Lisbon dominates Class 1A for third straight state track title

DES MOINES — Blake Langhurst had no idea what to expect when he began his first, and only, track season.

Lisbon would be pretty good, it would have a shot at nabbing a third-straight Class 1A state track and field team title and Langhurst could have one last high-school hurrah. There was nothing to lose, so he gave in to senior Jack Butteris' prodding to get him out.

Langhurst just didn't know the Lions could be this dominant on this stage.

'This is nothing like what I expected,' Langhurst said. 'I think we also just broke the state meet record for scoring points. It's just awesome what we did this weekend.'

The Lions built a massive lead on day two of the Class 1A state track and field meet and ran away with its third-straight team championship, scoring a meet-record 89 points. Second-place Pekin was 44 points behind.

Lisbon became the ninth school to win four relays — 800-meter relay, distance medley, sprint medley and 1,600-meter relay — and scored two individual champions. Senior Derek Bova took home the 100-meter crown (11.23) while senior Jack Butteris snagged the 200-meter title (22.32).

'Last year we won the team title but came home with no gold medals,' Bova said. 'A lot of silver and bronze. This year our goal was to win the team title, but along with that take home some gold.'

Four second-place finishes in 2016 set Coach Casey Baxa and the Lions on a mission. On the Drake Stadium turf last season, just after the Lions were crowned champions, Baxa's challenge was for his squad to come back hungrier.

Winning the 800-meter relay Friday took the lid off the bottle.

'It was like all that pressure of winning an event was off our shoulders,' Baxa said. 'We just rocked and rolled from there. Something I'll never forget.'

'I'd just say it's a good way to end my senior year and leave a dynasty here at Lisbon,' Butteris said. 'We won three, and hopefully we can win four next year.'

BGM took home the 400-meter relay crown in 43.58, edging Pekin by two hundredths of a second. Sigourney was third, anchored by senior 400-meter dash champion Avery Moore, in 43.67.

The Bears' senior anchor Jayce Knight said in the final strides when he was neck and neck with Pekin's Monico Requena, his mind was still.

'I was just telling myself to keep going, to get him,' Knight said. 'I looked up waiting for the videoboard and when our name popped up, it hit me that we had actually won.'

STATE TRACK & FIELD MEET: CLASS 1A BOYS

Teams (top 10) — 1. Lisbon, 89; 2. Pekin, 45; 3. Central Lyon, 43; 4. Sigourney, 37; 5. Hudson, 36; T-6. Saint Ansgar, 33; T-6. AGWSR, 33; 8. North Union, 26; 9. BGM, 25; 10. Fremont-Mills, 23

Results (top 3, plus area)

Sprint medley relay — 1. Lisbon (Hasselmann, Givens, Bova, Langhurst), 1:33.84; 2. BGM, 1:35.06; 3. Lynnville-Sully, 1:35.61; 5. HLV, 1:36.08; 8. Turkey Valley, 1:37.59

800 — 1. Gable Sieperda (Central Lyon), 1:55.12; 2. Zach Ambrose (Boyer Valley), 1:56.69; 3. Jared Corder (Nodaway Valley), 1:57.98; 5. Kyle Wilson (Maquoketa Valley), 1:59.19; 6. Payton Bahl (Lisbon), 1:59.70

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Lake Mills (Albert, Sifuentes, Fjelstad, Dugger), 59.48; 2. Saint Ansgar, 59.66; 3. Fremont-Mills, 1:00.21

100 — 1. Derek Bova (Lisbon), 11.23; 2. Avery Moore (Sigourney), 11.38; 3. Riley Van Wyhe (Central Lyon), 11.45; 4. Bryce Goldman (Sigourney), 11.46; 6. Keegan James (BGM), 11.52

110 hurdles — 1. Nolan Smith (Audubon), 15.18; 2. Jace Moore (Clayton Ridge), 15.25; 3. Riley Little (Wapsie Valley), 15.27

200 — 1. Jack Butteris (Lisbon), 22.32; 2. Avery Moore (Sigourney), 22.47; 3. Joey Harkins (Earlham), 22.54; 5. Keegan James (BGM), 22.78; 6. Jordon Bender (Montezuma), 22.92

1,600 — 1. Riley Bauer (North Union), 4:18.43* (state record); 2. Gable Sieperda (Central Lyon), 4:20.33* (state record); 3. Wyatt Kelly (Hudson), 4:30.12; 5. Thatcher Krob (Lisbon), 4:32.17

400-relay — 1. BGM (Maxfield, James, Owens, Knight), 43.58; 2. Pekin, 43.60; 3. Sigourney, 43.67; 5. Montezuma, 44.43

1,600-relay — 1. Lisbon (Langhurst, Arwine, Bahl, Butteris), 3:22.85; 2. Pekin, 3:23.55; 3. St. Albert, 3:26.68

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