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Athletes form both Northwood-Kensett and Lake Mills started competition at the Iowa state track and field meet Thursday afternoon and continued into Friday.

First up was the boys’ shuttle hurdle relay, which both Northwood-Kensett and Lake Mills qualified for at the district meet last week. The Bulldogs finished the better of the two teams, coming in ninth place with a time of 1:04.78. The team of Derek Eastvold, AJ Ramaker, Logan Bacon and Caleb Bacon was just .12 seconds away from qualifying for Saturday’s championship final.

The Vikings team of Hayden Moore, Drake Tiedemann, Josiah Kliment and Brandon Varner came in 16th place with a time of 1:07.22.

The Lake Mills boys also qualified their 4×800-meter relay, which placed 10th in the event with  a time of 8:35.25.

The Northwood-Kensett girls huttle hurdle team of Bella Efflandt, Morgan Wallin, Kayla Senne and Lindsey Moore came in ninth place with a time of 1:12.26, also just missing out on the championship final by a mere .3 seconds.

The only individual qualifier who ran Thursday was Northwood-Kensett’s Carly Hengesteg, who came in 14th place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.36.

Heading into Friday, Northwood-Kensett jusnior Wyatt Willand was first up in the 800-meter wheelchair race. Willand finished in second place with a time of 1:53.35.

Next up was Lake Mills hurdler Ella Stene in the 100-meter hurdles. Stene came in fourth place, qualifying to run in Saturday’s championship final with a time of 16.14.

Stene also qualified in the 4×200-meter relay alongside Josie Helgeson, Taylor Vanek and Haley Droessler. The team finished the event in 13th place with a time of 1:51.40.

As of press time, the Northwood-Kensett girls’ 4×100-meter relay team, the Lake Mills boys’ 4×100-meter relay team and Northwood-Kensett individuals Kliment and Efflandt had not yet completed their events.

Willand will be back on the blue oval Saturday in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter wheelchair races and Stene will compete in the 100-meter hurdles final.