Demons earn three automatic bids

Despite rainy conditions, the Washington Demons were able to make their mark at the district meet in Mt. Pleasant on Thursday afternoon.

In what Washington boys? track and field head coach Steve Roth called ?the highlight of the night,? the Demon boys? 4 x 200-meter relay took second place at the district meet, earning an automatic bid into the Class 3A state meet next week.

The team of Ethan Hanson, Bryce Rickey, Kyle Schindler and Gage Redlinger combined for a time of 1:33.99 in the event, beating out Fairfield?s time of 1:35.57 to earn the bid.

Joining the 4 x 200 in earning a trip to Des Moines on Thursday was senior Tommy Peterson.

Peterson earned his mark in the shot put, taking second place with a throw of 51 feet ? 10 inches to advance.

?He moves on and that?s what matters,? Roth said. ?He?s been in a little bit of a funk lately, but we?ll work on that this week.?

The Washington girls? team had two events earn automatic qualification, and both came from senior Macy Marek.

Marek earned her state trip by winning the district championships in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

She posted a time of 12.98 seconds in the 100, while winning the 200 in a time of 26.88 seconds.

Marek qualified for both events last season as well.

To qualify in the 3A meet, participants had to finish in the top two of an event, or finish with one of the next best eight times from across the state.

The Demons are hoping to earn a couple of more nominations to the state field when it is announced on Friday afternoon.

Check out The Journal Website for the latest additions to the meet.

UPDATE: The tentative fields for next week's Class 3A state track meet have been announced.The events mentioned above qualified, as well as three additional events to the Demons' state track docket.

Boys: Washington senior Jacob Hennigan qualified for the 110-meter hurdles with the fifth-fastest time in Class 3A.

The Washington boys' shuttle hurdle relay team of Hennigan, Gage Redlinger, Alex Gonzalez and Caleb Bex also qualified for the state meet after taking third place in the district meet.

Girls: The 800-meter sprint medley team of Macy Marek, Amber Salow, Morgan Kimball and Kenzie Marek earned a berth into the state meet.