At the beginning of the season, Highland seniors Taylor Sublette and Alyssa Clarke didn’t expect to see sprint specialists Mackenzie McFarland and Sarah Burton on the 4x400-meter …
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At the beginning of the season, Highland seniors Taylor Sublette and Alyssa Clarke didn’t expect to see sprint specialists Mackenzie McFarland and Sarah Burton on the 4x400-meter relay.
And they definitely didn’t expect to finish the season running the 4x400 in Drake Stadium at the state meet.
“Honestly, I was not thinking this would ever happen,” Clarke said after the final race of her career. “I was just so surprised and I’m so happy. At the end of the race, we didn’t win, but we still ran the four by four.”
The district champion Huskie relay had the 24th-fastest qualifying time, but finished 22nd with a time of 4:36.93.
About a month earlier, Highland coach Angie Strobel decided to switch things up by adding a couple sprinters, a freshman and a sophomore, to the 4x400. They finished first, and improved from there.
“This was our fourth time running the race,” Sublette said. “And I think we’ve done a great job every time. I mean, the girls that we’re with are just so amazing. And they’re such fun girls to have on a team. So I think even if we didn’t place as good as we wanted to, we still had a lot of fun. And we made the most of our experience.”
On Thursday, Burton finished 11th in the long jump and McFarland was 14th in the 100-meter dash. On Friday, the 4x200-meter relay ran its fastest time of the season.
“All the athletes were first timers at the state meet and they definitely enjoyed the experience despite the rain,” Strobel said. “I’m overall very proud of how the girls performed, handling the rain on Thursday and then the swing to heat on Friday.”
The 4x200 of Clarke, Burton, Waters, and McFarland finished 16th with a time of 1:51.78.
“It feels great,” Waters said after the race. “We love to be here.”
The Huskies were seeded seventh in the second heat, but finished one spot higher, a full second ahead of the next competitor.
“Going into it, we were in lane one,” Burton said. “But we definitely caught up and finished higher than what we were seeded.”
The 4x100 of MyLei Smith, Burton, Waters, and McFarland finished 21st.
“The girls competed well in the 4x100,” Strobel said. “Mackenzie McFarland has been a good closer for us in all of our relays and the 4x100 at state was no exception.
“Our time was not the fastest we’ve run this season, but all the girls in that relay will be back next year to get another chance at improving on that.”
Walking through the infield after the final race of her career, Sublette took a moment to look around and take in the state meet atmosphere from the track level.
“To go out of your high school career running out the blue oval — yeah, that’s pretty amazing,” she said. “And I’m extremely happy and proud of our team.”
