By Brian Ray Click for Caption

Funk isn't back to where she wants to be. But she's back far enough to help.

Iowa City High won the girls' 3,200-meter relay Saturday at the Drake Relays in Drake Stadium.

Thus concluded a typically impressive weekend for the Little Hawks, who won two girls' events and were second in two more.

Maggie Leyendecker, Funk, Nelle Trefz and Meggan Reed won the race in 9 minutes 20.35 seconds. Cedar Rapids Xavier finished in 9:26.02, edging West Des Moines Valley for second.

Funk had her individual glory here last year, winning the 3,000-meter run. But she suffered a pre-stress fracture in her leg at the beginning of the season. She took some time off before beginning to run sparingly a few weeks ago.

"My leg is feeling a lot better, but my lungs aren't," Funk said. "Right now, I'm running every other day. This year, I'm just going to focus on the team aspect of track. I don't have any expectations individually."

While Funk has settled into a reduced role, Trefz has ascended sharply. She enjoyed a big weekend, winning the 3,000 Thursday, finishing a close second in the 800 Friday, then breaking open the 3,200 relay Saturday.

She ran a 2:17 split in her third leg to give the Little Hawks a healthy lead, then turned it over to Reed.

"It was so exciting to watch her run that anchor," Trefz said. "I was so excited, I thought I was going to burst. We knew we had to give everything we had today."

Xavier was in seventh place before Megan Glover and Erin Penticoff brought the Saints forward. Penticoff ran down Valley's Lauren Hill in the stretch to give the Saints the silver.

"I left everything out there," Penticoff said. "We were going for a top-three finish, but I really wanted that girl in second.

"We're getting closer to City High. We're all going to have to drop more time to get them by the state meet."

Mason City established an all-time Iowa best in the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:00.80.

The Mohawks' Nicole Carroll, Danielle Hill, Andrea Sellers and Kayla Sautter went 1:01.64 in Saturday morning's prelims, then broke the record (1:01.40, set by Burlington in 1979) in the afternoon.

"The goal now is (1 minute)," Carroll said. "Anything is possible with this team."

City High was second in 1:02.66. The Little Hawks nabbed the fourth and final spot from the prelims before improving in the finals.

"I thought we looked pretty good," said anchor Maya Monitto-Webber. "I'm glad we got a second chance in the finals. We ran a lot better than we did in the morning."

Emily Triplett, Annie Fraga and Tara Whiting ran the first three legs for the Little Hawks.

Cedar Falls was the 400-meter relay champion, completing the race in 49.36 seconds.

Cedar Falls NU High was the second team to finish, but the Little Panthers were disqualified. That allowed Cedar Rapids Jefferson to move up to second place. Ashley Havlicek, Tara Fry, Katie Cooper and Tenika Smith ran 50.01 for the J-Hawks.

Cortney Jacobs' electrifying anchor leg gave Atlantic the 1,600-meter relay crown.

Jacobs was in fifth place, 20 meters back, when she received the baton. She had the lead before the final curve and anchored in 55.2 seconds as the Trojanns won in 3:59.27.

Valley was second in 4:00.46. City High's Monica Mims, Katie Krei, Virginia Dreier and Reed ran 4:01.85 for third.

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