DES MOINES - Josh Evans had trouble sleeping Thursday night after he was nipped in the 3200 run at the 104th Drake Relays and had to settle for second place.

He can sleep like a baby now with a gold medal draped around his neck.

Evans made a strong finishing kick Friday to help Linn-Mar claim the 1600 sprint medley, chasing down three runners after getting the baton for his 800-meter leg in fourth place.

Evans lost to Thomas Pollard of Gilbert by a stride in the 3200 Thursday when his final kick wasn't quite good enough. This time Evans flew down the backstretch and punched the air in celebration with a sizzling finish to the medley.

"Last night I honestly couldn't sleep after my two mile," he said. "I just couldn't like the fact he out-kicked me.

"When I got that spot in the 800 (on the medley), it stuck in the back of my mind that I don't want these guys to beat me. I wasn't going to get out-kicked again."

Linn-Mar did not decide who would run on the sprint medley until 9:30 Thursday night and finally went with Perrion Scott, Tim Wolfe, Chase Grabau and Evans. It turned out to be an excellent decision as they brought home the prize.

There was an anxious moment before the race when Scott, battling a sore wrist, moved his arm when he was supposed to remain motionless in the blocks while waiting for the gun. One of the officials told Scott and the rest of the runners to get up and start over, but there was no penalty.

"Thank God I didn't get disqualified," he said.

Scott and Wolfe ran 200 meters apiece, then Grabau sped 400 meters and gave the baton to Evans with Iowa City High, Iowa City West and Waukee ahead of him. Evans held his spot on the first lap, then made his strong move coming down the stretch to pass everyone for the gold.

"I was screaming. I was screaming so loud, saying 'Go! Go! Go!'," said Scott. "I was just thinking, 'That's my boy Josh.'"

And Evans was thinking he wasn't going to get out-kicked for the second day in a row.

"Everybody ran so amazing," he said. "The sprinters came together, the 400 came together, I had a kick. It's a special feeling."

Evans has been one of the top distance runners in Iowa the past two years, but this is the first time he's won a major statewide title. He finished second at the state cross country meet as a sophomore in 2011, finished third in the 3200 at the Drake Relays last year and placed a tight second in the 3200 at Drake this year as a junior.

Now he's a champion.

"It means a lot. It's really cool I could do it with these guys, too," he said, standing alongside Scott, Wolfe and Grabau.

Evans retired for the day after the medley and plans to return Saturday in the 1600 meter run, but Wolfe and Scott had another big race Friday and found the winner's circle again.

Linn-Mar captured the 4x200 relay with Austin Flieder, Tristan Freese, Wolfe and Scott touring the Blue Oval in 1:28.81. Wolfe is a junior and the other three guys are sophomores, which means they could be heard from again next year in this event.

Scott missed most of the 2012 track campaign due to academic reasons and is making up for lost time with two gold medals at the 104th Drake Relays.

"I had to work harder my sophomore year. I was struggling in a class. Now people are helping me out, especially my brothers here," he said, saluting his teammates.

Kennedy finished second in the boys 4x200 relay with John Koelling, Famiek Cook, Jacob Shannon and Derek Jacobus timed in 1:29.19, which was 38-hundredths of a second behind Linn-Mar.

DRAKE RELAYS
Friday's finals

Girls

Sprint medley relay
1. DM Roosevelt 1:47.98, 2. Urbandale 1:48.70, 3. Iowa City High 1:48.92, 4. Assumption 1:49.31, 5. Bettendorf 1:50.14, 6. Dowling 1:50.21; Also - 8. Linn-Mar (Lauren Dalecky, Brooke Lorenz, Halley Morgan, Amber Decker) 1:50.81, 13. Jefferson (Maliya Ratliffe, Lucy Schneekloth, Jasmine Blue, Rachel Brooghammer) 1:51.28, 20. Kennedy (Breyana Cooper, Tianna Drahn, Marisa Estelle, Kathia Wampole) 1:54.41

100 hurdles
1. Mary Young (Urbandale) 14.96, 2. Ali Meister (Spencer) 15.13, 3. Jessica Gardner (SE Polk) 15.32, 4. Maddie Rouw (Waukee) 15.47, 5. Kellie Wong (Ankeny) 15.56, 6. Kelsi Phipps (Mount Pleasant) 15.61, 7. Mallory Smith (Waukee) 15.69, 8. Madison Ranschau (CR Jefferson) 15.71

Shot put
1. Dasiana Larson (Garner-Hayfield) 42-0.5, 2. Alexa Hunt (DM Roosevelt) 41-10.25, 3. Kate Birchmeier (Davis County) 41-0.25, 4. Sarah Pate (Clarke) 40-10, 5. Kara Misel (Solon) 40-10, 6. Vicky Kapnisis (North Fayette) 39-8.5; Also - 9. Natalie Rumer (CR Prairie) 38-2.5

High jump
1. Alexis Conaway (MOC-Floyd Valley) 5-8, 2. Kasey Reuter (Hinton) 5-5, 3. Leslie Hoffmann (West Delaware) 5-4, 4. Hannah Lentsch (FD St. Edmond) 5-3, 5. Sammy Ellingson (Washington) 5-3, 6. Kelli DeGeorge (Pleasant Valley) 5-3; Also - 14t. Leslie Harder (CR Prairie) 5-0, 19t. Sara Strauel (Linn-Mar) 5-0

100 meters
1. Agnes Sayeh (DM Roosevelt) 12.56, 2. Jalynn Roberts-Lewis (DM Roosevelt) 12.61, 3. Jessica Campbell (Dowling) 12.84, 4. McKennan Cronbaugh (IC West) 12.90, 5. Katie Shoultz (Muscatine) 13.07, 6. Kari Dufoe (ADM) 13.08, 7. Talia Buss (Waukee) 13.09, 8. Becca Cherry (Waverly-SR) 13.30

4x200 relay
1. DM Roosevelt 1:42.24, 2. CR Jefferson (Maliya Ratliffe, Lucy Schneekloth, Taylor Jacobson, Rachel Broghammer) 1:42.39, 3. Assumption 1:42.95, 4. Dowling 1:44.42, 5. Iowa City West 1:44.92, 6. CR Washington (Jasmine Raue, Jasmyne Jones, Megan Muller, Kadejah Sanders) 1:44.99

800 meters
1. Lydia Saggau (WDM Valley) 2:11.20, 2. Jasmine Steebler (Cllayton Ridge) 2:11.21, 3. Mahnee Watts (Bettendorf) 2:13.27, 4. Rebekah Topham (Griswold) 2:13.29, 5. Stephanie Jenks (Linn-Mar) 2:13.35, 6. Megan Nickles (Bettendorf) 2:13.82, 7. Kaley Ciluffo (Pleasant Valley) 2:15.32, 8. Amber Decker (Linn-Mar) 2:15.58

Boys

Sprint medley relay
1. Linn-Mar (Perrion Scott, Tim Wolfe, Chase Grabau, Josh Evans) 3:31.31, 2. Iowa City High 3:31.70, 3. Jefferson (Dan Larson, Jordan Selby, Dylan Chittick, Timauntay Jones) 3:32.28, 4. Iowa City West 3:32.32, 5. Waukee 3:33.05, 6. Ames 3:33.91; Also - 9. Washington (Mitch Bredeson, Jason Oney, Nicolas Corbett, Trevor Luebe) 3:35.31

110 hurdles
1. Jon Rus (North Scott) 14.86, 2. Connor Ham (Solon) 15.11, 3. Davonn Phothboupha (SE Polk) 15.22, 4. Austin Hess (Harlan) 15.22, 5. Tyler Donovan (Western Dubuque) 15.38, 6. Sydne Davis (DM Roosevelt) 15.56, 7. Elijah Young (DM Lincoln) 16.12, 8. Spencer Halloran (West Fork) 18.02

Discus
1. Robbie Peters (Mount Vernon) 174-0, 2. Ethan Fenchel (Western Christian) 170-5, 3. Justin Dunn (Mount Pleasant) 169-5, 4. Ethan Kenkel (Storm Lake) 167-4, 5. Isaac Holtz (Monticello) 166-5, 6. Dane Salow (Center Point-Urbana) 166-3; Also - 10. Craig Murtha (CR Xavier) 153-8

Long jump
1. Josh Markert (NW Webster) 22-8.25, 2. Chandler Diercks (Clear Lake) 22-8.25, 3. Dequayvious Martin (Waterloo West) 22-4.25, 4. Derek Jacobus (CR Kennedy) 22-2.5, 5. Famiek Cook (CR Kennedy) 22-2, 6. Will Whiton (Perry) 22-1

100 meters
1. Zach Skibinski (Heelan) 11.41, 2. Anthony Dreeszen (SC East) 11.43, 3. Ronald Nash (SC East) 11.51, 4. Nick Steingreaber (CR Xavier) 11.52, 5. Brandon Norman (Iowa Falls) 11.55, 6. Trever Ryen (OA-BCIG) 11.55, 7. Lance Dunn (Waterloo West) 11.56, 8. Tavian Smith (IC West) 11.59

4x200 relay
1. Linn-Mar (Austin Flieder, Tristan Freese, Tim Wolfe, Perrion Scott) 1:28.81, 2. CR Kennedy (John Koelling, Famiek Cook, Jacob Shannon, Derek Jacobus) 1:29.19, 3. Waukee 1:29.20, 4. Davenport Central 1:29.51, 5. OA-BCIG 1:29.87, 6. Johnston 1:29.90; Also - 10. CR Jefferson (Shaquille Harbor, Jordan Selby, Dylan Chittick, Dan Larson) 1:30.96, 17. CR Washington (Mitch Bredeson, Jason Oney, Alex Herzog, Nicolas Corbett) 1:32.07

800 meters
1. Jason Thomas (Dowling) 1:55.18 (ties Drake record, old mark, 1:55.18, Neil Flattery (FD St. Edmond) 2012), 2. Timauntay Jones (CR Jefferson) 1:56.01, 3. Payton Busch (Centerville) 1:57.42, 4. Caleb Drake (Pleasant Valley) 1:58.19, 5. Daniel Lee (Ames) 1:58.79, 6. Jaden Van Dyke (Colfax-Mingo) 1:58.95, 7. Carter Lilly (SC East) 1:59.06, 8. Andy Arndt (Indianola) 1:59.21; Also - 14. Trevor Luebe (CR Washington) 2:01.86