Lisbon doubles up on state track and field titles in the 800 relay

DES MOINES — Lisbon’s Dakota Clark searched for the image, clicked on it, and printed it out. The picture depicted his 800-meter relay team’s second-place finish at last May’s Class 1A state track field meet. He scrawled the words “revenge tour” on the snapshot and affixed it to his ceiling, where it served as both a searing reminder and a bold call to action.

“I’ve been waiting for this day,” said Clark, who helped the Lions exact that revenge on the rest of the field Friday while winning the event in a 1A record time of 1:28.46 at Drake Stadium. “To get our get-back.”

Clark, Tiernan Boots, Reid Fridley and anchor Baylor Speidel broke the record set last year by the team that beat them: Lawton Bronson.

“We knew what we could do,” said Speidel, the top seed in Saturday’s 100 and 200-meter dashes. “Just another race. Just another day.”

But not just another memory. Moments earlier, Lisbon’s 800-meter girls’ relay team of Addy Happel, Ava Czarnecki, Brynn Epperly and Addie Clark triumphed in their event, giving the Lions a doubly special achievement to celebrate.

“I feel like Czarnecki, Happel and Epperly have been running together for three years,” said Happel, who helped her teammates finish in a season-best time of 1:46.93. “And Clark’s new to this and she stepped right in. We were confident in her and we were confident in ourselves.”

So was Lydia Kriegel of Iowa Valley, who doubled up in her own way while winning the 1A discus crown. The junior multi-sport standout shattered her previous personal best mark of about 124 feet twice and uncorked her winning throw of 135 feet, 3 inches on her final attempt.

“I was like, ‘I got second, I’m good, I’m happy with second,’ and I’m looking around and I see all the people from my town coming to support me,” Kriegel said of her demeanor before her last-gasp triumph. “I’m like, ‘Might as well do it now.’ Last throw of the season, it felt good coming off, so here we go, let’s go — and when I saw that thing, I was amazed. I did not know I had that much in me at the beginning of the year, even, and just the growth I’ve had, it’s all because of my coaches and I’m just still in amazement.”

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For good reason. Kriegel’s throws coach, Casey Krull, said when he first introduced her to discus as a freshman, she managed to hurl it maybe 50 feet, but she continued to hone her technique and now she’s a state champion.

“For her to make those strides and just continue to get better and put the time and effort in is just amazing,” Krull said. “It’s gonna be something she remembers forever.”

But she won’t have much time to dwell on her remarkable triumph. Kriegel’s been splitting time between track and field and softball — and the first game is Monday.

“I don’t know,” the pitcher and shortstop said. “It’s going to be hard to beat track season.”

Lisbon’s 800-meter boys’ relay team refused to be beaten this time at state. Even though Clark, Boots, Fridley and Speidel were the seventh seed and relegated to lane one.

“Our coach told us don’t worry about the lane,” Fridley said. “We really just zoned in on the guy coming into our lane and getting crisp handoffs and that just took us to a state record.”

The Lions’ foursome has exuded confidence in each of the past two state meets, even though one included that dreaded second-place finish. They continue to paint colorful designs into their closely cropped hair and are happy to see that they’ve apparently ushered in a trend.

“You see all these cool haircuts? All these bleaches and buzzes and designs this year?” Fridley said. “Thank Lisbon. We did that. You’re welcome.”

Ema Roberts of HLV welcomed a state title in the high jump. She cleared 5-7 to win gold and did it with what she thinks is a stress fracture on her right foot.

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“You can see the bumps on the X-ray,” she said. “I’m getting an MRI next week, so we’ll know for sure.”

Roberts was the only jumper to clear 5-6 (she did it on her first try), then got over 5-7 on her third attempt.

“At the end, it really felt like it was flowing,” she said. “All of the stress was gone.”

Woodbine and Wapsie Valley are tied atop the 1A boys’ team standings with 29 points and Lisbon is third with 25. AGWSR leads the girls’ standings with 24.5 points and HLV ranks among the top 10 with 11.

State track and field: Class 1A boys

Top 10 teams (through 10 events) — 1. tie, Woodbine, Wapsie Valley, 29; 3. Lisbon 25; 4. tie, Akron-Westfield, Mount Ayr, 20; 6. Madrid, 19; 7. tie, ACGC, Sibley-Ocheyedan, 18; 9. George-Little Rock, 13; 10. tie, North Cedar, East Union, Grand View Christian

Distance medley relay — 1. Wapsie Valley (Sauerbrei, Schares, Buzynski, Shannon), 3:33.05; 2. Woodbine, 3:33.45; 3. Sibley-Ocheyedan, 3:35.30; 6. Lisbon, 3:37.71.

High jump — 1. Lance Bunde (ACGC), 6-06; 2. Trevon Keely (Paton-Churdan), 6-05; 3. Kolby Culbertson (Coon Rapids-Bayard), 6-05; 4. Johny Amina (North Cedar), 6-03; 6. Josh Read (Iowa Valley), 6-03; 7. Garrett Watts (Montezuma), 6-01.

800-meter relay — 1. Lisbon (Boots, Clark, Fridley, Speidel), 1:28.46; 2. Madrid, 1:30.88; 3. ACGC, 1:31.14; 5. Maquoketa Valley, 1:31.60.

400 hurdles — Ryce Reynolds (Mount Ayr), 51.68; 2. Gabe Funk (Lenox), 53.65; 3. Joe Dewald (Westwood), 54.40.

Discus — 1. Ian Blowe (Akron-Westfield), 175-11; 2. Anthony Harrington (Midland), 159-10; 3. Mitchell Schnepf (MMCRU), 158-02.

State track and field: Class 1A girls

Top 10 teams (through 10 events) — 1. AGWSR, 24.5; 2. Riverside, Oakland, 22; 3. tie, Council Bluffs St. Albert, Saint Ansgar, 21; 5. Pekin, 20; 6. Nashua-Plainfield, 18; 7. Panorama, 16; 8. tie, Fort Dodge St. Edmond, Wayne, 14; 10. HLV

Distance medley relay — 1. Nashua-Plainfield, 4:09.07: 2. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 4:11.58; 3. Danville, 4:13.39; 8. Maquoketa Valley, 4:22.63.

Discus — 1. Lydia Kriegel (Iowa Valley), 135-03; 2. Anna Hadley (Pekin), 132-05; 3. Lindsay Kruse (Saint Ansgar), 130-8; 5. Kennedy Axmear (English Valleys), 126-02.

800-meter relay — 1. Lisbon (Addy Happel, Ava Czarnecki, Brynn Epperly, Addie Clark), 1:46.93; 2. West Monona, 1:47.66; 3. Oakland Riverside 1:47.94; 4. Lone Tree, 1:48.30.

400 hurdles — 1. Carly Henderson (Oakland Riverside), 1:04.58; 2. Bella Gute (Fremont-Mills), 1:06.98; 3. Ada Hansen (CAM), 1:06.91; 5. Elise Flexsenhar (East Buchanan), 1:07.69; 8. Aaliyah Cooper (HLV), 1:08.11.

High jump — 1. Ema Roberts (HLV), 5-07; 2. Aubree Shields (Mount Ayr), 5-05; 3. Jaidyn Sellers (Panorama), 5-05; 7. Rowan Jacobi (Springville), 5-02.