3A girls: Decorah leads; MV-L lurks

DES MOINES -- Mount Vernon-Lisbon wasted no time in flexing its relay muscle.

The Zebras stacked their 3,200-meter relay, and the result was a dominating, record performace.

Holly Salzbrenner, Karly Cochrane, Kristin Canning and Alex Wilson ran it in a Class 3A-record 9:17.72, more than 17 seconds ahead of runner-up Dubuque Wahlert, at the state track meet Thursday at Drake Stadium.

"We knew Wahlert would run a good 4-by-8, so it's nice to stick this one," said Salzbrenner, who sprinted to the front of the pack, then watched her teammates extend the lead.

Mount Vernon-Lisbon and Wahlert are expected to vie for the 3A girls' title again (MV-L pulled away in the final day last year).

The team leader after five events, though, is Decorah, with 20 points. Mount Vernon-Lisbon is second with 14; Wahlert and Benton Community have 12 apiece.

Salzbrenner opened the winning relay effort with a 2:19.4 effort.

"We've been focusing on running hard 600s. Our coaches figured the last 200 would carry us in," she said.

Cochrane and Canning added to the advantage, then Wilson blew it open with a 2:13.9 anchor.

"Really?" she said. "I didn't see that coming. I thought it was kind of slow.

"I hate the anticipation of races. I'm an extremely nervous person. Once the gun goes off, though, it all goes away."

Decorah's big day was highlighted by a second-place finish by Kayla Kregel in the 400. Kregel was clocked in 58.06 seconds, behind Jessica Nichols of Perry (56.48).

"I was really hoping for a school record of 58.7," Kregel said. "I wanted to get out fast and see where that took me."

Shana Kelly was third in the 3,000 for the Vikings.

Benton Community put itself in good position with a pair of third-place finishes. The Bobcats were bronze-medal winners in the 3,200 relay; Chloe Schmidt was third in the discus.

Sammy Ellingson, a freshman at Washington (Iowa), cleared 5-3 to earn third place in the high jump.