Highland shows well at state

DES MOINES — Apparently nerves make for fast times. Being nervous is a good thing because those nerves led to a Highland High School record.

The Huskies’ 4x200 meter relay team of Kadin Jepson, Brenton Bonebrake, Tyler Thompson and Connor Grinstead finished second in their Class 1A heat at the state track meet in Drake Stadium Friday and 12th overall.

"Having so many people here makes it so you are more nervous,“ Thompson said.

And that nervousness can either help or hurt. For the Huskies, it helped because more important than the 12th-place finish was the time. The time was 1 minute, 33.46 seconds, which broke the record by nearly half a second. Le Mars Gehlen Catholic won in 1:31.31.

The Huskies also broke the school’s 4x100 mark, placing 11th in 45.03 with Jepson, Taylor Day, Thompson and Grinstead.

“It feels great to have the school record,” said anchor-leg runner Grinstead.

Both records had been established earlier in the year, but the team was more than happy to lower that time.

“It means it will be tougher for somebody to beat that time in the future,” Jepson said.

When the records were broken earlier in the season, it was at a meet that didn’t have any of the atmosphere or the crowd noise that Friday’s race had in Drake Stadium.

“The noise is so different from the small meets we run at,” Jepson said. “From those to here, there isn’t anything comparable.”

“It’s the atmosphere here that is just different from anywhere else,” Bonebrake said. “It makes a difference.”

"The competition here is the best we will ever see and that helped us run even faster,“ Thompson said. ”There is a lot more faster kids so we have to keep up with them.“

Other Huskies events over the three-day meet were: Mackenzie McFarland was 14th in the 100 in 13.37; Grinstead was 18th in 23.58 in the 200; Sarah Burton was 11th in the long jump at 14 feet, 10 inches. All the Huskies were first-timers at state.

“They definitely enjoyed the experience despite the rain,” girls coach Angela Strobel said. “I'm very proud of how the girls performed, handling the rain Thursday and the swing to heat Friday.”

The 4x200 meter relay was 16th in 1:51.78 with Alyssa Clarke, Burton, Katelyn Waters and McFarland. The 4x1 time of 53.38 was 21st with MyLei Smith, Burton, Waters and McFarland, which was not the fastest of the season, but all four will be back.

“McFarland has been a good closer for us in all of our relays and state was no exception,” Strobel said.

Highland’s 22nd-place 4x4 relay (4:36.93) with Taylor Sublette, Burton, Clarke and McFarland was slower that its qualifying time, but finished higher than its 24th seed.

“I knew that race would be a tough one, but all the girls put their heart into giving their best,” Strobel said. “With seniors Clarke and Sublette, it was really special to get to see them run for the last time at the Blue Oval.”