DES MOINES - The ink barely had time to dry before Dike-Hartford's Hannah Willms and North Tama's Sara Stoakes rewrote the state track and field record book in the 400-meter dash.

Willms' long, smooth strides once again brought the crowd at Drake Stadium to its feet Thursday evening. She lowered her own all-classes state-meet record from 54.70 seconds to 54.68 en route to her third 400-meter championship in as many attempts.

The 400 wasn't the only record-breaking event for Willms on the opening day of the state meet. In fact, it came just minutes after she set a Class 2A record in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash. Her 200 time of 24.49 erased the 24.98 effort from Dani Stipe of Kuemper Catholic set in 2006.

Even with her dominance, Willms remains highly motivated. Validating last year's record-setting run in the 400 provided plenty of fuel for her fire.

"Doing it once doesn't really prove anything, but doing it twice kind of does," Willms said. "It was more being able to come out here and say, 'It wasn't just a fluke that happened last year, and I can prove to myself that I can do it again.'"

In her 200-meter prelim, Willms wasn't in a gambling mood. She didn't hold anything back.

"I knew (Logan-Magnolia's Alex Gochenour) had a better (qualifying) time coming in, and I had to push myself right away," Willms said. "You never know with prelims. It's so close, especially in the 200."

Willms continues her pursuit of a second four gold medal week today in the high jump where she owns the state's all-time record. She will anchor Dike-New Hartford's sprint medley and run in the 200-meter dash Saturday.

Stoakes also looked primed to take a second run at a four gold medal week. Her championship time of 56.08 bested former teammate Blaire Dinsdale's Class 1A state meet record of 56.39 set in 2007.

The state title was Stoakes' ninth overall and second in the 400. She just missed the record last season when she won in 56.54.

"It was definitely one of the biggest things I wanted to go for," Stoakes said. "Last year I was kind of disappointed when I only missed it by a couple tenths of a second."

The race was never in doubt. Stoakes made up the stagger on the first turn and says she realized the record was within reach when she saw her time on the scoreboard at the end of the backstretch.

With the win, Stoakes now holds her school's top times in the 100, 200 and 400. Instead of going for a three-peat in the 100 and 200, she competed in the 400 hurdles today and will cap her senior state meet with the 800 and 1,500-meter runs Saturday.

"That's what I think it takes to be good," Stoakes said, addressing her more difficult event schedule. "You have to enjoy what you're doing and you have to want a challenge. I wanted a challenge this weekend."

Stoakes is attempting to become the first female athlete to win four individual running events in state history. She won three individual running events and a relay last season.

In Class 3A, Decorah believes its up to the challenge of competing for a team title. The Vikings' got off to a strong start when sophomore Moran Lonning won the 3,000-meter run by more than 11 seconds in 10:40.93.

"I wanted to do it for our team because we're stacked this year," Lonning said. "Hopefully we can place high."

Elsewhere in Class 2A, Hudson got off to a strong start in the relays. The Pirates' 4x800 combination of Lauren Oltmann, Claire Hawkins, Katey Johnson and Sami Henke finished second in 9:38.59.

Denver sophomore Caylee Ott also had a strong runner-up performance. Her leap of 17 feet, 3 3/4 inches led the event heading into the finals. Logan-Magnolia's Karen Hutson passed her with a winning jump of 17-4 3/4.

The Cyclones lead the 2A team standings with 16 points. Denver's Molly Pleggenkhule was runner-up to Willms and Grundy Center's Adrianne Alexia was runner-up to Stoakes.

Cedar Falls' Molly Youde led metro finishers with a fifth-place high jump of 5-2. The Tigers' Mercedes Larsen was eighth in the discus at 113-2.

Other area placewinners Thursday were:

Turkey Valley's Hannah Lensing was third in the 1A shot put.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck's Breanna Vint took third in the 2A shot put.

Sumner-Fredericksburg's Ashley Ameling was third in the 2A 3,000, followed by Gladbrook-Reinbeck's Taylor Peterson and S-F's Jodie Miller.

Tripoli's Micah Wedemeier was fourth in the 1A long jump.

Wapsie Valley's Kate Moen snared fourth in the 1A 3,000.

North Fayette's Britlyn Sieck finished fifth in the 2A shot put.

Crestwood's Jessy Sticka was fifth in the discus.

Wapsie Valley grabbed sixth in the 1A 4x800 relay.

AGWSR's Cass Ringena was seventh in the long jump and eighth in the 400. Teammate Jess McDowell was eighth in the shot put.

Union's Megan Clark was seventh in the 400.