Unseeded Floyd Evans of Mid-Prairie storms back to win 2A state track 3,200

DES MOINES — Mid-Prairie's Floyd Evans was 'super-duper nervous' Wednessday for the state track and field meet in Des Moines.

So, he sat down and read two books: The Bible and 'Running With Joy' by Ryan Hall.

When he lined up at the starting line at Drake Stadium on Thursday for the Class 23A boys' 3,200-meter race, Evans was as calm as ever.

'I just thought, I don't know — win, get second, third, 24th, DQ'd – whatever happens, it's just about God,' Evans said. 'It's about what I can do for him, and not how much I can glorify myself.'

Evans, who came into the race unseeded, won with a time of 9:42.34. Reece Smith, who came in second, finished in 9:50.34.

'My plan was to just sit on Reese Smith,' Evans said. 'I haven't raced him that many times, but man, that guy is an awesome runner — it was an honor running with him.'

Evans hung behind Smith until there was one lap left, then Evans started his kick.

'I thought, 'Oh no, maybe it's a little too early,'' said Evans, who also admitted to not always having the best kick. 'But thank God that it wasn't (too early).'

Evans separated himself from Smith and the rest of the pack to win the state title, completing the 3,000/3,200-meter sweep for Mid-Prairie in the girls' and boys' events.

Union Community's Lake LeBahn was seeded second in the 3,200. He finished seventh with a time of 10:08.07.

In the 3,200-meter relay Mid-Prairie tried to continue its day-one dominance. The race had to be restarted when Mid-Prairie's lead runner, Zach Pettit, fell on the first turn.

But after the restart, Pekin got out to a big lead and Mid-Prairie hung behind in third, trailing Pekin and Sheldon.

As the race progressed, Mid-Prairie steadily worked its way up, passing Sheldon. On the anchor leg, Mid-Prairie's Cary Schaefer caught up to Pekin's Isaiah Wittrock, but Schaefer didn't have enough gas to get past Wittrock, and eventually began faded at the end of the race.

Pekin finished first in 7:59.95 and Mid-Prairie finished second in 8:06.30. Mid-Prairie's team consisted of Pettit, Marshal Teets, Quinn Schmidt and Schaefer.

After day one, Mid-Prairie has 18 team points, which puts it in second. Pekin is in first with 20 points.

l Comments: benv43@gmail.com