entered with the same qualifying time for the finals, but in that final Garber nudged out Aschenbrenner, who finished with a time of 14.82.

“That meant a lot to me just because on quikstats he’s faster but when it comes down to it I think I can beat him,” he said.