Lisbon sweeps 1A state track 400-meter relays, boys claim team championship

DES MOINES — Lisbon’s Luke Czarnecki watched his sister, Ava, help the Lions’ girls team make history.

Moments later, he took to the Drake Stadium track to do the same.

“As soon as I saw them win, I was like, we’ve gotta win,” said Czarnecki, who ran the second leg of his team’s Class 1A record-breaking 400-meter relay win Saturday at the state track and field meet. “I’ve gotta be competitive.”

That competitive partnership across the programs paid off in the form of the Lions boys’ first team title since winning three in a row from 2015-17. The girls’ 400-meter relay team (Ava Czarnecki, Peyton Robinson, Brynn Epperly and Addy Happel) won the school’s first title in the event, so in a span of about 15 minutes both Lisbon programs gave their fans a pair of milestones to savor.

“Every race they are amazing,” Happel, the anchor, said of her teammates. “Peyton gets us a great start and Ava just extends it. Then Brynn extends it and I just have to finish.”

Happel crossed the finish line in a season-best 50.11 seconds. Moments later, Luke Czarnecki was teaming with Kaden Caspers, Tiernan Boots and Baylor Speidel to cement the Lions boys’ team title with an historic triumph in their final relay. Speidel surged across the stripe at the 42.10-second mark and he raced to his teammates for a championship-worthy embrace.

“Once I saw Luke Czarnecki with that second leg and I saw clean handoffs, I somehow knew that we had it,” Speidel said. “Once I felt the stick and I didn’t see anybody, I just finished, and I’m satisfied.”

He’s creative, too. Speidel competed all three days with fake, but symbolic flames festooning his hair.

“I’m gonna be honest,” Speidel said of the record-setting relay. “I’m kind of surprised at that time.”

Did his painted-on flames have anything to do with it?

“I’m sure,” he said. “I’m sure.”

Nothing seemed certain earlier on Saturday when the Lions won the shuttle hurdle relay to attain 10 more crucial points.

Czarnecki was entering one the most eventful anchor legs of his life, which came with ample drama attached. Czarnecki teamed with Ben Morningstar, Cohen Kamaus and Gage Holub to finish the shuttle hurdle at a blistering pace of 59.98 seconds, but late in the race they were resigned to finishing second. Then fate took a hand.

Anita CAM’s team clipped a hurdle late, helping Czarnecki crack open the daylight to seize control.

“I thought he was in front and I was catching up, but not quick enough,” said Czarnecki, who also notched top-five finishes in the high jump and long jump earlier in the meet. “When he hit that last hurdle I was kind of in disbelief that it happened. but we ran a good time anyway. Either way, I was really happy with how we ran as a whole, but I was kind of in shock to be honest.”

The Lions scored 60 points to secure the boys’ team title. Columbus Community finished second with 52 points. One slip-up on Saturday and those roles may have been reversed.

“We knew coming in that the team race was close,” said Caspers, who ran the first leg of the 400-meter relay. “But if we finished (strong) and ran like we know how, the results would show that.”

Saturday’s Class 1A results

BOYS

Sprint medley relay — 1. Lawton-Bronson (Olesen, Garnand, Grimsley, Moseman), 1:31.12; 2. Mount Ayr (Fleharty, Knight, Pierson, Reynolds), 1:31.40; 3. Lynnville-Sully (Richards, Noun Harder, Gruver, Maston), 1:33.28; 4. Iowa Valley (Kinzenbaw, Kienitz, Haack, Kearney), 1:35.0.

800 — 1. Aaron Lursen (Fort Dodge St. Edmond), 1:56.64; 2. Malakai Hale (Earlham), 1:57.44; 3. Rylan Martin (New London), 1:57.47; 4. Evan Robertson (Springville), 1:59.15; 6. Michael Gadberry (Lisbon), 1:59.76; 8. Sam DeMeulenaere (Belle Plaine), 1:59.86.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Lisbon (Morningstar, Kamaus, Holub, Czarnecki), 59.89; 2. Lawton-Bronson (Palsma, Garnand, Jaminet, Olesen), 1:00.88; 3. Columbus Community (Kaalberg, Zuniga, Rees, Miller), 1:01.01; 8. North Linn (Holtz, Caryl, Betenbender, Haughenbury), 1:02.88.

100 — Austin Kunkle (ACGC), 10.52; 2. Baylor Speidel (Lisbon), 10.59; 3. Bryer Prochniak (North Union), 10.73; 5. Tiernan Boots (Lisbon),10.90.

110 hurdles — 1. Triston Miller (Columbus Community), 14.35; 2. Gabe Funk (Lenox),14.84; 3. Sam Foreman (CAM), 15.09; 4. Ben Morningstar (Lisbon), 15.10.

200 — 1. Austin Kunkle (ACGC), 21.69; 2. Isaiah Johnson (George-Little Rock), 21.82; 3. Kaden Amigon (Columbus Community), 22.12; 8. Evan Kearney (Iowa Valley), 22.58.

1,600 — 1. Landon Bendgen (Woodbine), 4:18.92; 2. AJ Bonnesen (Danville), 4:21.14; 3. Aaron Lursen (Fort Dodge St. Edmond), 4:22.81.

400 relay — 1. Lisbon (Caspers, Czarnecki, Boots, Speidel), 42.10; 2. Columbus Community (Hobac, Kaalberg, Miller, Amigon, 42.42; 3. Iowa Valley (Kinzenbaw, Kienitz, Haack, Kearney), 43.68; 4. Midland (Block, House, Grau, Baker), 44.08.

1,600 relay — 1. South Hamilton (Koehnk, Ricke, Severseike, Hodnefield), 3:22.29; 2. Lynnville-Sully (Rea, Harder, Gruver, Maston), 3:24.32; 3. Bellevue (Tath, Guenther, Manders, Carrier), 3:24.81.

GIRLS

Sprint medley relay — 1. Lawton-Bronson (Rubendall, Brouwer, Mahoney, Mesz), 1:51.38; 2. Fremont-Mills (Gute, Chambers, Alley, Ewalt), 1:52.11; 3. Don Bosco (Yoder, Corkery, Thome, Nissen), 1:52.23; 6. Lone Tree (Bell, Zaruba, Christofferson, Shield), 1:53.14; 7. Midland (Eckhardt, Franzen, Gatts, Bartels), 1:53.29.

800 — 1. Kadence Huck (Nashua-Plainfield), 2:11.75; 2. Noelle Steines (Calamus-Wheatland), 2:13.93; 3. Maddy Childs (Grand View Christian), 2:15.06.

Shuttle hurdle relay — 1. Stanton (A. Olson, Johnson, McDonald, H. Olson), 1:07.26; 2. Northwood-Kensett (Thorson, Hengesteg, Wallin, Moore), 1:07.46; 3. Fremont-Mills (Weldon, Alley, Gute, Madison), 1:07.54.

100 — 1. Mia Walker (Newell-Fonda), 12.41; 2. Aleksys Gannon (Murray), 12.54; 3. Lilly Ostert (Madrid), 12.57; 8. Sarah Burton (Highland), 13.17.

100 hurdles — 1. Emily Williams (East Mills),15.17; 2. Madison Steckler (Audubon), 15.30; 3. Allison Watts (Alta-Aurelia), 15.47; 8. Reese Naeve (Iowa City Regina), 16.07.

200 — 1. Aleksys Gannon (Murray), 25.284; 2. Mia Walker (Newell-Fonda), 25.285; 3. Madison Steckler (Audubon), 25.76; 6. Addy Happel (Lisbon), 26.39.

1,500 — 1. Noelle Steines (Calamus-Wheatland), 4:35.43; 2. Kadence Huck (Nashua-Plainfield), 4:35.44; 3. Lili Denton (Council Bluffs St. Albert), 4:43.78; 7. Meghan Wheatley (North Linn), 4:51.11; 8. Megan Hageman (South Winneshiek), 4:50.02.

400 relay — 1. Lisbon (Robinson, Czarnecki, Epperly, Happel), 50.11; 2. Nodaway Valley (Weston, Engles, Lundy, Nelson), 50.26; 3. Oakland Riverside (Henderson, Erickson, Gordon, Andrusyshyn), 50.51; 5. Lone Tree (Zaruba, Christofferson, Krueger, Shield), 50.86.

1,600 relay — 1. Oakland Riverside (Schechinger, E. Henderson, Erickson, C. Henderson), 4:03.07; 2. AGWSR (P. Smith, Lippert, Olson, B. Smith), 4:03.52; 3. Elkader Central (Scherf, Sylvester, Dettman, Asche), 4:05.30; 4. Maquoketa Valley (Huber, Thompson, Beaman, Burbridge), 4:06.52; 6. Midland (Bartels, Franzen, Eckhardt, Gatts), 4:07.65; 8. Lisbon (Clark, Czarnecki, Robinson, Happel), 4:11.36.

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