Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Throughout the season Liberty High kept coming up just a little bit short of Cedar Falls in the 4×800 relay.

When it mattered most Liberty High finally got the best of the Tigers and everyone else in Class 4A.

Liberty High raced away from the 4×800 field early and secured the first state title in program history winning the Class 4A title in a time of 7:49.45 at the state track and field meet at rain-soaked Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

“It’s unbelievable, I’m so happy to bring this back to Liberty,” Liberty High senior Bowen Gryp said. “We have worked so hard for this it feels great.”

For a group that looked, and felt, like a state title team for most of the season the Liberty High 4×800 squad experienced its fair share of near misses.

The Lightning were second to Cedar Falls at an early-season invite and again at the Drake Relays and even finished runner-up to rival City High at the state qualifier last week.

With everything on the line on Thursday the Lightning left no doubt.

Liberty High never trailed over the final 1,600 meters as the foursome of Gryp, Jack Kinzer, Caleb Schillinger and Gavin Keeney ran the 22^nd fastest time in state history in the event.

“It definitely motivated us,” Kinzer said of the second-place finishes. “Cedar Falls has been ahead of us just by a few seconds the entire year. Coming into this I told all the boys we can beat them we can beat anybody in the state and we went out and did that today.”

The Lightning clocked an impressive 7:58.19 time on April 1 at the Wilkinson Relays in Cedar Rapids but still finished three seconds behind Cedar Falls.

A few weeks later Liberty High cut the difference to less than two seconds while finishing runner-up to Cedar Falls at the Drake Relays in a time of 7:54.63.

In its return to Drake Stadium Liberty High wouldn’t be denied.

“Right after the Drake Relays we started to feel like we could win a championship,” Keeney said. “The first time we raced Cedar Falls there was a three-second gap, the next time it was a second and a half and we thought if we put in the work and we prepared we would be right up there.”

Keeney got Liberty High out to an early lead with a 1:58.01 opening lap and Kinzer stretched the margin with a blazing 1:55.79 split on the second leg.

Schillinger got the baton to the Gryp with a significant lead and the senior anchor did the rest.

“Those guys are great, I love running with them every day,” Gryp said. “We all push each other and it’s great. The lead they gave me was great I knew I could get it done after that.”

Gryp ripped off a 1:53.74 split on the anchor leg as Liberty High took more than five seconds off its previous best time.

“I was smiling I’m not going to lie,” Gryp said. “I hit the back stretch and I was looking up at the board a little bit with 200 to go and I knew we were going to finish it. It hit me and I was smiling a little bit, it was a great feeling.”

Liberty High finished more than three seconds in front of runner-up Ames (7:52.6) while Cedar Falls was third in 7:53.98.

The City High team of Ammon Smith, Truman Thompson, Soren Ostby and Ford Washburn was fourth in a season-best time of 7:56.3.

“It feels amazing first place is always great but I looked up at the board and saw 7:49 and 7:50 has been a huge goal for us every since the beginning of the year,” Kinzer said. “Seeing that time, that puts up with some of the best all-time.

Class 4A Boys State Track and Field Meet

At Drake Stadium in Des Moines

Team scores – 1. Cedar Falls 28; 2. Ames 23.5; 3. West Des Moines Dowling 21; 4. Linn-Mar 16; 5. Dubuque Senior 12; 6. Sioux City North 11; 7. Liberty High 10; 8. Ankeny Centennial 8; 8. Muscatine 8; 10. City High 7; 15. West High 4

Individual results (event winners; area competitors)

Discus – 1. McKade Jelinek (L-M) 178-11; 12. Raph Hamilton (City High) 147-4

High jump – 1. Logan Flanagan (Dubuque Senior) 6-5; 7. Matt Schaeckenbach (City High) 6-1

400 – 1. TJ Tomlyanovich (Cedar Falls) 47.54

3,200 – 1. Jackson Heidesch (West Des Moines Dowling) 9:18.32; 5. Alex McKane (West High) 9:37.8; 21. Aidan Decker (Liberty High) 10:06.97; 23. Seth Cheney (West High) 10:14.37

4×800 – 1. Liberty High (Gavin Keeney, Jack Kinzer, Caleb Schillinger, Bowen Gryp) 7:49.45; 4. City High (Ammon Smith, Truman Thompson, Soren Ostby, Ford Washburn) 7:56.3; 12. West High (Ike Taylor, Asher Overholt, Alex McKane, Caden Noeller) 8:07.74

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