Milford’s track and field team saw four new top-10 performances at the District B4 meet May 12 in Waverly.
The Eagles will have 11 athletes at the state track meet at Omaha Burke Wednesday and Thursday, May 20 and 21.
The most exciting part of the day, according to Coach Cody Gregory, was both the girls’ and boys’ 4x400-meter relay.
The girls’ team of Libbie Reil, Emery Newton, Shayla Rautenberg and Abby Crabtree finished second in 4:07.18, breaking the school record the group set at the conference meet by more than two seconds.
“Not to be outdone, the boys (all four of whom had already qualified for state) gave us one of the most exciting performances of the year,” Gregory said.
Connor Adams and Kaleb Meierdierks put the Eagles in the lead, and Zeb Reil handed off to Isaac Roth with a lead of about 10 yards.
Waverly and Norris closed the gap around the first curve, and the three teams were shoulder-to-shoulder down the back stretch. Roth was pushed back to third around the far curve.
“It seemed like they were going to pull away, but we’ve learned to never doubt Isaac Roth when a victory is on the line. I don’t know how he did it, but with what seemed like only 20 meters left in the race, Isaac burst past both Waverly and Norris to win the district title,” Gregory said.
The team’s time of 3:25.58 broke the school record set at districts last year.
“It was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. It was really fun to beat those teams on that track,” Gregory, a Waverly native and former Viking coach, said.
Roth also earned state spots in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. He was second in the 110s with a time of 14.84 seconds, third fastest in Milford history, and second in the 300s in 40.61. This made him a four-time state qualifier in the 300s.
Milford had a good day in the 400-meter dash, as well, Gregory said. Abby Crabtree placed second in 1:00.17 to earn a spot at state. Her time was “impressive in the windy conditions of the day,” the coach said.
“Connor Adams and Kaleb Meierdierks had to one-up Abby, though,” Gregory said.
The two finished second and third in 51.22 and 51.87 seconds, respectively.
Macie Carter recovered from a rough 3,200 to place third in the 1,600 in 5:30.74 to earn a trip to state.
In the field events, Colby Rautenberg was the first to punch his ticket to state, clearing the automatic qualifying height of 6-1 in the high jump.
Zeb Reil jumped 21-4.25 to place fifth in the long jump. His distance was good enough to earn one of the extra qualifier spots.
Newton also picked up an automatic qualifier height in the high jump at 5-2 and placed fourth.
Libbie Reil earned a place at state with her second-place finish in the long jump. She tied her school record of 17-5.5 in the finals.
Cash Martin was the district champion in the pole vault at 14-4 and will try to better his eighth-place state finish last year. Gregory said he had three good attempts at 15-1, trying to break the school record.
“Coach Joey Carder said that it was the best he’s looked at that height this season,” Gregory said. “Cash is feeling good and very optimistic for his final vaults next week at state. It will be exciting.”
Events for Class B start at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 20.
