If Mims had held off Ames' Kylan Loney for third place, her Iowa City High team would win the championship. If not, crosstown rival Iowa City West, which finished second to Linn-Mar in another photo-finish, would take the title by one point.

When the photo developed, Loney had slipped past Mims.

"If I had just kept my form for the last 50 meters, we would have won state," said Mims, a junior.

Frustrating? Yes. Motivating? Oh yeah.

"During all the hard workouts, that really comes up," Mims said. "That's my main motivation this year. If I'm ever in a situation where it's close between me and another person, I want to be at the point where I know I'll beat her."

There's plenty of motivation to go around for the Little Hawks.

Senior Elizabeth Matzen has mixed emotions about last year's state meet.

She ran on the winning distance medley relay team that set an all-time Iowa best of 4 minutes 3.56 seconds. Mims also was on the team.

Then in a disappointing turn of events, Matzen pulled a hamstring later in the meet and missed her final two races.

"I really want to get out there, do my best and make up for last season and what I didn't accomplish," Matzen said.

Motivation, plus talent, plus a great work ethic, has City High eyeing its fourth state championship in the last six years. The Little Hawks return runners who scored 43 of their 52 points at the state meet.

"This is a group that could do some pretty amazing things," City High Coach Terry Coleman said. "But a lot of it will depend on staying injury-free."

As amazing as the 1999 title team that scored a school-record 61 points at state?

"Those names like Teesa Price, Kristin Knight -- you always want to be compared to them," Matzen said. "I think this might be the year we're able to do that."

Coleman said this group worked as hard as any he's had during the offseason. Practice has been more of the same.

"We've stepped up the intensity a notch," said sophomore Jennie Funk, who finished second in the 3,000 and third in the 1,500 last year at state. "We're all really focused on our goals. And we're willing to pay the price to get them.

"We push each other. We have competition within our team. That will really help us when we have to face great teams like (Iowa City) West."

However, the Little Hawks refuse to get ahead of themselves.

"We're definitely focused on the end of the season, but we're also focused on what we need to do to get there," said sophomore Nelle Trefz, who took fourth at state in the the 1,500 and 3,000. "You could say last year ended on a bitter note because we lost by one point. If we take it one meet at a time and give it our best, everything will take care of itself."

City High opens its outdoor season Tuesday, hosting the Little Hawk Invitational.

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