Give Alex Carr a baton and somebody to chase and he's happy, especially if he catches him.

Carr and the Washington Warriors have caught (and passed) lots of runners the past two years while winning back-to-back titles at the Class 4A state track meets.

They're hoping for a three-peat this season.

"It's going to be a battle, just like it was last year. Even repeating is hard," said Carr, one of the top sprinters in the state. "But I feel we can do it. Anything is possible."

The Warriors nudged Iowa City West in the team standings in 2009 when Carr was a sophomore, 60-56, then trimmed co-runnerup Indianola and Pleasant Valley for the crown last year, 59-52.

"If there are guys that step up and there are guys that score points in places that we didn't expect them to score, we have a really good chance," said Carr, also a star tailback at Washington. "There's no telling what can happen. Other teams can mess up. There are a lot of scenarios that could happen for us to three-peat."

Carr prefers relays

Carr was a model of consistency at the 2010 state meet. He finished third in the 100-meter dash and helped the Warriors finish third in the 4x100 relay, the 4x200 relay and the distance medley. All those thirds helped Washington finish first in the standings.

Carr prefers relays to individual events.

"I like the relays a lot better. It's more of a team thing," he said. "If all your guys are hitting on all cylinders, it just looks so smooth."

Carr doesn't want to start a relay, he likes to finish it. That's his specialty in the 4x100 and 4x200.

"I just like being able to get a running start," he said. "It's a lot easier than coming out of the blocks.

"It's the 'catching' aspect of track is what really gets me, because I'm competitive, I like a challenge," he said. "If there's a challenge, if people think there's a team that's better than us or a guy is faster than me, I like that.

"I like to be able to prove people wrong. And I'm not always right, and I don't always win every time," he said, "but just to be able to have that competition, that edge, inside of you, that's what I like about it."

Key roles

Adam Sailor placed third in the 110-meter high hurdles at the state meet last year for the Warriors and William Griffith placed fifth in the 100-meter dash to score valuable points. Griffin also ran on the 4x100 and 4x200 relays with Carr that placed third.

Robert Hogg played a key role for Washington in the 2010 state title on two relays. He helped the Warriors win the 4x800 and joined Carr on the distance medley that placed third.

Washington has holes to fill on its relay teams, but Sailor, Drake Hickok, Forest Vega and Antonio Johnson are all back after finishing seventh in the shuttle hurdle relay.

"There are some guys that later in the season could be really good guys," said Carr. "Right now, they're just getting the feel for how competitive the sport of track is."

Carr headed to UNI

Carr rushed for nearly 2,000 yards last fall and has a scholarship to the University of Northern Iowa, primarily as a defensive back. He'd like to run track for the Panthers, but might postpone his track career for a few years.

"They say it's really hard your first couple of years to do track and football, just because you're new to everything (in football), you're just learning everything," he said.

"I probably won't do that (run track as a freshman), but I would like to. I like track. Being able to run is nice, but I'm just going to focus on  football for the first couple of years, and if they want me to run, then I will."