The West High girls track team greets 4x400 team members (left to right) Lisa Mellecker, Hadiza Sa-Aadu and Kristi Schuette after they clenched the team championship with a second-place finish Saturday at the State Track Coed Championships in Des Moines.   Press-Citizen / Matthew Holst

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DES MOINES -- After a year hiatus the road to the state track and field championship again ran through Iowa City on Saturday.

Both sides of town.

The West High girls won their third state title with 67.5 points and beat second-place City High, which had 62. Iowa City schools have won nine of the last 10 state titles, with West Des Moines Valley the lone interloper in 2005.

Fittingly it came down to Saturday's final event. West High's 4x400 relay placed second, while City was fourth, enabling the Women of Troy to bump their slim 2.5-point lead up to 5.5.

"I wanted them to win so badly," tearful West senior Claire Hall said. "But I was just so happy to win the team (title). This year we were so focused on the team because the last three years we've been here it seems like we're so close but we never get it.

"To go out as a senior as a state champion just because everyone contributed, it feels so amazing."

At the end of the 4x400 the City runners hugged the West runners and offered congratulations.

"They ran a great 4x4," City junior Molly Sabers said.

"They knew what they had to get done, and they got it done. They are great girls."

"We're extremely happy that West High did well," City's Kelsey Mims said. "We were one-two, in Iowa City, in the state."

Again.