Glorious anchor, then tour de joy

DES MOINES -- Demetrius Harper had just completed a fast, frantic journey around the track at Drake Stadium.

He was ready for a more leisurely, triumphant tour.

"I can't wait to take that victory lap," Harper said after anchoring Cedar Rapids Prairie from behind to win the boys' 1,600-meter relay Saturday afternoon at the Drake Relays.

Austin Dellamuth, Jarred Edmonds, Jacob Aune and Harper were clocked in 3 minutes, 21.15 seconds. The Hawks outdueled Clinton (3:21.64) at the wire.

"This is amazing," Aune said. "I've been thinking about this since the day basketball got over.

"Demetrius is one of the strongest mental minds of anybody I've seen. He could have been 50 meters back and he would think he had a chance. Handing off to him is a privilege and an luxury."

Harper didn't need to come from too far back. He was about 5 meters behind when Aune handed him the stick, and he pushed past Clinton's Skylar Thomas down the stretch.

"I just wanted to see what happened that last 100," Harper said. "I had to dig deep."

Aune posted a 49.5-second split, then Harper anchored in 49.2.

Edmonds didn't anticipate being a part of this, but a midseason injury thrust him into the relay.

"I sure didn't expect to be on the best 4-by-4 in the state," he said. "I've really been pushing to compete with these guys."

Iowa City High earned a relay title of its own; Mason Greer, Javon Duarte, Jeremy Johnson and Dan Roemerman were shuttle hurdle champions in 56.75 seconds, winning by more than a second.

"We knew it was possible. We had to make it come true," Johnson said. "This was our last chance at Drake. We did what we had talked about."

Des Moines Lincoln, the eventual runner-up jumped out front early, but the Little Hawks kept their cool.

"We've been in tough races before, so I knew not to get rattled," Greer said. "If we ran our race, we'd be OK."

Linn-Mar ran with the lead pack all race and finished second in the 3,200-meter relay in 7:50.96.

Indianola won it in 7:50.68.

"We didn't want to let go of the leaders," said Linn-Mar anchor Matt Simon. "Our first three guys (Chase Grabau, Duggan Trenary and Jabez Walker) put us in position. I just brought it home."

The Lions stayed in contact throughout. Just when it seemed Simon was beginning to slip -- he was in fourth place with 400 meters to go -- he surged and made a run at the title before Indianola anchor Tyler Krpan held on.

"Our coaches always tell us to go with 300 meters left," Simon said. "It was just a great race."

Each of the Lions' contestants ran sub-2:00 splits, highlighted by Simon's 1:55.4.

Linn-Mar's Brandon Ophoff earned his second runner-up finish of the weekend, running second to Fort Madison's Raheem Black in the 400-meter hurdles. Black zipped past Ophoff in the final 150 meters to win in 52.45; Ophoff was clocked in 53.52.

"He was just flying by me," Ophoff said. "I did what I could. It's a really tough race."

Josh Evans of Linn-Mar was third in the 1,600 with an effort of 4:17.14; Conner Smock of Lisbon was fourth. Jason Thomas of West Des Moines Dowling was the winner in 4:15.21.

"I wasn't going to let the leaders out of my sight," Evans said. "It worked out really well. I'm very happy. My goal was 4:19."

Cedar Rapids Kennedy was third in the shuttle, Cedar Rapids Washington was third in the 1,600 relay and Iowa City West was third in the 400 relay.