craigdailypress.com

Two went last year.

Five will go this year.

Freshmen Laurel Mortensen, Kate Schafer, Danielle Brown, Jeni Jones and Sheila McNicol are packing their bags for the state meet slated for Friday and Saturday in Lakewood.

"It is really exciting for five of us to make it to the state meet," said Mortensen. She will be running in the 400-meter dash, the 4x200-meter relay, the 4x400-meter relay and the 4x800-meter relay. "We all did better than we were expected to do."

A week ago at the Class 4A Western Slope Regional meet, Mortensen accomplished one of her goals by setting a new school record in the 400-meter dash. Her time was 60.33.

"At the start of the season, I wanted to break the record in the 400-meter dash and I did that at the regional meet," said Mortensen. "At the state meet, I want to place and help the relays place high."

"The team practices were the hard part of the season," said Schafer, who will take part in the 400-meter run, the 4x200 relay and the 800-meter medley relay.

"The practices were long and hard. They made us perform better during the meets."

McNicol believes being on a team fresh off back-to-back regional titles pushes you to excel.

"This year, we have a lot of talent on the team and that makes me do better," said McNicol, who will be running in the 3,200-meter run. "With the competition that we have on the team it makes us all do better."

According to Brown, all the miles she put in during the regular season are worth it.

"In a way, I am kind of relieved by making it to the state meet, because all the hard work that I put in paid off," said Brown. She earned a spot in the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run.

"It is a really big honor to make it to the state meet as a freshman because a lot of people don't make it to the state meet until they are a senior."

At the start off year, Jones didn't believe her season would last this long.

"I didn't think that I was going to make it state this year," said Jones, who will take part in the triple jump.

"I was real surprised to make it because I didn't expect to get it this far as a freshman."

During the season, Jones leaped 33 feet, 4 inches which was the the third longest jump in school history.

"At the start of the season I had two goals," said Jones. "I wanted to break into the top five on the school lists in triple jump and qualify for the state meet. I accomplished both those goals."

According to coach Mike Gleason, with five freshmen going to the state meet, the team should be a strong contender for a long time.

"It is really exciting when you get five freshmen to state," said Gleason. "When you have that many going, you know that your program is going in the right way. It will help the program in the future."