Cedar Rapids Kennedy boys’ 400-meter relay team runs all-time Iowa best at state track and field meet

DES MOINES — You could argue that Cedar Rapids Kennedy doesn’t have a true sprinting hammer.

Or — perhaps more accurately — you could debate that the Cougars have four.

Saturday afternoon, at the state track and field meet at Drake Stadium, Kennedy’s quartet ran the fastest boys’ 400-meter relay in the 46 years that the event has been run in Iowa.

Dawson Dougherty, Jacob Doyle, Nick Woods and Chauncey Bodden roared through their lap in 41.27 seconds, claiming the Class 4A title.

“Nothing for the rest of my life will replicate this feeling,” Doyle said.

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Added Bodden: “It’s history.”

It’s somewhat ironic that the Cougars did it without a true individual burner. Dougherty was seventh in the open 100.

“When you get out there and do it with your team, and me doing it my senior year, it really feels good,” Woods said.

Kennedy’s all-time Iowa best was the area highlight in the 4A boys’ competition.

Iowa City West’s Moustafa Tiea (800) and Izaiah Loveless (200) were individual champions, as was Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Quinton Alexander (110 hurdles).

Ankeny was the class of the 4A field, winning its first team title since 1972, compiling 112 points.

Cedar Falls (86) and West Des Moines Dowling (82) were the other trophy teams, with West, Kennedy and Prairie finishing fourth, fifth and sixth.

Tiea emerged from the middle of the pack in the final 150 meters, claiming the 800 in 1:54.24.

“If I was going to go down, it wasn’t going to be without a fight,” Tiea said.

“This started at 5 a.m. on November 15. People would check my story and say, ‘Why were you out at 5 in the morning? I was out training, going at it.”

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Loveless followed a third-place 100 finish with his 200 title, running in 21.69 and edging both of Ankeny’s stars (Jackson Belding and Logan Fairchild).

“This was my last race to prove something for this team,” Loveless said. “I am so glad it was my favorite event in my last race here and I could get a title.

“I think a little bit when I was running. The last 100, I kind of looked the corner of my eye and saw Belding and he was coming so I had to push myself even harder and further than I’ve ever gone before.”

Alexander’s title came in the heat of the day, when the temperature soared into the mid-80s.

“The track was burning me up,” Alexander said.

The track could have said the same about Alexander, who finished in 13.95 seconds.

“I was pretty hyped,” he said. “I just needed that flag. My family was here to hype me up.”

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Kennedy’s Ryan Bartels was third in the 110-meter hurdles, and ran on the Cougars’ third-place shuttle hurdle relay squad. Prairie was third in the 4x400.

State track and field: Class 4A Boys

At Des Moines (Drake Stadium)

Top 10 teams — 1. Ankeny 112, 2. Cedar Falls 86, 3. West Des Moines Dowling 82, 4. Iowa City West 62, 5. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 39, 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie 34, 7. (tie) North Scott, Ankeny Centennial and Waukee 31, 10. Norwalk 27.

Sprint medley relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Darst, Remmert, Kies, Townsend), 1:30.32; 2. Ankeny, 1:30.54; 3. Waukee Northwest, 1:31.37.

800 — 1. Moustafa Tiea (Iowa City West), 1:54.24; 2. Aydin McNeley (Southeast Polk), 1:54.82; 3. Tony Anania (Norwalk), 1:54.83.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Cedar Falls (Kies, Mills, Schreiber, Kenaga), 57.37; 2. Ankeny, 58.00; 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 58.71; 6. Cedar Rapids Washington, 59.67.

100 — 1. Logan Fairchild (Ankeny), 10.89; 2. Uriah Allen (Waukee), 10.90; 3. Izaiah Loveless (Iowa City West), 11.00; 7. Dawson Dougherty (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 11.05.

110 hurdles — 1. Quinton Alexander (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 13.95; 2. Tyler Kenaga (Cedar Falls), 14.28; 3. Ryan Bartels (Cedar Rapids Kennedy), 14.64; 5. Isaiah Skvor (Cedar Rapids Washington), 14.77.

200 — 1. Izaiah Loveless (Iowa City West), 21.69; 2. Jackson Belding (Ankeny), 21.75; 3. Logan Fairchild (Ankeny), 21.92.

1,600 — 1. Tony Anania (Norwalk), 4:11.90; 2. Ethan Zuber (Ankeny), 4:11.94; 3. Max DeRocher (West Des Moines Dowling), 4:14.67; 7. Aidan Decker (Iowa City Liberty), 4:20.76.

400 relay — 1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (Dougherty, Doyle, Woods, Bodden), 41.27 (all-time Iowa best); 2. Ankeny Centennial, 41.34; 3. Cedar Falls, 41.76.

1,600 relay — 1. Ankeny (Fairchild, Brownsberger, Bosch, Belding), 3:14.90; 2. Cedar Falls, 3:17.56; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 3:18.63.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com