Belle Plaine distance medley makes most of weather

DES MOINES — Damp.

Cold.

Windy.

Again?

That's how the Belle Plaine boys' distance medley relay team felt about yet another dose of less-than-ideal weather during last week's Class 1A district meet.

'We just hadn't had good conditions running,' 400 runner Josh Long said.

Until Friday's state meet at Drake Stadium — as the sun shone all day and the Plainsmen clearly drew energy from it, churning up a second-place finish in a personal best-blasting time of 3:39.51.

Mount Ayr won with a time of 3:36.15 and leads the title chase with 37 points.

North Linn took third — also with a personal best — in 3:40.04.

The Lynx outdid their district time by five seconds, with anchor Jon Boss holding off a host of competitors for second in the final heat.

'I couldn't hear them but I knew I had to keep pushing,' Boss said. 'They put me in the best position they could have. I just had to go with it.'

North Linn's Andrew McEvoy said the best placement any boys' relay team had notched in about 10 years was fourth in the shuttle hurdle last season.

'So this is really big for us,' McEvoy said. 'We knew coming in with our best time we ranked fourth — seventh with our district time. We knew we just wanted to give it our all.'

So did the Plainsmen distance medley team of Vance Bohlen, Trenton Young, Long, and Trey Squiers.

They PR'd by six seconds — and ran 13 seconds faster than they did that dour day at districts.

'It felt good,' said Squiers, who along with Long helped Belle Plaine earn second in Thursday's 3,200-meter relay. 'We knew we were probably going to be put in the (opening) heat, so we had to run against ourselves and against the time; hope for the best out of the next two heats, I guess.'

Only one senior ran the distance medley for the Plainsmen.

That was Young, who ran the second 200.

'It's definitely cool to be able to pice in something my senior year,' Young said. 'To go out with a bang, I guess.'

And under a nearly cloud-free sky for a change.

'We were more fresh running it today,' Squiers said.

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