How Ballard earned the 3A boys 4x400 title in dramatic fashion at the state track meet
DES MOINES — Chance Lande lived up to his name and took a chance during the finals of the Class 3A 4x400-meter relay at the Iowa high school state track and field meet Saturday.
The Ballard senior was leading the pack as he neared the finish line during the anchor leg of the race when he felt Center Point-Urbana's Nathan Miller closing in on him. Just as he got to the line, Lande leaned across and fell to the ground.
He might have gotten a little banged up, but it was worth it. Lande and his three fellow senior running mates on the relay — Jameson Witt, Jakson Fleischmann and Eli Rouse — achieved a season-long quest and won the 3A 4x400 state title with a school-record time of 3:19.93.
"I told them yesterday, if it gets close, I'm going for it," Lande said. "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kid (Miller) switch lanes, so I just let it go."
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Ballard's time was just enough to beat CPU's 3:19.99 in a classic photo finish.
"It's the best feeling ever," Lande said. "These are my best friends in the whole world. We've been working for this for four years, and to finally overcome it and just take down everybody, it feels great."
Ballard came up short of winning the 4x800 title on Thursday after finishing fourth. During Friday's 4x400 prelims, the Bombers took second to Newton.
But in the race that mattered most to the four seniors, they delivered in the most dramatic and exciting fashion possible.
"We've been working hard all season for this," Witt said. "We've been waiting for our time, and we got what wanted."
Witt ran the opening leg, handed the baton to Fleischmann and then Rouse took it and gave Ballard the lead for good.
"I love these guys," Rouse said. "I wouldn't want to do it with anybody else. It's the best feeling in the world. I got to do this for four years with them and make memories that will last a lifetime."
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The Ballard boys ended up placing in four events at state.
In addition to running in the 4x400 and 4x800, Lande took eighth individually in the open 400 with a time of 49.96. Freshman Parker Miller had a great debut at state as he jumped six feet, three inches in the high jump on Thursday to place eighth after entering state ranked 24th.
The sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relay teams just missed earning a point. The sprint medley team of Eric Sydnes, Sid Farmer, Rouse and Lande and the shuttle hurdle team of Kiir Wol, Stetson Kane, Aidan Wilson and Chase Ihle both placed ninth with respective times of 1:33.83 and 1:02.36.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ballard wins 3A boys 4x400 by a nose at Iowa state track meet
