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LESS THAN A BLINK AWAY

Hawks’ 4x100 has one chance left to get in Drake field

South Hamilton’s Tanna Thompson nears the finish line as teammate Kate Barkema watches in the background on Tuesday in Earlham. DFJ photo/Angela Hewitt

EARLHAM — A blink of an eye usually takes one-third on a second, or .33 — not exactly a long amount of time.

Now try this on for size — the South Hamilton girls’ 4×100-meter relay enters today’s final day of qualifying for the Drake Relays sitting on the outside by just eight hundredths of a second, or .08.

Oof.

With a season’s best time of 52.88 seconds, the Hawks’ quartet of freshmen Ashlyn Erickson and Tanna Thompson, sophomore Kate Barkema and junior Kelbe Krumm currently ranks 50th in the state. Only the top 48 will qualify for next week’s showcase on the blue oval in Des Moines.

In a normal year — a non-COVID year, in other words — the top 96 relays would qualify for Drake.

South Hamilton teammates Caleigh Hewitt (left) and Grace Neuberger high-five after they shared third place in the high jump at Tuesday’s Earlham Co-Ed in Earlham. DFJ photo/Angela Hewitt

The Hawks’ 4×100 was unable to lower its time on Tuesday at the Earlham Co-Ed, but it still won gold in 53.07, one of two event wins for the squad. The four runners have one last crack at slipping into the top 48 this evening when they compete at a co-ed meet in Manson.

“We know that we’re really close and the girls understand this is a great opportunity and we’ve got one more shot at it,” South Hamilton head coach Dan Brodie said. “If we can clean some things up, get a good start and have good hand-offs, we’ll have a good shot.

“(Eight hundredths of a second) is one wrong foot step, it’s one fraction of a second too long on a hand-off, it’s a variety of factors. It’s a fun race to compete in because the margins are so tight.”

South Hamilton secured seven medals and accrued 721⁄2 points to finish fourth against a field of 14 other teams on Tuesday. Van Meter (103) and Harlan (102) finished in the top two spots, and Panorama (88) was third.

The Hawks did the majority of their damage in the field events and relays with 631⁄2 points. The throwers and jumpers put up 281⁄2, with the relays accounting for 35.

Mackenzy Grady gave South Hamilton its only individual victory, as she did the best at navigating the gusty winds en route to discus gold (97 feet, 11 inches). Teammate Emmaly Fields was third (89-9).

Thompson, Krumm and Barkema joined forces with Makena Galetich to finish second in the 4×200 (1:53.83). Galetich, another of the team’s talented freshmen, was making her season debut after rehabilitating a knee injury sustained during the basketball season.

Caleigh Hewitt and Grace Neuberger shared third place in the high jump, as both cleared 4-8. South Hamilton also grabbed bronze in the 4×400 (4:27.53) and sprint medley (1:59.57) relays. Thompson was a member of both third-place groups.

“I keep saying it, but it was a total team effort,” Brodie said. “We had a lot of girls help garner team points and I look at that as it’s complete. We needed everybody.”

Earlham Co-Ed

Tuesday at Earlham

Team Standings

1. Van Meter 103; 2. Harlan 102; 3. Panorama 88; 4. South Hamilton 721⁄2; 5. Mount Ayr 70; 6. Earlham 54; 7. Tri-Center 50; 8. Nodaway Valley 481⁄2; 9. ACGC 47; 10. Des Moines Christian 40; 11. West Central Valley 31; 12. Ogden 18; 13. I-35 10; 14. Grandview Christian 3; 15. Coon Rapids-Bayard 1.

South Hamilton Results

Discus — 1. Mackenzy Grady 97-11; 3. Emmaly Fields 89-9.

Shot Put — 10. Fields 27-51⁄2; 15. Grady 25-31⁄2.

High Jump — 3. Caleigh Hewitt 4-8; 3. Grace Neuberger 4-8.

Long Jump — 7. Emma Lewis 14-8.

100 Meters — 5. Kelbe Krumm 13.88; 10. Makena Galetich 14.22.

200 Meters — 15. Zoey Duns 30.69; 20. Lewis 31.74.

400 Meters — 5. Ashlyn Erickson 1:03.87; 8. Abby Ervin 1:06.59.

800 Meters — 15. Hallee Feaker 3:02.35.

100 Hurdles — 25. Kenzie Henderson 22.52.

1,500 Meters — 20. Marissa Jensen 5:11.48; 21. Valerie Wagner 6:17.00.

3,000 Meters — 13. Paige Doolittle 13:22.91.

4×100 Relay — 1. SH 53.07 (Kate Barkema, Krumm, Tanna Thompson, Erickson).

4×200 Relay — 2. SH 1:53.83 (Thompson, Krumm, Barkema, Galetich).

4×400 Relay — 3. SH 4:27.53 (Ervin, Thompson, Kailyn Northrop. Erickson).

4×800 Relay — 5. SH 11:05.20 (Ervin, Anna Lammers, Northrop, Erickson).

Sprint Medley Relay — 3. SH 1:59.57 (Barkema, Duns, Krumm, Thompson).

Distance Medley Relay — 8. SH 5;08.02 (Duns, Lewis, Feaker, Wagner).

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