By Miranda Meyer Click for Caption

Funk, a sophomore at Iowa City High, overcame a huge early deficit and finally shed Okoboji's Kristin Hansen in the final lap Thursday to win the 3,000-meter run at the Drake Relays. The victory ended a long string of runner-up finishes for Funk in track and cross country.

"My name is kind of synonymous with second place. It's awesome to finally say I'm a champion at something," said Funk, who pulled away to win in 9 minutes 56.31 seconds.

Hansen finished second in 10:04.36. She broke from the pack at the start and by the end of the second lap had opened a 50-meter lead.

But Funk began to chip away by the race's midpoint.

"I was watching her back, and each 100 meters, I kept timing myself to see if I was gaining," Funk said.

She was.

With 800 meters remaining, Funk was in striking distance. At the end of the next curve, she took the lead.

Funk and Hansen ran together until Funk surged ahead with 300 meters left. As she rounded the final curve, her lead was 10 meters. She kept building on that.

"I didn't know I had it won for sure until just before the end. You just never know when somebody's going to come up behind you," she said.

Funk finished second to Iowa City West's Jeni Frudden in last year's Drake 3,000. Frudden, now a senior, did not compete Thursday due to a hip flexor injury.

"I'm a little disappointed she didn't run," Funk said. "I've reached a point in my running in which it would be neat to see how I match up with her."

West's Robdu Adam and Julia Frudden were fourth and fifth. Shannon Oster of Cedar Rapids Washington was sixth.

Angie Hensel of Clinton waited until her final leap to win the long jump.

Her finale of 18-11 propelled her past defending champ Brie Penaluna of Cedar Falls NU High and the Drake record of 18-8, set in 1994 by Des Moines North's Tashika Lewis.

Hensel led at 18-4 heading into the finals, but Penaluna surpassed her by a quarter-inch on her second-to-last jump. Then Hensel passed her back.

"I guess I wait until the pressure's all on me, then I concentrate hard," Hensel said. "I got myself together, I hit my steps good, and I knew I was out there quite a ways."

Cedar Rapids Washington's Laneisha Waller, the Class 3A state champion last year, finished third at 18-1.

Abby Emsick of Council Bluffs Lewis Central won the discus for the fourth time.

Emsick, whose winning fling of 144-9 came in the preliminaries, joins Debbie Carroll as the only high-school athletes, male or female, to win the same event four times at Drake. Carroll, from Collins High School, won the 100-meter dash each time between 1971 and 1974.

"There was a lot of pressure on me. I put a lot of pressure on myself," said Emsick, who will throw next year at Kansas. "It hasn't sunk in yet. I guess I don't see the big deal. But I am surprised more people haven't (won four titles)."

Morgen Edwards of Cedar Rapids Jefferson was the runner-up at 138-10. Caroline Ruppert of Clear Creek Amana was fifth.

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