Iowa boys' state track: Get to know Marion's Alex Mota, a rising athletic star
Matthew Bain
Pretty much every recruiting cycle in Iowa, a top-tier football prospect stands out as the creamiest-of-the-crop, all-around athlete of the class.
In the 2022 class, it's Southeast Polk's Xavier Nwankpa. A four-star, top-75 nationally ranked football prospect, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder is also a key part of the Rams' stellar sprint relay teams and he got fourth in the Class 4A long jump.
In the 2021 class, it's Iowa-bound Cooper DeJean of OABCIG. A record-shattering quarterback, well-rounded track juggernaut and also a Division I-level basketball prospect, DeJean is a rare breed of high school athlete.
It was Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers in 2020, TCU quarterback Max Duggan in 2019, Iowa offensive lineman Tyler Linderbaum in 2018 ... you get the point.
A new name to many in the state, especially in central Iowa, has emerged as a prospect to watch in the 2023 class. He helped prove why he's generating that buzz at the Iowa state track and field meet.
His name is Alex Mota. He's from Marion.
And he's just starting to open eyes across the state and the Midwest.
"More people are getting to know who I am," Mota told the Des Moines Register at state track. "Just getting my name out there."
More:Iowa state track meet 2021: Live updates, Class 4A and 1A results from Saturday's high school events
Mota, who checks in already at 6-2 and 175 pounds, competed in three events at the state meet: the Class 3A 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay. After qualifying first for the 100, Mota came in second Friday with a time of 11.26 seconds. Later in the day, he finished sixth in the 200 and he helped Marion finish fourth in the 4x100 at 43.43, which was the team's best time of the season. His efforts were a big reason Marion finished fifth overall in the team standings.
Although he plays quarterback for Marion, Mota is the type of athlete that can really play all over the football field and will likely project at receiver or defensive back in college. He rushed 94 times for 540 yards and eight touchdowns as quarterback last year, and he also hauled in a 61-yard touchdown catch. He also logged 17 tackles on defense. Mota's football recruiting stock started to grow as his sophomore season film made its rounds, picking up his first offer from Iowa State in February.
Then, after strong 7-on-7 performances with the Iowa Fire Dragons and his eye-opening times across the board during track season, Mota's stock surged even more. Kansas State offered May 11. Iowa offered May 18, two days before state track.
"They see how fast I am," Mota said of what coaches think of his track performances. "They talked about the state meet and we just talk about what I’m running."
Beyond his three offers from Iowa State, Iowa and Kansas State, Mota is also fielding interest from Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska and Northwestern. He plans to camp at Iowa, Missouri, Notre Dame and Northwestern this June. He'd like to do so at Iowa State, but he has school conflicts on the Cyclones' camp dates.
He isn't shy about his goals. He wants to be known as the best athlete in the state. He wants to be regarded like Nwankpa. (And, at least from a size comparison, he's almost identical to Southeast Polk's four-star safety when he was a sophomore.)
Mota also knows he's got a whole lot of work left to do to reach that point.
"No. 1 in the state would be nice," he said. "We’ve got to work toward that."
More:Carlisle's Ainsley Erzen bounces back with a Class 3A state title in the 800-meter run
Since we're on the topic of football recruits on the track ...
DeJean entered state track with high hopes of winning 30 individual points.
He blew away competition Thursday in the Class 2A long jump — 10 points.
He pulled away for victory Saturday in the 100 meters at 11.16 seconds — 10 points.
About 40 minutes later, Underwood's Brayden Wollan, a guy DeJean competed against in the sprints all year, pulled ahead of the future Hawkeye in the final 100 meters of the 200. DeJean finished second with a time of 22.12 seconds — 8 points.
"Felt good coming out of the box. We were neck-and-neck coming to the last 100 mark and he just pulled away from me a little bit," a breathless DeJean said. "He's a good runner. We went at it in the 100, too. It's been fun competing against him."
DeJean helped OABCIG win the 4x100 relay at 42.59 seconds later in the day.
There were still a couple individual 30-point winners
They're both distance runners. They're both reigning state cross-country champs.
ADM's Nate Mueller got the job done by winning the Class 3A boys' 3,200 on Thursday and then both the 1,600 and 800 on Saturday. Bellevue's Brady Griebel won the same races in the Class 2A field.
Combining the times of all three races, Mueller's total is 15:25.37 and Griebel's is 15:41.45. In terms of margin of victory, Mueller's combined margin is 5.87 seconds and Griebel's is 7.70 seconds.
Ames' Akok pulls off a top-20 victory in the 800
If there was any sure bet entering the Iowa state track meet, it was that Cedar Falls' T.J. Tomlyanovich would win the 400- and 800-meter, two events he dominated statewide throughout the season.
He got the job done in the 400 on Thursday.
But Ames' Aniey Akok stood in the way on Saturday.
Akok upended Tomlyanovich to win the 4A 800 title in a state-best time of 1:52.95, which is the 17th-fastest boys' 800 time in Iowa high school track history. Due to an iffy state qualifying performance, Tomlyanovich actually ran out of the first heat in the final. He beat his heat's second-place runner by nearly four seconds and finished in 1:53.08, which was very briefly the fastest time in the state this year.
Alone at the head of the pack for all 800 meters, Akok was able to close strong and push to the finish line just ahead of the favored Tomlyanovich. Akok is also this year's Drake Relays' 800 champion, although Tomlyanovich didn't participate in that event.
More:Iowa girls state track: Waukee dynasty seeks one final title before new school opens
A surprise result in the Class 4A boys' 100 meters
Southeast Polk's Titus Christiansen won the Drake Relays 100-meter.
Marshalltown's Deonte Dean entered the state meet with the best 100 time.
Ankeny Centennial's D'Eric Smith qualified with the fastest time.
But none of them won the Class 4A boys' 100 final on Saturday. Dowling Catholic's Mikey McClain did. His fastest time entering the state meet was 11.06 seconds. That wasn't top five, top 10 or even top 15 in 4A. It was tied for 17th.
But McClain ran the race of his life Saturday, finishing first at 10.79.
Matthew Bain covers recruiting, Drake basketball and pretty much anything else under the sports sun for the Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Network. Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.