Lisbon overcomes struggles, surges to third straight 1A boys' state title

DES MOINES — It’s exceedingly rare when Lisbon doesn't win a single event Saturday at the Class 1A state track and field meet.

But the Lions still won the whole darn thing — again.

“Threepeat,” standout sprinter Tiernan Boots shouted as his team headed to the medal stand after a second-place finish in the 400-meter relay.

And thanks to an overall strong body of work at state, Lisbon earned its third straight team title, scoring 54 points to second-place ACGC’s 44 points.

“We’re so dominant we still won,” said Boots, who also placed second in the 100-meters for the second straight season. “Even though it didn’t go as we’d like.”

A miscue on an exchange in Saturday’s early distance medley relay helped lead to a tighter-than-usual victory margin for the Lions, but didn’t stop them from achieving their second “threepeat” in 11 years.

“It’s cool,” junior Chase McFarlane said. “We’re Lisbon, so we know how to run track.”

Iowa Valley 4 x 400-meter relay anchor Caleb Haack knew how to craft a decisive final leg in the last event of the meet. The Tigers won the 4 x 400 in a time of 3:21.30 — a 1A state meet record.

“We knew we were close yesterday in the prelims and we knew that each of us still had a little bit more to give for today,” Haack said. “So we took care of our bodies and now that we went out there and broke that, it’s really special for our coaches and community.”

Haack, along with teammates Jeffrey Crawford and Layne Peska, finished fourth in the event last season, which stoked a strong desire to challenge for — and eventually claim — the top spot this time around.

“I feel like (that) has pushed us to this point and we’ve been able to work throughout the offseason through everything, that’s always in the back of our mind pushing us through,” Peska said. “We wanted to be on that podium so bad.”

English Valleys distance ace Gage Heyne stood in the second-place spot on the podium for the second time in three days Saturday. He was runner-up in the 1,600-meters.

“A couple of podiums, pretty proud of that,” he said.

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