Final state track and field team standings, Saturday’s results

Solon repeats in 3A, Williamsburg shares the 2A crown with Mediapolis

DES MOINES — When Baylor Speidel false-started in the 200-meter preliminaries Thursday, it could have been catastrophic.

Instead, he said, it was part of a plan.

“If it was God’s will for me to false-start, he’ll make it happen,” Speidel said. “But in the end, this was the best possible outcome.”

The speedy Speidel was a key figure as Lisbon won the Class 1A boys’ championship at the state track and field meet Saturday at Drake Stadium.

Lisbon was one of three area team champions; Solon’s girls repeated in Class 3A, and Williamsburg shared the 2A boys’ crown with Mediapolis.

“I don’t think anybody thought we could win this again,” Solon’s Gracie Federspiel said. “Losing all of those seniors — and they were awesome — we worked hard in the offseason and grew to love each other so much.”

The Spartans held the lead through most of the weekend and finished with 79 points, 17 more than runner-up Adel ADM.

Speidel bounced back with his Thursday mishap to clinch Lisbon’s crown, anchoring the Lions’ gold-medal 400-meter relay. Lisbon outpointed Columbus Community, 60-52.

“It’s unreal,” Speidel said. “It’s everything we worked for. I couldn’t be happier with the ending.”

The 2A boys’ title came down to the final event. Williamsburg got to 62 points with a win in the 400-meter relay, then Mediapolis matched the Raiders with a third-place finish in the 1,600 relay.

Other boys’ champions were Johnston (4A) and Pella (3A). Waukee Northwest (4A), Van Meter (2A) and Calamus-Wheatland (1A) won the other girls’ titles.

All three of the days featured record crowds. It was 10,214 Saturday, 40,567 for the weekend.

Complete coverage, team scores and results from Saturday’s state track and field events