Josh Evans is dreaming about New York City.

Specifically, the Linn-Mar senior is dreaming about running in the Dream Mile in New York City on June 14 in an event that will feature the top high school milers in the country.

Evans definitely belongs in the conversation, but he has not clinched a spot yet despite his winning time of 4:10.76 at the Drake Relays two weeks ago.

He was hoping to go even faster at the MVC Valley Division Meet at Prairie High School Thursday evening, but nobody pushed him and he had to settle for 4:12.69.

"I want to go to that Dream Mile thing in New York. You need about a 4:07 1600 time to get in, so I was trying to get down in that range," he said after breaking the meet record.

He beat teammate Tanner Rathje by more than 15 seconds and ran by himself for much of the race.

"It would definitely be helpful to have some competition out there," he said. "It definitely helps, but I do like running on my own. You push yourself."

The Prairie Hawks won four events and captured the Valley Division title with 119 points in a tight four-way battle with Cedar Falls (114), Waterloo West (107) and Linn-Mar (103).

Mitch Pritts claimed the 3200 for Prairie and Michael Lamparek won the discus. The Hawks also claimed the 4x800 relay and sprint medley, with Tysen VanDraska running the anchor on both relays.

Evans will have a few more chances to lower his time in the 1600 at the state qualifying meet and then the state meet later this month.

Evans also claimed the 800 meter run Thursday at the Valley Division meet in 2:00.64, nipping Pritts by 23-hundredths of a second.

Landen Akers enjoyed a good day for the Washington Warriors Thursday. He captured the 400 meter dash in 49.61 seconds, a personal record and the fourth-fastest time in the state this year, and he placed a tight second to Lance Dunn of Waterloo West in the 200 meter dash.

Track fans were looking forward to a showdown in the 400 between Akers and Tristan Beyer of Prairie, but Beyer has been sidelined for the rest of the track season with a kidney infection and will not compete for the Hawks again this year.

Beyer placed second in the 400 at the Class 4A state meet last year as a junior. Mike Morrissey, Prairie's football coach and an assistant track coach, said Beyer should be fine for his freshman season with the Upper Iowa football team this fall.

Akers, a junior, has sliced a significant amount of time off his personal bests in the 200 and 400 this year. "Just a lot of lifting weights and speed training," he said.

Akers, also a star football player at Washington, has lofty goals for the 200 and 400 at the state meet. "Top three in the state for each," he said hopefully.

Akers helped Washington win the 4x100 relay Thursday with Reid Snitker, Mason Taylor and Alex Herzog.

Curtis McCrary won the long jump for Linn-Mar.

Team Standings

1. Prairie 119, 2. Cedar Falls 114, 3. Waterloo West 107, 4. Linn-Mar 103, 5. Washington 73, 6. Xavier 22, 7. Dubuque Wahlert 19.

Winners

High Jump - Marquise Busch, Cedar Falls, 6-0

Long Jump - Curtis McCrary, Linn-Mar, 20-11

Discus - Michael Lamparek, Prairie, 152-9

Shot put - Lajashiene Williams, Waterloo West, 52-3

3200 - Mitch Pritts, Linn-Mar, 9:48.89

4x800 - Prairie (Matt Lorenz, Ross Adams, Levi Lefebure, Tysen VanDraska) 8:13.10

Shuttle hurdle relay - Cedar Falls 1:00.81

100 - Lance Dunn, Waterloo West, 11.20

400 - Landen Akers, Washington, 49.61

4x200 relay - Waterloo West 1:29.66

110 hurdles - Conner Riehm, Cedar Falls, 15.27

1600 - Josh Evans, Linn-Mar, 4:12.69

200 - Lance Dunn, Waterloo West, 22.82

400 hurdles - Christian Burt, Waterloo West, 55.76 Sprint medley - Prairie (Trevor Northrup, Joah Wallace, Trevor Northrup, Tysen VanDraska) 3:38.54

800 - Evans, Linn-Mar, 2:00.64

4x100 relay - Washington (Reid Snitker, Landen Akers, Mason Taylor, Alex Herzog) 43.17

4x400 relay - Cedar Falls 3:26.24.