Waukee Northwest wins, a lot, with Katie Willits running her race

Yahoo Sports2h ago27 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

Katie Willits of Waukee Northwest excels in track drills, impressing her coach with her performance. The senior sprinter is preparing for upcoming competitions.

Key points

Katie Willits is a senior sprinter at Waukee Northwest High School
She practices handoff drills for her track events
Her coach, Ben Duea, is impressed with her performance

Mentioned in this story

Katie WillitsBen Duea

Waukee Northwest

Katie Willits stands in the middle of the track at Waukee Northwest High School, gripping an aluminum baton and waiting for a signal from her coach.

He readies the camera, presses the red button to start the recording, and nods. The drill is complete in a matter of seconds; the handoff practice went off without a hitch.

The Wolves senior sprinter feels good about that exercise, so she’s on to the next. Willits moves to another corner of the track, where she goes through one more handoff drill. And that’s all Ben Duea, the Waukee Northwest girls track and field head coach, needs to see.

“I think Katie is good,” he says to another coach.

Waukee Northwest celebrates their 4x400 win at the Drake Relays on April 25, 2026, in Des Moines.

Iowa City Liberty’s Keegan Decker and Western Dubuque’s Quentin Nauman take off from the starting line in the boys mile run on April 25, 2026, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.