The Linn-Mar boys track team took a special victory lap at Kingston Stadium Friday night.

The Lions won a Mississippi Valley Conference title for the first time since joining the league in 1986, according to Coach Ken Hopkins, and they did it by beating two other strong MVC teams to the finish line.

"I'm pretty proud of the kids," Hopkins said. "I'm pretty proud of what they've done."

Linn-Mar rolled up 140 points on a comfortable evening to win the Mississippi Division title in a good three-team race with Iowa City High (128) and Washington (118).

Linn-Mar senior Kyle Dunn won three individual events and turned in a blazing 46.9-second split on the 4x400 relay, but he had plenty of help from his teammates.

The Lions clinched the title when Matt Simon won the 800 in 1:59.79 with a strong kick and Nick Gentzler finished third, giving Linn-Mar 16 points in one race.

The Lions also captured the 4x800 relay with Simon running the anchor, got a victory from Josh Evans in the 3200 and scored 14 points in the shot put with a 2-3 finish by Jack Halupnik and Brandon Allen.

The Lions won the meet despite the absence of Nick Lucas, who was third in the 400 hurdles last week at the Drake Relays. Lucas sat out because of a hamstring problem, but assured his coach he will be able to run in the district meet May 12.

"I think the true story is the way our team competed," Dunn remarked. "Everyone stepped up. We couldn't win a conference (title) without the atmosphere we have."

The Mississippi Valley Conference once held a "super" meet with all 14 teams competing, but the league now holds two divisional meets with seven teams apiece. Cedar Falls captured the Valley Division title Friday in a three-team race with Iowa City West and Prairie at Xavier.

Linn-Mar, Cedar Falls, Iowa City West, Washington, Prairie and Iowa City High all have high aspirations for the state meet in Des Moines on May 19-21. Washington won its second state title in a row last season and the Lions placed fourth in 2010.

"I think we have a really good chance this year, if not better than last year," Dunn remarked.

"I think we'll be in the hunt," said Hopkins, who was named the Mississippi Division Coach of the Year Friday with his staff.

Dunn thinks winning the conference title will give the Lions a boost for Thursday's district meet, which will determine who qualifies for state.

"I think it's a huge steppingstone for the team," he said. "For us to look at a meet and say, 'Hey, we're going to try and win that,' and then for us to execute the way we wanted to and come here and win it, it's a huge confidence boost for the whole team.

"I feel phenomenal coming out of this, going into districts and state," he said.

Dunn won the 400 meter dash, the 110 high hurdles and the 400 low hurdles, but he was running for points - not impressive times - after having a busy schedule on a cold night at the Linn-Mar Relays on Tuesday.

"Coming off that Tuesday, I was a little bit tired," he said. "My goal (Friday) was to score as many points as I could."

Dunn did not look tired on the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay. He got the baton in fourth place and blazed around Kingston Stadium in 46.9 seconds to finish second behind Iowa City High. It was the fastest 400 split of his record-setting career.

"It's a lot easier to run like that, with the target on somebody else's back," he said.

Washington won five events Friday and senior Alex Carr was named the Mississippi Division Athlete of the Year. Carr anchored the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays to victory, won the 200 and placed second in the 100 behind teammate Will Griffin despite a nagging hamstring injury.

Alonzo Carr, Kristopher Gardner, Griffin and Alex Carr ran on both triumphant relay teams. Robert Hogg took the 1600 and Griffin finished second behind Carr in the 200.

Kennedy placed fourth in the meet but did not win any events.

MVC MISSISSIPPI DIVISION
At Kingston Stadium

Team Standings
1. Linn-Mar 140, 2. Iowa City High 128, 3. Cedar Rapids Washington 118, 4. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 51, 5. Dubuque Senior 46, 6. Dubuque Wahlert 37, 7. Waterloo West 36.

Shot Put
1. Dan Behning (DS) 47-1 1/2; 2. Jack Halupnik (LM) 47-0 1/2; 3. Brandon Allen (LM) 46-0 1/2; 4. Nick Beckman (ICH) 45-9 1/2; 5. Tre Keller (WW) 45-9; 6. Kody Dailey (ICH) 45-7.

Discus
1. Kody Dailey (ICH) 148-5 3/4; 2. Dan Sisler (DW) 137-10 1/2; 3. Colin Hennessy (CRW) 135-5 1/2; 4. Dan Behning (DS) 131-10 1/2; 5. Nick Beckman (ICH) 131-9 1/2; 6. Tre Keller (WW) 131-5 3/4.

High Jump
1. Jeremy Johnson (ICH) 6-5; 2. Cam Spears (ICH) 6-1; 3. Wesley Akin (WW) 6-0; 4. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 6-0; 5. Will Bradford (DS) 5-8.

Long Jump
1. Bobby Millard (ICH) 21-7; 2. Jasper Washington (ICH) 21-3; 3. Kristopher Gardner (CRW) 21-1; 4. Colton Sanchez (LM) 20-7; 5. Robert Hogg (CRW) 20-5; 6. Michael Detert (LM) 20-2.

3200 Meter Run
1. Josh Evans (LM) 9:54.03; 2. Andrew Brimeyer (DS) 9:57.13; 3. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW) 10:01.32; 4. Trevor Oates (CRK) 10:06.24; 5. Zach Greimann (ICH) 10:13.87; 6. Tyler Chlystun (LM) 10:29.73.

4x800 Relay
1. Linn-Mar (Aaron Razo, Nick Gentzler, Jabez Walker, Matt Simon) 8:13.09; 2. Iowa City High 8:17.74; 3. Wahlert 8:17.83; 4. Waterloo West 8:19.31; 5. Dubuque Senior 8:28.62; 6. Washington (Trevor Luebe, Laurent Hakizimana, Saromo Mugisha, Andree Mugemangango) 8:50.21.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay
1. Iowa City High 59.23; 2. Washington (Drake Hickok, Adam Sailor, Forest Vega, Antonio Johnson) 59.56; 3. Kennedy (Jacob Losch, Derek Jacobus, Thomas Kaiser, Josh Jahlas) 1:00.01; 4. Linn-Mar (Colton Sanchez, Ryan Wirth, Brandon Ophoff, Mike Keiser) 1:00.50; 5. Waterloo West 1:01.38; 6. Dubuque Senior 1:02.41.

100 Meter Dash
1. Will Griffin (CRW) 11.19; 2. Alex Carr (CRW) 11.38; 3. Tyrell Martin (WW) 11.44; 4. Hector Montelongo (ICH) 11.73; 5. Haris Nuhanovic (WW) 11.78; 6. Aaron Schueller (DW) 11.80.

100 Meter Wheelchair
1. Jon Litzkow (WW) 21.21; 2. Jordan Houdeshell (LM) 27.16.

400 Meter Dash
1. Kyle Dunn (LM) 50.35; 2. Sterling Harris (ICH) 52.11; 3. Ryan Giesemann (DS) 52.46; 4. Nicholas Corbett (CRW) 52.48; 5. Jordan Kremer (LM) 52.80; 6. Zach Putnam (ICH) 53.68.

400 Meter Wheelchair
1. Jon Litzkow (WW) 1:13.46; 2. Jordan Houdeshell (LM) 1:33.92.

4x200 Relay
1. Washington (Alonzo Carr, Kristopher Gardner, Will Griffin, Alex Carr) 1:30.05; 2. Waterloo West 1:31.59; 3. Kennedy (Alex Hillyer, John Koelling, Jed Haycraft, Anthony Crawley) 1:32.12; 4. Wahlert 1:33.42; 5. Linn-Mar (Brandon Jeffries, Tommy Feller, Jake Luerkens, Aaron Hunter) 1:33.84; 6. Dubuque Senior 1:37.93.

110 High Hurdles
1. Kyle Dunn (LM) 14.79; 2. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 14.92; 3. Dan Roemerman (ICH) 15.52; 4. Jacob Losch (CRK) 15.82; 5. Drake Hickok (CRW) 16.00; 6. Adam Sailor (CRW) 16.06.

1600 Meter Run
1. Robert Hogg (CRW) 4:31.55; 2. Brook Price (ICH) 4:32.19; 3. Thomas Singer (CRK) 4:32.46; 4. Josh Evans (LM) 4:32.77; 5. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW) 4:34.37; 6. Chase Grabau (LM) 4:34.59.

200 Meter Dash
1. Alex Carr (CRW) 22.71; 2. Will Griffin (CRW) 22.84; 3. Jake Luerkens (LM) 23.49; 4. Hector Montelongo (ICH) 23.66; 5. Jed Haycraft (CRK) 23.76; 6. Jordan Kremer (LM) 24.33.

200 Meter Wheelchair
1. Jon Litzkow (WW) 40.98; 2. Jordan Houdeshell (LM) 48.73.

400 Meter Hurdles
1. Kyle Dunn (LM) 54.25; 2. Jacob Losch (CRK) 55.91; 3. Brandon Ophoff (LM) 56.26; 4. Josh Jahlas (CRK) 57.73; 5. Trevor Hein (DS) 58.05; 6. Jamie Medina (WW) 58.73.

Distance Medley
1. Wahlert 3:36.11; 2. Linn-Mar (Aaron Hunter, Tommy Feller, Aaron Razo, Jabez Walker) 3:40.68; 3. Iowa City High 3:44.57; 4. Dubuque Senior 3:44.62; 5. Waterloo West 3:47.62; 6. Washington (Antonio Johnson, Adam Sailor, Nicholas Corbett, Trevor Luebe) 3:47.81.

800 Meter Run
1. Matt Simon (LM) 1:59.79; 2. Robert Hogg (LM) 1:59.99; 3. Nick Gentzler (LM) 2:01.71; 4. Saromo Mugisha (CRW) 2:03.90; 5. Alex Hottle (WW) 2:04.22; 6. Thomas Singer (CRK) 2:06.03.

4x100 Relay
1. Washington (Alonzo Carr, Will Griffin, Kristopher Gardner, Alex Carr) 42.74; 2. Iowa City High 43.56; 3. Wahlert 43.58; 4. Kennedy (Alex Hillyer, Josh Carew, Trevor Walker, Jed Haycraft) 46.03; 5. Dubuque Senior 47.73.

4x400 Relay
1. Iowa City High 3:25.64; 2. Linn-Mar (Aaron Razo, Jordan Kremer, Duggan Trenary, Kyle Dunn) 3:26.21; 3. Kennedy (Jacob Losch, Trevor Wood, Josh Jahlas, Anthony Crawley) 3:29.27; 4. Dubuque Senior 3:30.10; 5. Wahlert 3:32.37; 6. Washington (Drake Hickok, David Tann, Trevor Luebe, Robert Hogg) 3:47.27.