DES MOINES — Cael Curphy ripped off his headband in frustration, caught from behind at the finish line of the sprint medley relay.

It was the beginning of a big day for the East Marshall junior, whether or not it felt like it right away.

East Marshall’s sprint medley relay team of Blake Neuroth, Kaden Good, Eli Burns and Curphy kicked off the third and final day of the Iowa Co-Ed State Track and Field Championships with a school record, and the 4×400-meter quartet of Neuroth, Kaden Grant, Burns and Curphy closed it out with another on a warm but breezy Saturday at Drake Stadium.

The Mustangs’ sprint medley qualified for the Class 1A state meet with a season-best time of 1 minute, 36.53 seconds before shaving off just enough to overtake one of the most recent school records. The record of 1:36.43, set in 2018 by Austin Elliott, Gage Hulin, Zane Johnson and Logan Nicholson, fell when the first event on the track Saturday was completed.

Curphy took the baton from Burns in first place in the first heat and held it for nearly the entire final lap before getting tracked down by North Linn over the final five strides. North Linn ended up 15th in 1:36.34, while the Mustangs were 16th in 1:36.40 — a new school record by three-hundredths of a second.

Curphy, visibly discouraged by the end of the race, had gained plenty of perspective by the end of the day.

“You know, it means the world to me,” Curphy said of Saturday’s school record-setting relays. “Freshman year, it is always a dream to make it to state, set records. You never really think it’s gonna happen and then you do it. It just feels great.”

The Mustangs finished off Friday’s slate by qualifying for the 4×400 finals with a more than two-second time drop from districts. Neuroth, Grant, Burns and Curphy clocked in at 3:26.21 — just one-tenth off the school record — and then mustered up a little more for Saturday’s finale.

“It means a lot, just coming out here in my last meet ever and running for the guys and them running for the team,” said Neuroth, the lone senior on the 4×400. “We’re just out here trying to do the best for each other, and that’s what we did.”

In the last event of the day, the East Marshall quartet knocked one of the longest-standing records off the board and earned a state meet medal by finishing sixth in 3:25.96. The 1991 mark set by Chad Sloat, Brett McClintock, Jason Berkey and Craig Heinle fell, leaving only Heinle’s 200- and 400-meter marks and the 4×100 and 4×200 records from 1990 or 1991 as the oldest in the books.

“It’s one of the older ones on the board still, so it’s kind of a shame seeing it go down,” Curphy said, “but it still feels great to do it.”

It was the completion of a competitive week at state for the Mustangs, who had two medalist on the boys’ side in junior high jumper Nathan Frye and the 4×400. Frye tied for seventh in the high jump on Friday.

The Mustangs finished with 3.6 team points in all, taking 46th place in the team standings.

Neuroth, Burns and Curphy had all competed at state a year ago, so Grant — a sophomore — was the only runner to gain experience with the chance to come back in the future.

“I think just to do our best was probably our goal, but then we felt like we could go get the school record,” Grant said. “It feels great, I get to be on the board.”

The Mustangs affected a lot of change on the track and field records chart, which is posted near the entrance of the high school gymnasium in Le Grand.

“We knew what we were capable of,” said Burns, who qualified for state in four events. “We hadn’t necessarily hit that mark yet, but we knew these teams ahead of us were beatable and we could do it if we did what we could.

“We were going to accomplish that, and we did just that.”

East Marshall’s 4×400 entered the state-qualifying meet with a season-best time of 3:30.10 before lowering that to 3:28.81. At state, the Mustangs were seeded 13th out of the 24 qualifiers, yet they made the finals on Friday and showed out again on Saturday.

“It’s just a dream,” Curphy said. “I’m so proud of everyone here. We were working hard all season to drop this time. We knew coming into state that we had a chance to go out and make finals and that’s what we were working for and that’s just what we did.

“You can never close your mind — you just go out there and compete. You never know what’s going to happen, you know? You just go out and run your best and that might be state champ, so you give everything you’ve got.”

Van Buren County won the 2A 4×400 title in 3:22.50, followed by Pekin (3:22.77) and George-Little Rock (3:23.20) in the eight-team finale.