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AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

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Girls track runners headed to state

by Anthony Robinson

Junior Melanie Nielsen finishes off her 200 meter district championship.

The Trojann track team hosted the 2011 Class 3A district 1 track meet Thursday, May 12 . Three Trojann events automatically qualified for the state meet next weekend, by placing first. Junior Melanie Nielsen ran 27.4 seconds to win the 200 meter dash, the sprint medley team consisting of sophomore Mackenzie Holmes, senior Kari Sandage, junior Melanie Nielsen, and junior Alex Hartwig running 1:52.34, and junior Ali Krogman with an 11:06 in the 3000 meter run, all qualified for the 2011 Iowa State Track Meet next Thursday thru Saturday.

The Trojanns also have four other events that are in the running for the state meet, the 4×800 team, the 4×400 team, and Krogman in the 1500.  All three events placed second at the meet and have a chance to qualify based on their times compared to the rest of the state of Iowa.  The 4×400 team (Melanie Nielsen, Sam Petersen, Jessi Arneson, Alex Hartwig), ran a time of 4:07.  According to coach Bruce Henderson in an interview with KSOM, Henderson said the 4×400 time was as fast as the Courtney Jacobs era (2004).  Krogman posted a personal best in the 1500 despite her second place finish. Krogman’s time should easily put her into the field in Des Moines.  All three events are preliminarily into the field at state, but depending on their times may be bumped out of the field if their times our not one of the the top 24 in the state after the completion of all district/regional meets.

Junior Alex Hartwig wins the sprint medley for the Trojanns.

In one of the most exciting races of the entire evening, the Trojan sprint medley relay team outlasted both the Harlan Cyclones and the Carroll Tigers after trailing for most of the race.  With two 100 meter runs by Mackenzie Holmes and Kari Sandage putting the Trojans in the middle of the pack after the first two legs of the race, Nielsen put the Trojans into the top three with an outstanding 200 in third leg of the relay.  As Hartwig took the hand-off for the final 400 leg of the race, the Trojann team was in third place. Hartwig ran a 58.9 second 400 to beat both the Tigers and Cyclones in the final 50 meters.  “We saved our best for last,” Henderson said.

As a team the Trojanns placed second at the meet with 113.5 points. Harlan won the district with 198 points.

Check back to AHSneedle.com later to find out who secured spots at state for the Trojanns.

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