Shaquille Harbor did not win any races at the Mississippi Valley Conference track meet at Kingston Stadium Friday, but he was a winner nonetheless.

Harbor has experienced quite a bit during the past nine months, enough to make most teenagers dizzy and confused. Instead, Shaq sounds level-headed and determined to make a success of himself in sports and the classroom at Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Harbor moved from Louisiana to Cedar Rapids in September, was adopted by his biological cousin and her husband in October, began the school year as an eighth grader at McKinley Middle School and was promoted to the freshman class at Jefferson in January.

He joined the Jefferson track team after the season began and has already developed into one of the top young sprinters that Ron Tower has tutored during his 16 years as head coach.

"Good story," Tower said Friday during the MVC Valley Division meet. "He does want to do well."

Tower entered Harbor in the frosh/soph 100-meter dash Friday, but the coach was laughing at himself for not putting Harbor in the varsity 100 after Harbor was clocked in 11.58 seconds. That easily won the frosh/soph race and would have been good enough to place third in the varsity 100.

"Smart coaching, huh?" joked Tower.

Tower said Harbor has been a little inconsistent in his workouts and races, which is understandable considering his youth and inexperience, but he ran a strong opening leg on the varsity 4x100 relay Friday that finished third. It was only the third time all season that Tower let Harbor run on the 4x100 relay.

Tower said Harbor struggled with his workouts when he joined the team, but there was a reason. Tower makes all of his 100 and 200 sprinters train with the 400-meter guys at the beginning of the year and Harbor wasn't too fond of that.

"Coach, Coach," Tower said, laughing as he recalled Harbor's reaction to running longer distances, "I just run the 100!"

Tower said Harbor wasn't ready for varsity competition at the beginning, but he's making up for lost time. "Over the last month he's matured quite a bit," the coach said. "He does want to do well. He's grown up a lot in a month. It's amazing the maturity I've seen."

For his part, Harbor said he's happy to be here and living with his new parents, Chris and LaSheila Yates, and making new friends.

"It feels good. A lot of good people," he said. "I'm focused more on school. And track."

Harbor attended the eighth grade in Alexandria, La., during the 2010-11 school year, but the Cedar Rapids school district decided to have him begin the 2011-12 school year here in the eighth grade again since he arrived a few weeks after the fall semester began.

"No, it didn't make me mad," he said. "It made me get motivated. Like, 'I have to do this, I have to get out of this school.'"

Harbor said his favorite sports have been football and basketball, but he's developed a fondness for track. "I like track," he said. "It gets me fit and ready for football."

Harbor is a running back, with good speed and a strong body. Brian Webb, Jefferson's new football coach, might have a pleasant surprise this fall. The new coach and new J-Hawk have not met yet, but they undoubtedly will soon.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, but I'm anxious to talk to him," said Harbor.

As you might expect since he's from Louisiana, Shaquille Harbor was named after former Louisiana State and NBA basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. "My grandmother told my mom that she likes Shaquille O'Neal, so they decided to name me Shaquille," he said. "No. Never met him."

Harbor served notice Friday that he could be a force for Jefferson sports teams in the coming years. Meanwhile, the powerful track teams from Iowa City West and Cedar Falls dominated the Valley Division meet at Kingston on a warm day.

Iowa City West won the team championship with 169 points and Cedar Falls finished second at 118.

The Xavier Saints won four events and placed third in the team standings. Craig Murtha claimed the shot put and discus for Xavier, Alec Clasen won the high jump and the quartet of Nick Ball, Jordan Weber, Zach Stovie and Brandon Gradoville captured the sprint medley.

Jacob Aune was a double champion in the 3200 and 1600 meter runs for the Prairie Hawks.

Timauntay Jones won the 800 for Jefferson in a swift time of 1:55.84.

BOYS MVC VALLEY DIVISION MEET
At Kingston Stadium

Team Standings
1. Iowa City West 169, 2. Cedar Falls 118, 3. Xavier 94, 4. Prairie 82, 5. Jefferson 56, 6. Hempstead 35, 7. Waterloo East 4.

High Jump
1. Alec Clasen (CRX) 6-2, 2. Kalund Brown (CF) 6-0, 3. Marquis Busch (CF) 6-0, 4. Demetrius Harper (CRP) 5-10, 5. Nathan Sims (DH) 5-8, 6. Jon Hermsen (DH) 5-8.

Long Jump
1. Tavian Smith (ICW) 21-6 1/2, 2. Charlie Rogers (ICW) 21-5, 3. Haakon Wilz (CRP) 20-5, 4. Brad Hennen (DH) 19-9, 5. Jarred Edmonds (CRP) 19-7 1/2, 6. Andrew Sorenson (CF) 19-2.

Shot Put
1. Craig Murtha (CRX) 49-11, 2. Ross Pierschbacher (CF) 49-10, 3. Josh Williams (CRP) 47-11, 4. Brady Waskow (CF) 47-8 1/2, 5. Ryan Eivins (CRJ) 46-0 1/2, 6. Kevin Sandhu (DH) 44-11.

Discus
1. Craig Murtha (CRX) 149-4, 2. Joseph Weiner (DH) 140-8, 3. Sam Techau (CRJ) 130-8, 4. Robbie Hanson (ICW) 130-3, 5. Kevin Sandhu (DH) 124-2, 6. Colton Spicer (CRJ) 123-6.

3200 Meter Run
1. Jacob Aune (CRP) 9:45.73, 2. Daniel Gardarsson (ICW) 9:47.31, 3. Mitch Pritts (CRP) 9:54.93, 4. Isaac Jensen (ICW) 9:55.99, 5. Adam Streicher (CF) 10:02.53, 6. Taylor Mueller (CRJ) 10:15.56.

4x800 Relay
1. Iowa City West 8:10.64, 2. Hempstead 8:23.14, 3. Cedar Falls 8:23.52, 4. Xavier (Patrick Mullin, Zach Stovie, Evan Gradoville, Ben Schueler) 8:38.61, 5. Jefferson (Devin Stone, Aaron Carter, Colton Cortez, Tim MacDonald) 8:44.03, 6. Prairie (Luke Gradoville, Isaiah Vlasek, Steven Wallace, Connor Neuhaus) 8:47.50.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay
1. Iowa City West 59.38, 2. Cedar Falls 1:01.22, 3. Prairie (Mitch Dellamuth, Keagan Pinter, Jarred Edmonds, Haakon Wilz) 1:02.17, 4. Jefferson (Savaun Bounds, Tanner Lund, Michael Moncivais, Dakote Tomkins) 1:04.21, 5. Xavier (Noah Clasen, Josh Nelson, Nick Lang, Joe Pape) 1:06.03, 6. Hempstead 1:06.44.

100 Meter Dash
1. Armando Williams (ICW) 11.40, 2. Nick Steingreaber (CRX) 11.44, 3. Luke Toyosi (CF) 11.59, 4. (tie) Nate Karlan (CRJ) 11.62; Richard Bryant (ICW) 11.62, 6. Mitch Dowell (CF) 11.67.

400 Meter Dash
1. Charlie Rogers (ICW) 50.17, 2. Austin Dellamuth (CRP) 50.22, 3. Shane Shaddox (CF) 50.52, 4. Timauntay Jones (CRJ) 50.83, 5. Ahmed Noureldaim (ICW) 50.85, 6. Demetrius Harper (CRP) 52.29.

4x200 Relay
1. Iowa City West 1:29.20, 2. Xavier (Nick Ball, Brandon Gradoville, Cal Stovie, Jordan Weber) 1:30.77, 3. Jefferson (Nate Karlan, Chance Tiedtke, Alex Baxter, Dylan Chittick) 1:31.56, 4. Cedar Falls 1:31.62, 5. Waterloo East 1:37.35, 6. Prairie (Marquan Wilder, Alex Nelson, Dylan Becker, Mitch Dellamuth) 1:37.53.

110 Meter Hurdles
1. Lucas Brenneman (ICW) 15.72, 2. Haakon Wilz (CRP) 15.79, 3. Josh Nelson (CRX) 15.92, 4. Kalund Brown (CF) 16.09, 5. Carter Valentine (CRX) 16.27, 6. Kalehl Brown (CF) 16.34.

1600 Meter Run
1. Jacob Aune (CRP) 4:29.47, 2. Bailey Wetherell (ICW) 4:30.16, 3. Lincoln Rozeboom (ICW) 4:37.28, 4. Matthew Adrian (CF) 4:38.27, 5. Mitch Pritts (CRP) 4:40.79, 6. Andrew Halloran (CF) 4:52.11.

200 Meter Dash
1. James Harrington (CF) 22.17, 2. Armando Williams (ICW) 22.59, 3. Nick Ball (CRX) 22.95, 4. Mitch Dowell (CF) 23.04, 5. Nick Steingreaber (CRX) 23.30, 6. Nate Karlan (CRJ) 23.38.

400 Meter Hurdles
1. Charlie Rogers (ICW) 54.96, 2. Austin Cuvelier (CF) 56.03, 3. Noah Clasen (CRX) 56.04, 4. Matt Feeley (ICW) 56.23, 5. Lucas Vanous (CRJ) 56.83, 6. Jarred Edmonds (CRP) 59.86.

Sprint Medley Relay
1. Xavier (Nick Ball, Jordan Weber, Zach Stovie, Brandon Gradoville) 3:42.54, 2. Cedar Falls 3:42.86, 3. Iowa City West 3:44.93, 4. Jefferson (Aaron Gruwell, Ryan Deerberg, Jordan Selby, Taylor Mueller) 3:46.19, 5. Prairie (Austin Dellamuth, Alex Nelson, Mitch Dellamuth, Isaiah Vlasek) 3:52.08, 6. Hempstead 4:04.03.

800 Meter Run
1. Timauntay Jones (CRJ) 1:55.84, 2. Bailey Wetherell (ICW) 2:02.50, 3. Kaleb Greiner (ICW) 2:05.65, 4. Bryan Case (DH) 2:07.99, 5. Jared Failor (CF) 2:09.01, 6. Nick Klein (DH) 2:09.62.

4x100 Relay
1. Cedar Falls 42.56, 2. Xavier (Nick Ball, Jordan Weber, Cal Stovie, Nick Steingreaber) 42.78, 3. Jefferson (Shaquille Harbor, Dylan Chittick, Chance Tiedtke, Nate Karlan) 43.46, 4. Iowa City West 43.60, 5. Waterloo East 46.20, 6. Hempstead 47.05.

4x400 Relay
1. Iowa City West 3:23.67, 2. Prairie (Austin Dellamuth, Jarred Edmonds, Jacob Aune, Demetrius Harper) 3:25.09, 3. Cedar Falls 3:25.28, 4. Jefferson (Ryan Deerberg, Alex Baxter, Asim Wallace, William Orr) 3:27.51, 5. Xavier (Trey Sampson, Noah Clasen, Brandon Gradoville, Zach Stovie) 3:41.24, 6. Hempstead 3:43.89.