Ballard's Chance Lande is ready for a big encore after his big 2023 season on the track

Chance Lande and his Ballard boys track and field teammates want to prove last year was no fluke.

The Bomber boys entered the 2023 Iowa high school state track meet with no events ranked higher than 13th among Class 3A qualifiers. But by the end of state, they had placed in the top eight in four events.

“That was awesome to see what those guys did at state,” said Ballard coach Darren Harrold. “They worked hard all year, dropped like 20 seconds off their 4x8 qualifying time, and then their 4x4 was just equally phenomenal.”

The Bomber boys took third in the 3A 4x800-meter relay and seventh in the 4x400 while setting a school record in the sprint medley, where they came in 13th. Lande also placed eighth individually in the open 400 and current sophomore Chase Ihle was fourth in the long jump.

“I wasn’t really surprised at all,” said Lande. “I kind of knew coming into it we had more left in the tank than what we did in the regular season. We just kind of put the foot down and took care of business at state.”

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Lande wants even more in 2024.

“Last year I feel our program did way better than we ever have,” Lande said. “We built a lot of momentum up and we want to ride that wave. We’ve been trying to build this team up for years, and I feel this is our peak moment.”

After his breakout junior season, Lande put even more effort into his offseason training heading into the 2024 season. He moved the start of his training up from January to November and put in a lot more base miles.

His work ethic and positive attitude has rubbed off on the rest of the team.

“It’s a lot easier at practice to want to get better when you see guys like him,” said Ballard senior Jakson Fleischmann, who ran in both the 4x800 and 4x400 with Lande at state last season. “He gives us someone to chase and we’re better for it.”

Jameson Witt is another Ballard senior that ran both the 4x400 and 4x800 at last year's state meet. He also ran the open 400 with Lande, placing 12th in 3A.

He appreciates having a leader like Lande to feed off during practices and races.

“Chance is a great guy and a great athlete,” said Witt. “He has this great energy that he brings upon the team and he helps everybody around him get better every day.”

Lande is not only a major influence on the track and during practices, he even influences the team's fashion choices.

“He started an arm-sleeve trend for us going into races,” Fleischmann said. “He saw that and thought it was cool.”

Of course, it is not just his leadership and trend-setting abilities that stand out. He is also a pretty fast runner, and a tremendous anchor for both the 4x400 and 4x800.

“There’s no better feeling than handing it off, going and sitting down and watching him hawk a couple kids coming around this last stretch,” said Ballard senior sprinter Eli Rouse. “It’s awesome.”

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Lande will anchor the 4x400 and 4x800 again for Ballard this season. He also could run the final leg in the distance medley, and a fourth relay is not out of the question.

“He’s definitely going to place at state in at least two, maybe three events,” Harrold said. “If we can get him in four that’d be awesome. He loves to get his teammates with him, so if we can get him in four relays and place high at state we definitely will.”

Individually, he is capable of making it back to Drake Stadium in the open 400.

“Open 400, hopefully I’ll place pretty good in that,” Lande said. “The state competition looks pretty good, but I think I have a good shot with the field.”

But his main goal is anchoring Ballard to victory the final race of the state meet — the boys 4x400 relay. He wants to end his career with the biggest bang possible.

“I want a 4x4 team championship,” Lande said. “We’ve been pushing it for four years and it’s been my dream since day one.”

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's Chance Lande wants to keep momentum going in boys track