DES MOINES — How do you follow up a Friday night effort that saw you break a 36-year old school record?
How about breaking your day-old mark Saturday and finishing fourth in the state?
That was exactly how the second and third days of the State Track Meet played out for the Perry boys 4×400 relay team of juniors Reece Dunlap, Alexis Garrido and Brandon Kenyon and senior Adan Medina.
The foursome were the only Perry boys in action Friday and had to sit around for more than five hours before running in the third of three Class 3A qualifying heats. The last event of the session, the Bluejays made their mark and warned of what to expect Saturday by blistering Drake Stadium’s fabled surface with a clocking of 3 minutes, 24.63 seconds.
When Saturday came Dunlap, Kenyon and Medina were to run with Mana Martinez in the sprint medley at 9:50 a.m. but a false start disqualified the Jays.
Kenyon did not wander far, as he took to the track 80 minutes later for the second of two timed finals in the 800.
Seeded 10th at 2:03.08, Kenyon finished 13th, but the bright spot was a 2:01.98, a personal record.
That left Kenyon and his three teammates waiting in growing anticipation for the next-to-last event of the meet, their 4×400 final, which went off near 4:20 p.m.
As Friday, Dunlap tore from the blocks, giving the Jays an opening leg in 49.88 seconds. Garrido followed with a 51.9 split, with Kenyon running a 50.4 leg. That put the baton in senior Medina’s hands. His 50.9 gave Perry a 3:23.87 and fourth place.
Sergeant Bluff-Luton won in a powerful and impressive 3:20.67. Center Point-Urbana anchored 400 champion JoJo Frost, who ran down three teams for second place in 3:23.62, with Glenwood crossing in 3:23.85, just .02 ahead of the Jays.
Mt. Vernon (3:25.46), LeMars (3:27.66), Spirit Lake (3:28) and Gilbert (3:28.57) were also in the finals.
“Sometimes after the long weekend guys don’t run their fastest in the finals,” Perry head coach Ben Coy said. “You see it all the time — a really fast time in the qualifier, then a slower time in the finals. That didn’t happen to us.”
After the disqualification early in the morning the team could have easily been downcast or lost their mental focus, Coy said, but the Bluejays overcame the challenge.
“Brandon went out and ran a good 800, and I think that, and our confidence after Friday night, helped us be ready to go,” he said. “Adan has been down here all four years and never had a medal, so for him to get one in his final race just added to what they accomplished.”
