By Susan Leksander Click for Caption

And one member of the elite was there to watch his effort Friday night in the Forwald Relays on the John Raffensperger Track at City High.

The University of Iowa football recruit ran a blistering 47.5 seconds to break the school record held by former City High sprinter Tim Dwight, who was there to witness the effort.

Dwight, a wide receiver with the San Diego Chargers, was honored Friday for his donation to the City High track program that helped to purchase a scoreboard used for the first time Friday.

During the race, Dwight was yelling encouragement to Davis to break his record.

"Come on Calvin. I'm not that fast," said Dwight, who was smiling ear-to-ear when Davis acknowledged the crowd after setting the record.

The time by Davis is the best in Class 4A this spring, bettering the time of 50.36 by Cedar Rapids Prairie's Isaac Dickson. In fact, it wasn't far off the all-time state best of 47.04 set by North Cedar's Ryan Kedley in 2000.

"Coach (John) Raffensperger and I have been planning for me to run this just for Dwight," Davis said. "I wanted to show him that City High track is still on top.

"I felt good all the way through it and I caught myself glancing at the 'new' clock as I came down to the finish line."

Davis said Dwight congratulated him on his performance.

"It's great having someone like him come back here," Davis said. "Hopefully, someday I can be in the same position."

City High easily captured the boys title for the 11th year in a row with 134.5 points. Des Moines East was second with 64.5, and Iowa City West was third with 61.

In the girls' portion of the meet, the 3,200 relay was a preview and nothing more. That's how the City High and Iowa City 3,200 relay teams described Friday's battle.

City and West lead the state heading into next weekend's Drake Relays and backed up those expectations. Both teams bettered the meet record.

West's Julia Frudden, Janet Dobyns, Jeni Frudden and Lynn Dobyns won in 9:25.43, improving about four seconds on their previous state-best time this spring.

"We've worked really hard at lowering our time and I think everyone did a great job of stepping up their performance," Lynn Dobyns said. "We're focused on getting better for next weekend and the rest of the season."

West is the defending state and Drake Relays champion, but this year's team has freshmen on the first two legs.

"Our freshmen girls ran really well and we need them to keep getting better," said senior Jeni Frudden, who ran the 3,200 relay instead of the open 3,000. "I haven't been running the 3,000 that well recently," she said. "Hopefully, I can build off this good performance."

City High anchor Monica Mims took the baton with a slight lead, but Dobyns passed her and fought her off the final 200 meters. The Little Hawks' 9:29.44 was about eight seconds quicker than their previous best.

"This gives us an idea of where we are at heading into next week, but we're hoping things will be different next week," Mims said. "We ran some really good times, but I didn't have the anchor leg I would have liked. It's something I've been working on this year, but I still have plenty of room for improvement."

City High used a different lineup. Katie Funk ran the second leg after being injured early this season.

"That's the biggest thing right now, is that we still need to find the four girls that run the best together," Mims said.

The Little Hawks won the team battle, capturing their second straight Forwald title by 26 points (139-113) over West.

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