W-MU shuttle hurdle advances

DES MOINES ? With their class-leading time of 1:06.73, the Winfield-Mt. Union girls? shuttle hurdle team of Anna Crawford, Karlie Wade, Emily Mathews and Cassie Kingery advanced to the state finals.

The Wolves competed in the first heat of the Class 1A shuttle hurdle prelim, which was the first event at the state track meet this morning.

They won their heat handily with a time of 1:06.73, a time that would prove unbeatable in the next five heats as well. The Wolves will be the No. 1 seed in the finals on Saturday morning.

Their closest competition ? based on the times from the prelims ? is No. 2 seed Central Elkader, which ran a time of 1:09.09.

Until today, Central Elkader?s best time on the season was 1:09.47.

The Wolves? performance in the prelim was their best of the season ? in fact, it was the best that any Class 1A team has run this season. Coming into the state meet, W-MU held the fastest shuttle hurdle time in the class at 1:07.55.

Their qualifying time is also more than two seconds faster than the time they ran on the same track when they competed in the Drake Relays: 1:08.90.

?It was a great way to start off the state meet ? we had the fastest time of season and a school record,? the W-MU girls? track and field coach, Allyson McCarty, said. ?It was a good start to the weekend, and we hope to keep the momentum rolling into the next couple events we have coming up.?

Wade (long jump) was the only other athlete from the W-MU girls? team scheduled to compete today.

Tomorrow, Kingery will compete in the 100 hurdles. The 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays teams will also take the track for the Wolves, and Lou Krieger-Coen will throw discus.

On the boys? side, Max Fricke competes today in the open 400, and the W-MU 4x400 team will run on Friday.

The shuttle hurdle will compete again ? this time, aiming for a state title ? on Saturday morning at 11:10 a.m.

Along with the team from Central Elkader, the Wolves will be competing against East Buchanan, Stanton, Valley Community, Gehlen Catholic (Le Mars), Griswold and Postville.

Gehlen Catholic holds the Class 1A state record in the event with a time of 1:05.44. That record was set last year, when the W-MU team placed fourth overall.

?It was nice to get the first race under our belt and kick the nerves,? McCarty said. ?To be in the finals is such a huge accomplishment, now we just need to focus and do our thing.?