DES MOINES - Brooke Foreman ran the best race of her life Friday and Kyle Dunn ran one of the fastest races in Iowa prep history.

Together, they crowned the Metro area as the undisputed monarchs of the 400-meter hurdles this year.

Foreman, a junior at Cedar Rapids Washington, slashed more than 1.2 seconds off her previous best in the 400 hurdles and won the Class 4A state title in 1:02.62.

She crossed the finish line and pointed to the sky, a tribute to her grandfather Edward Foreman, who died in January after a courageous battle with cancer.

"That was for my grandpa. All of that was for him," she said breathlessly, with a big happy smile. "I just ran the race of my life."

Dunn, a senior at Linn-Mar, ran one of the best races in state history and captured his 400 hurdles in 51.04 seconds, but barely missed the Iowa all-time best of 50.96 set by Dustin Avey of Ames in 1996.

"I can't complain about a gold, but obviously I was looking for that record," said Dunn, who won his fifth state title. "I'm not making any excuses, but that inside lane, a little rainy weather - it wasn't helping me out."

Dunn ran in Lane 1, where he faced sharp turns in sloppy conditions from a day-long rain. Nonetheless, he clipped 37-hundredths of a second off his personal best and won easily.

Dunn became the first Class 4A athlete in state history with three gold medals in the 400 hurdles. He won the race as a sophomore, junior and senior.

"Getting the third one definitely feels pretty amazing," he said.

Dunn won the 400-meter dash for the second straight year Thursday and will be aiming for his first title in the 110 high hurdles Saturday. He'll also anchor Linn-Mar's shuttle hurdle relay as the Lions chase the Class 4A team championship.

There's a fierce race for the 4A title after 10 events. Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley are tied for first with 27 points and Linn-Mar is third with 26. Cedar Falls is fourth with 21 points and Cedar Rapids Prairie sits in fifth place with 20.

"It's going to take pretty much every point we can get from now on, and maybe some mistakes from the other big teams," Dunn remarked.

Linn-Mar might have ended the day in first place, but Nick Lucas quit the team last week in a disagreement with the coaching staff and scratched in the 400 hurdles Friday.

Dunn looked slightly disappointed when he crossed the finish line and realized he narrowly missed Iowa's all-time best in the event, but Foreman was the picture of complete happiness when she finished her race a few minutes later.

Foreman appeared to be stride-for-stride with Natalie Olberding on the homestretch, then reached back for something extra and pulled away.

"Something in me just snapped," she said, searching for an explanation. "I didn't know I had that. I didn't know I was going to run this race, especially in this weather."

Foreman revealed last week that she's dedicated the 400 hurdles to her grandfather all season. Edward Foreman lived in Illinois and never got to see his granddaughter run in high school, but his memory inspired her to win a state title.

"He sees me now," Brooke said. "He really does."

Foreman returned to the track Friday and qualified in fourth place for the 100 meter hurdles. The finals are today.

The Washington girls are in seventh place in the team standings with 18 points. Iowa City West is running away with the title with 59 markers.