Lions rally for MVC Mississippi Division crown

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Matt Simon lost his sugary snack.

But in the process, he sealed the meet.

Simon's come-from-behind win in the 800 meters was instrumental in Linn-Mar's come-from-behind win at the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division meet Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

"This is a major accomplishment for us," said Simon, a junior. "It was a big team goal to win the (division). We lost by a small amount last year."

The Lions accumulated 140 points to claim the crown. Iowa City High was second with 128 points, followed by Cedar Rapids Washington (118).

"We knew City would have some good field events, but we knew we could climb back in it once we got on the track," said Lions Coach Ken Hopkins.

"Our 400-meter hurdlers turned it around, then our 800 runners sealed it."

The 1-3 finish by Simon and Nick Gentzler in the 800 gave Linn-Mar an insurmountable lead with two events to go. Simon chased down Washington's Robert Hogg --the 1,600 champ -- in the final stretch to win in 1:59.79.

It was worth tossing his stomach afterward in the south end of Kingston.

"Gatorade, Rice Krispies and cherry fruit chews," Simon said. "I like a lot of sugar between my races.

"That last 100, I don't know what happened. I sprinted as hard as I could. I can't describe it."

The Lions won six events, and Kyle Dunn claimed three of them -- the 400, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles.

Dunn's most impressive feat came in a non-winner, clocking a 46.9-second anchor in the Lions' runner-up 1,600 relay.

"The first three races, I just ran to win," he said. "I just tried to get as many points as I could."

Josh Evans was the 3,200-meter champion, and Linn-Mar claimed the 3,200 relay.

Washington's Alex Carr was voted the athlete of the year after edging teammate Will Griffin in the 200 (Griffin had previously beaten him in the 100), and anchoring the Warriors' winning 800- and 400-meter relays.

"It doesn't matter who wins between Will and me," Carr said. "The thing that matters is that we're getting double points."

Carr started slow this season, but is hitting his stride now. His 200 time was a speedy 22.71.

"I was getting frustrated at the start of the season, but I stuck to my guns," Carr said. "We're getting our 4-by-1 handoffs down. As long as we do that, we can stay with the top teams."

City High won three of four field events -- Jeremy Johnson in the high jump, Bobby Millard in the long jump and Kody Dailey in the discus -- and scored 52 points off the track. That gave the Little Hawks a 29-point advantage on Linn-Mar, but the Lions erased it.

"There were some turning points, and we got some breaks and some surprises," Hopkins said.

MVC MISSISSIPPI DIVISION MEET

At Kingston Stadium

Teams -- 1. Linn-Mar 140, 2. Iowa City High 128, 3. C.R. Washington 118, 4. C.R. Kennedy 51, 5. Dubuque Senior 46, 6. Dubuque Wahlert 37, 7. Waterloo West 36.

Shot put -- 1. Dan Behning (DS), 47-1 1/2; 2. Jack Halupnick (LM), 47-0 1/2; 3. Brandon Allen (LM), 46-0 1/2; Discus -- 1. Kody Dailey (ICH), 148-5 3/4; 2. Dan Sisler (DW), 137-10 1/2; 3. Colin Hennessey (CRW), 135-5 1/2; High jump -- 1. Jeremy Johnson (ICH), 6-5; 2. Cam Spears (ICH), 6-1; 3. Wesley Akin (WW), 6-0; Long jump -- 1. Bobby Millard (ICH), 21-7; 2. Jasper Washington (ICH), 21-3; 3. Kristopher Gardner (CRW), 21-1.

3,200 -- 1. Josh Evans (LM), 9:54.03; 2. Andrew Brimeyer (DS), 9:57.13; 3. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW), 10:01.32;

3,200 relay -- 1. Linn-Mar (Razo, Gentzler, Walker, Simon), 8:13.09; 2. Iowa City High, 8:17.74; 3. Dubuque Wahlert, 8:17.83;

Shuttle hurdle relay -- 1. Iowa City High (Roerman, Duarte, Johnson, Greer), 59.23; 2. C.R. Washington, 59.96; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:00.01;

100 -- 1. Will Griffin (CRW), 11.19; 2. Alex Carr (CRW), Tyrell Martin (WW), 11.44; 

400 -- 1. Kyle Dunn (LM), 50.35; 2. Sterling Harris (ICH), 52.11; 3. Ryan Giesemann (DS), 52.46;

800 relay -- 1. C.R. Washington (Carr, Gardner, Griffin, Carr), 1:30.05; 2. Waterloo West, 1:31.59; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 1:32.12;

110 hurdles -- 1. Kyle Dunn (LM), 14.79; 2. Brandon Ophoff (LM), 14.92; 3. Dan Roemerman (ICH), 15.52;

1,600 -- 1. Robert Hogg (CRW), 4:31.55; 2. Brook Price (ICH), 4:32.19; 3. Thomas Singer (CRK), 4:32.46;

200 --1. Alex Carr (CRW), 22.71; 2. Will Griffin (CRW), 22.84; 3. Jake Luerkens (LM), 23.49;

400 hurdles -- 1. Kyle Dunn (LM), 54.25; 2. Jacob Losch (CRK), 55.91; 3. Brandon Ophoff (LM), 56.26;

1,600 medley relay -- 1. Dubuque Wahlert (Schueller, Glab, Flynn, Alt), 3:36.11; 2. Linn-Mar, 3:40.68; 3. Iowa City High, 3:44.57;

800 -- 1. Matt Simon (LM), 1:59.79; 2. Robert Hogg (CRW), 1:59.99; 3. Nick Gentzler (LM), 2:01.71;

400 relay -- 1. C.R. Washington (Carr, Griffin, Gardner, Carr), 42.74; 2. Iowa City High, 43.56; 3. Dubuque Wahlert, 43.58;

1,600 relay -- 1. Iowa City High (Krumm, Harris, Dorman, Millard), 3:25.64; 2. Linn-Mar, 3:26.21; 3. C.R. Kennedy, 3:29.27.