Girls state track notebook: Spartans return to 4x400 finals

By: 
Jake Ryder

DES MOINES – The Grundy Center girls 4x400 quartet qualified for Saturday's 1A final with a 4:11.27 in fifth place in Friday's preliminaries at Drake Stadium.
 
The Spartan quartet of Kyah Luhring, Brooke Flater, Landry Luhring and Hailey Wallis shaved over eight seconds from their performance at the district meet in Hudson, and gets the Spartans in position to try and improve on last season's fourth-place finish in the 4x400 finals.
 
"We consider that a win," Wallis said. "We'll just try to keep up that pace tomorrow."
 
The same foursome is expected to run in Saturday morning's sprint medley final in 1A as well in preparation for the final race of the day later that afternoon.
 
...
 
AGWSR's Katelyn Pfaltzgraff and BCLUW's Lizzie Garber got to take in some first-time experiences competing at Drake Stadium this weekend and can now shake some of those first-time nerves that go along with the experience.
 
Pfaltzgraff was 18th in the 400 hurdles finals on Friday in 1:11.96, roughly keeping her pace from her district performance in Hudson last week.
 
"I had some energy late to push a couple girls," Pfaltzgraff said. "I just gotta calm my nerves down a little, never really been in this environment before."
 
Garber and her teammates got motivation for next season. She was 11th in the 100 hurdles prelims in 16.53, finished 24th in the 4x100 prelims with Kiersten Kruse, Payton Pekarek and Olivia Hughes, in addition to narrowly missing the shuttle hurdle finals in 10th place on Thursday with the same trio of teammates.
 
"Shuttle didn't really happen the way we wanted it to but we're all going to be back next year and just get better with what we're doing," Garber said. "100 hurdles didn't go quite as well as I wanted, but it's a first time, lot of new experiences. I'm ready to come back next year and go even faster."
 
Notes
 
AGWSR: Aubrie Fisher will run in the 800-meter final Saturday morning and the 1,500 final in the afternoon.
 
D-NH: The Wolverines' best performance of day two came in the 4x200, as Josie Claude, Margaret Nielsen, Madison Hedges and Eden Barrett ran 11th in 1:48.71. ... The distance medley quartet of Alana Barrett, Nielsen, Courtney Bolhuis and Baylee Petersen finished in 22nd in 4:33.27. ... Claude, Alana Barrett, Hedges and Eden Barrett finished the day with a 23rd-place run in the 4x100 prelims in 52.33.
 
G-R: Lily Ehlers will finish her junior season in the 1,500-meter finale on Saturday afternoon.

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