A last-minute substitution hasn’t slowed down the Houston girls’ relay teams.
The 4×100 and 4×200 relays both qualified for state by finishing fourth at Saturday’s sectionals at Hollister High School.
Also statebound are freshman Maddie Vandiver, who placed fourth in the 200 meters, and junior Lauren Hoover, who was third in the 100.
The 38th annual girls’ championships are Friday and Saturday at Dwight T. Reed Stadium in Jefferson City.
“All the girls have worked hard all year. It’s a good reward for them to be able to go to state,” said HHS track coach David Williams.
The relay teams made an unexpected substitution at districts when one team member was unable to attend. Kayla Herndon agreed to drop out of the 1600 to join Vandiver, Hoover and Taylor Franklin on the team.
Both relay teams finished second at districts to qualify for sectionals and advanced to Jefferson City with fourth-place finishes. The 4×200 finished in 1:53.94 and the 4×100 was 53.24.
“These four girls are getting a feel for each other,” Williams said.
Hoover has ran the first leg of both relays the entire season. She is followed by Franklin, Herndon and Vandiver.
Williams said Hoover’s fast starts have been a key for the relay teams.
“I’m really confident with her leading off,” he said. “At almost every race we’ve ran, she makes up the stagger. She gets us out and going.”
When Herndon joined the relay teams, Williams moved Vandiver from second to anchor.
“When we moved Maddie to the anchor, our times started getting better,” Williams said.
It took a video replay to determine that Vandiver finished fourth in the 200 to qualify for state. Her time of 27.94 was just ahead of the 28.04 posted by Hannah Smith of Hollister.
Vandiver’s strongest event is the 100. But she was disqualified with a false start at districts. She made up for the miscue by running a 27.30 in the 200 at districts to place third and finishing fourth at sectionals.
“Her times have been consistently good,” Williams said. “She’s ran in the top one or two in just about every meet.”
After placing fifth in the district prelims, Hoover ran a 13.6 in the finals to finish third and advance to sectionals. She placed third again by running a personal-best 13.55 in the sectionals finals to qualify for state.
“She just wants it. That’s all you can say about her,” Williams said. “She’s a good runner, don’t get me wrong. But she’s very competitive.”
Herndon just missed the state cut in the 100 hurdles by placing sixth in 18.44. She finished third the previous weekend at districts with a time of 18.20.