Three relay wins highlight dozen state berths for Wolves, Spartans

 AUDUBON (May 10) -- The IKM-Manning girls won a pair of relays, Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton rallied for a thrilling gold medal in the boys 4x800 and the IKM-M boys earned six at-large state berths as part of Thursday’s Class 1A State Qualifying Track Meet at Audubon.
 Together, the two schools will take a combined 12 entries to this week’s Co-Ed State Track Meet in Des Moines (May 17-19).
 Madrid and IKM-M placed one-two in both the girls and boys team standings Thursday - the Tiger girls winning by a 156-111 margin and the boys’ top two ending up 144-106. The Exira-EHK boys finished eighth out of 15 teams with 36 points and the Spartan girls were 10th with 19.
 One of the most exciting races of the meet from an area perspective was the boys 4x800 relay. St. Edmond led Exira-EHK and IKM-M for much of the way before Spartan senior anchor Mason Rasmussen charged in front during the final 300 meters and secured the automatic state bid for his team. Jayden Goodwin, Creighton Nelson and Rasmussen all ran split times of 2:07-plus while Evan Wilson - less than a half-hour after competing in the 3,200 - added a 2:10.
 The Spartans’ time of 8:34.09 ranks 11th among 1A qualifiers and the Wolves also qualified in the 4x800 as Nate Blankman, Adam Gruhn, Alex Lingle and Parker Behrens placed third with a season-best time of 8:38.7.
 The IKM-Manning girls will take four events to state, led by its first-place 4x800 and 4x400 relays, which both achieved season-best times. The 4x8 crew of Kia Rasmussen, Payton Sporrer, Shyanne Sporrer and Gabby Cadwell clocked the eighth-fastest 1A qualifying time in 10:24.81.
 The Exira-EHK girls, who finished the night without any state qualifiers, were led by Shelbi Wilson’s second-place ‘PR’ time of 12:37.43 in the 3,000.