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DES MOINES– Weather and track conditions were consistent through the weekend at the Drake Relays; cold, wet and windy. Solon’s girls responded, though, with highlight performances and others which still kept them near the top of the state’s high school track finishes, as they now head into their 2017 homestretch.
Drake is a late-season pause in the high school regular season. Top Iowa high school track and field performances share the limelight with regional and national college/university competition, special international elite events and Olympic rematches.

SOLON– Solon High School’s 5th Street Jazz vocal ensemble participated in the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships nine times and won the Class 3A title five times, but the group was not invited to participate in 2016.
It made this year’s competition special for Solon seniors.
“My sophomore year, I was in Blame It On Our Youth, and we got third at championships, so it was very hard last year, being in 5th Street and not qualifying,” Solon senior Elizabeth Hand said.

By Joe Wilkinson
Special to the Economist
CEDAR RAPIDS– You get better by running against the best. With that in mind, Solon posted a sixth-place finish in the J-Hawk Relays Saturday, April 1, at Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids.
“We see the cream of the crop from Eastern Iowa here each year,” observed Solon girls track coach Brent Sands, referring to the depth of the 14 teams, a combination of 4A and 3A schools. “It gives us a chance to face good competition– and let that help us through the year; to show we can compete.”

SOLON– Dean Moel, a veteran of World War II, was the recipient of a Valor Quilt Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Solon American Legion Stinocher Post. Valor Quilts are patriotic-themed quilts presented to selected veterans in honor of their service and sacrifice.
Solon Legion Auxiliary member Jean Stinocher, who assembled the blocks comprising the quilt before sending it out for final assembly, said, “He was very happy and proud to receive it.” And added, “We were happy to give it to him.”

Solon’s Emily Wears to appear on “Storage Wars”

SOLON– Local viewers of A&E’s “Storage Wars” will see a familiar face next month as Solon’s own Emily Wears guest stars. “Storage Wars” follows a group of treasure- and wealth-seeking buyers who bid on the contents of abandoned storage units. Wears appears in nine episodes, starting Wednesday, April 12, conducting the auctions.