Marked improvement for Cougars

MARION - Progress can sometimes be measured in days and weeks.Such is the case with the Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls' track team, which won the Lions Relays Tuesday night at Linn-Mar after finishing seventh in an eight-team field two weeks ago at the Cedar Rapids Jefferson meet.Why the sudden improvement?“The big thing that has hurt us early is the weather hasn't really allowed us to work outside,” said Coach Mark Jensen. “Tonight is only our fourth outdoor track meet. That really hurts.“Some days we can have a great practice, and then go to a meet and the weather is bad. It makes it tough to really build any consistency.”Last night, however, Kennedy racked up 150 points.Host Linn-Mar finished second with 121, followed by Dubuque Senior with 68.Kennedy senior Marisa Estelle won the 100-meter hurdles and ran on the winning shuttle hurdle relay last night.“I'm happy to win, but I wasn't really happy with my time, especially in the 100 meter hurdles,” Estelle said. “We did get a personal best with the shuttle relay (1:08.74), but I think we can still be better.”Estelle is decidedly happy about the team's improvement, though.“We have finally been able to get some serious workouts in,” she said. “We are able to get out now and get some hard work done.“And it is starting to pay off.”And with that, Coach Jensen is in agreement.“It has taken a while, but we are putting the pieces together,” he said.