Particularly for a girl that’s only a sophomore.

But when the lights shined brightest, so to speak, so did Tesdahl at Gilbert High School last night.

Facing a deep and balanced field in the 400-meter hurdles, Tesdahl put together her best race of the season and second-best race of her career to capture gold at a Class 3A State Qualifying Meet. She’ll tour the blue oval inside Drake Stadium in Des Moines at the state meet next week for the second time in as many years.

“There was a lot of pressure from herself, but she was mentally prepared and just ran a hell of a race,” WCHS head coach Clint Howard said. “We knew she was more than capable of doing it, she just had to put it all out there.”

Dasha Sankey (left) takes the baton from Brynna Croy during the 4x200-meter relay at last night’s Class 3A state qualifier meet. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Four girls entered the event separated by just one second, but Tesdahl was the leader and she ran that way. She was good out of the blocks, smooth on the backstretch and then strong down the straightaway as she gritted her teeth across the finish line in 1:10.09, a time topped only by the 1:09 she ran at the 2021 state meet.

Algona’s Andi Jensen (1:11.20) and Humboldt’s Sophia Harris (1:11.96) weren’t far behind.

“She’s been kind of in a slump the past couple of weeks, but she put it all together,” Howard said. “That’s the most complete race she’s run all year.”

As of right now, Tesdahl will head to state as a solo act, the same as last year. WCHS was unable to earn any additional automatic berths, which went to the first- and second-place finishers. Eight more wildcards will be added in each event, most likely on Saturday.

Could the Lynx pick up additional bids? It will be tough.

The shuttle hurdle relay — McKenzie Mishler, Brynna Croy, Bonnie Nohrenberg and Tesdahl — has an outside shot after it placed third in 1:15.05. The same could be said for discus thrower Hannah Brandt, who put up a respectable measurement of 107 feet, 10 inches to finish fourth.

Howard concedes it’s probably not likely for either event, but stranger things have happened.

WCHS tallied 57 points and finished at the back of the eight-team field, but Howard liked what he saw from his crew.

“I thought we did well up and down the lineup,” he said. “Team-points wise, that was tough because we built the lineup to try and do well in the areas that we thought we had opportunities.”

North Polk (190 points) won the team title.

Class 3A State Qualifying Meet

Thursday at Gilbert

Team Standings

1. North Polk 190; 2. Gilbert 117; 3. Algona 81; 4. Humboldt 77; 4. Hampton-Dumont/CAL 74; 6. Nevada 65; 7. Iowa Falls-Alden 63; 8. Webster City 57.

Webster City Results

Shot Put — 5. Adysen Poppen 33-53⁄4; Delaney Kopriva 31-43⁄4.

Discus — 4. Hannah Brandt 107-10; 13. Poppen 62-8.

Long Jump — 4. Bonnie Nohrenberg 13-113⁄4; 8. Tateelina Vankham 13-1.

100 Meters — 6. Lynne Roberts 15.07; 10. Sierra Steuerwald 15.53.

200 Meters — 11. Roberts 31.28; 13. Steuerwald 31.74.

400 Meters — 12. Alonda Johnson 1:14.55; 14. Vankham 1:20.07.

100 Hurdles — 4. McKenzie Mishler 18.73; 6. Nohrenberg 18.98.

400 Hurdles — 1. Adeline Tesdahl 1:10.09.

4×100 Relay — 6. WCHS 54.17 (Mishler, Marah Range, Cloe Savitski, Brynna Croy).

4×200 Relay — 5. WCHS 1:32.19 (Savitski, Range, Croy, Dasha Sankey).

4X400 Relay — 6. WCHS 4:50.05 (Emma Peck, Sankey, Johnson, Steuerwald).

Sprint Medley Relay — 5. WCHS 2:01.33 (Savitski, Tesdahl, Sankey, Peck).

Shuttle Hurdle Relay — 3. WCHS 1:15.05 (Mishler, Croy, Nohrenberg, Tesdahl).