City High 4×400 Clocks Second Fastest Time in School History
Click here for more photos from Iowa City High at the state track meet.
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
DES MOINES – As the new guy on the City High 4×400 team Max DePrenger had a few things to learn.
First among those lessons for DePrenger was what constitutes a good 4×400 time.
“Since I don’t really run 400s that much I don’t really know what's a good time,” DePrenger said. “From the reaction of my team 3:17 is pretty good.”
DePrenger still has some learning to do in that category because 3:17 is a lot better than just pretty good.
Running on the City High 4×400 for the fourth time this season DePrenger helped City High finish fourth at the Class 4A state track and field meet on Saturday with the second fastest time in school history.
DePrenger ripped off a 48.79 split on the third leg as the Little Hawks blazed to a 3:17.48 for their second consecutive top-four 4×400 finish.
“It’s number two all-time and you are talking about guys like Tim Dwight and Joey Woody on that team that ran a 3:16,” City High coach Mike Moore said. “I’m just really proud of those kids, they do a really good job of following the plan and they are the type of guys that buy into that process and we are really proud of them.”
DePrenger joined seniors Lucas Firmstone and Zach Jones and junior Daniel Brown on the City High team that entered with the seventh fastest time in Class 4A this season.
Prior to the state meet the fastest time for the City High foursome was a 3:21.78 at the district meet last week.
The Little Hawks ran the sixth fastest time in Friday’s state prelims at 3:21.93 but trimmed more than four seconds off that time in the finals on Saturday.
“We’ve made huge amounts of progress,” Brown said. “Back to conference and districts we were running nowhere close to 3:17 so it’s been a lot of progress over the last few weeks.”
West Des Moines Valley won in a time of 3:16.55 followed by Bettendorf in 3:17.19 and Waukee in 3:17.37.
West High finished two and a half seconds off of City High’s pace at 3:19.48.
The winning time of 3:16.55 for West Des Moines Valley was second fastest all time and the best time since the Tigers set the all-time best at 3:13.8 in 2016.
“We kind of believed with a clean exchange and everybody else doing a little better we could get in that 3:18 range but we also knew winning it would take a 3:16 and it played out that way,” Moore said. “It was incredible race.”
DePrenger proved to be a key part of the late season surge for the Little Hawks 4×400 squad.
The junior joined the 4×400 team for the first time at the Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet on May 3 helping City High run a 3:23.66.
He joined returning relay team members Brown, Firmstone and Jones to help City High run more than a second faster on Saturday than it did in its third-place state finish from a year ago.
“I knew that I had to play a big part with all those guys from last year,” DePrenger said. “Every since coach (Ryan) Ahlers put me on the 4×400 and said he thought I could do it I’ve just thanked him that he gave me the chance to run and try to fill up that spot.”
Brown got City High out to an early lead with a 49.69 split on the leadoff leg.
The next three Little Hawks would go even faster.
Firmstone held the lead with a 49.65 split before DePrenger clocked a career-best 48.79 on the third leg.
“He just kind of progressively got better,” Moore said of DePrenger. “He was 50.8, 50.2 and then runs a 49 flat yesterday and we said if you just run a little faster at the beginning you are going to run a 48 and he split a 48.7 today.”
Jones ran an equally impressive 48.96 on his anchor leg to close his career with a third 4×400 medal.
“We are pretty proud of this group,” Moore said. “They put it all together today and laid it all on the line.”
Class 4A State Track and Field Meet
At Drake Stadium in Des Moines
Team scores – 1. West Des Moines Valley 60; 2. West High 57; 3. Ames 52; 4. Waukee 51; 5. Ankeny Centennial 43; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 42; 7. Urbandale 38; 8. Johnston 35; 9. Bettendorf 34; 10. West Des Moines Dowling 30; 18. City High 17
Individual results
(Champion; Area Participants)
100 – 1. Bernard Bell Jr. (Ames) 10.6
200 – 1. Bernard Bell Jr. (Ames) 21.64
800 – 1. Grant Lair (Johnston) 1:53.54; 8. Jeff Garbutt (West High) 1:56.81; 24. Jimmy Momberg (City High) 2:06.73
1,600 – 1. Camden Cox (Ankeny Centennial) 4:18.36; 8. Kolby Greiner (West High) 4:24.97; 20. Ethan Goers (West High) 4:36.71
110 Hurdles – 1. Riley Moss (Ankeny Centennial) 14.02
Sprint Medley Relay – 1. West Des Moines Dowling 1:31.3; 13. West High (Jackson Steburg, Dante Eldridge, Andre White, Gabe Caruthers) 1:34.72
Shuttle Hurdle Relay – 1. Waukee 57.17
4×100 – 1. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 41.894
4×400 – 1. West Des Moines Valley 3:16.55; 4. City High (Daniel Brown, Lucas Firmstone, Max DePrenger, Zach Jones) 3:17.48; 5. West High (Ethan McAreavy, Jeff Garbutt, Gabe Caruthers, Austin West) 3:19.98