Greyhounds Eye Going Low at State Meet

It's not hard to run by yourself, but it's hard to run your fastest.

The Shorewood girls 3,200 relay squad should get its biggest push of the season at this weekend's WIAA Division 2 state meet in Shorewood, and coach Sarah Kopplin thinks the challenge would make the Greyhounds better.

"We have not encountered a race in the (3,200 relay) with the exception of the Arrowhead Invitational where our anchor Kristin Malone has had to race with another anchor leg runner," Kopplin wrote in an e-mail this week. "This will be the case this week and I am excited to see what she can do in that situation."

The Greyhounds won the sectional in 9:52.34 and are seeded 12th. (See all the seed times here.) Though the top spot is likely out of reach — Dodgeville/Mineral Point ran 9:37 last week — better times could be in the offing, Kopplin said.

"If everyone runs their personal best at the same time we can go sub-9:44," she said.

Jenny Vrobel, Haley Florsheim and Haley Holan join Malone in the relay, which is run Saturday morning in the two-day state event in LaCrosse. It's the second part of Holan's "distance triple," which sees her also compete in the 1,600 on Friday morning and the 3,200 on Saturday afternoon.

Holan had the ninth-best time among sectional runners in the 1,600 and is seeded 14th in the 3,200. Her time in the sectional was a personal best for the 3,200, yet the two-day format of the state meet means she should be fresher than at the sectional, when all of the races take place within 3-4 hours of each other.

"I expect to see Haley compete at a high level and to hunt down a personal best in each event this week," Kopplin said. "She is very focused and ready to compete. She is a smart runner and has the potential to be sub 5:15 (in the mile) if she has fresh legs and the strong competition to push her."

Malone also has an individual race, in the 800. Kopplin said the freshman is new to track, but has high-level athletic experience, having competed in the WIAA state swim meet in the fall. She also will anchor the 1,600 relay team, which ran a season-best time at the sectional last week but only qualified based on time after finishing fifth in the race.

Shorewood's boys also will be represented in the 3,200 and 400 relays, and by Joe Pendleton, who is seeded seventh in the 3,200 with a sectional time of 9:43.73. The entire list of seed times is here.

Get more information on the state meet at the WIAA website. You can watch a live webcast of the entire WIAA state meet here.