Comets manage to ‘Shuttle’ to Saturday final

Charles City’s 7th-place finish in the final marks the end of 4-time state qualifier Brianna Carey’s career

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DES MOINES — Brianna Carey huddled with her teammates near one of the top-sheltered benches that line the front stretch of Drake Stadium’s blue track.

There was not much at stake, just the fate of Carey’s high school track career.

Charles City’s four-time state qualifier had just run the 4-by-100 shuttle hurdle relay with underclass teammates Tayler Schmidt, Lynn Hoeft and Sadie Ruzicka during the Class 3A preliminaries that closed the first session of the Iowa High School Track and Field Championships on Thursday.

They had qualified for the state berth after setting a school record in the event the week before at the Waverly-Shell Rock State Qualifier. The time (1 minute, 7.24 seconds) broke a Comet record Carey and then freshman Ruzicka helped set two years before at the state championships.

The time the aforementioned foursome ran on Thursday (1:07.54) wasn’t their best, but when it was good enough for the seventh slot for Saturday’s top-eight final.

When Comets found out they were going to shuttle another day, they were naturally elated.

“Even if we didn’t make it, it was a great run with this team,” Carey said. “These girls were great to work with … I never have to tell what they need to be doing because they know themselves.

“I’m going to miss them. For us (getting to the finals), I’m more happy for them.”

Carey plans to continue her track and career at Grand View University.

“But I’m always going to be a Comet,” said Carey, who previously competed at Des Moines this year with the Comets’ Drake Relays qualifying 4-by-100 relay.

“I’m going to be supporting and cheering these girls on next year whenever I get a chance,” she said.

During Saturday’s final, the Comet relay team came within a tenth of a second from matching the school record it recently set while placing seventh with a time of 1 minute, 7.34 seconds.

Benton Community won the event with a class record time of 1 minute, 4.78 seconds.

The final state event that featured a Comet was the Class 3A girls 1,500-meter run.

Charles City sophomore Whitney Martin broke under the five-minute barrier for the first time of her budding running career with a 15th-place time of 4 minutes and 59 seconds.

The race proved to have historical significance as Assumption’s Joy Ripslinger managed to best Crestwood’s Ellie Friesen by a little more than 2 seconds to win her fourth race of the meet.

Her wins in the 400, 800, 1,500 and 3,000 are a feat never achieved before at the state meet.