craigdailypress.com

Coach Mike Gleason knew before the gun sounded Saturday in the 4x800-meter relay race at the Greater Southwest Track and Field Classic in Tempe, Ariz., that the cards were stacked against his team.

"One thing that was different was the other girls on the team we ran against weren't from the same school like we were," said Gleason. "They were the best 800-meter runners from the state. That made a huge difference."

Team members were Stephanie Hurd, Emily Mortensen, a junior, Charlotte Steele, a sophomore, and Laurel Mortensen, a freshman, ran to a sixth place finish with a time of 9:41.

"The girls got behind early and it was hard for them to catch up," said Gleason. "I still thought that they ran well."

"I didn't have one of my best races," said Hurd, a junior, who ran the first leg of the race. "I was pretty disappointed about my performance."

Arizona finished in first place with a time of 9:16.

"Before the race we were talking with the other girls and they were telling us that their 800-meter runs were 2:16 and we run ours in 2:20," said Hurd. "Our team wasn't stacked and it was amazing competition that we ran against."

Despite the low finish, Gleason believes the meet will help his team down the line.

"It was good for them to attend a meet like we did," said Gleason. "The meet consisted of some of the elite runners from around the region. When they were introducing all the seniors, I would say that 95 percent of them are attending major colleges on track scholarships and that is impressive."

"This will make us hungry for next year," said Hurd. "This year, we were happy to be there. Next year, we want to go back and compete."