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But the Class 3A team race already appears to be over.

With a win from its distance medley relay and a 1-2 finish from Nelle Trefz and Jennie Funk in the 3,000-meter run, Iowa City High is firmly on track to repeat as the 3A champion and grab its fifth title in seven years.

The Little Hawks accumulated 24 points through three events at Drake Stadium.

Mount Pleasant is second with 11 points. Cedar Rapids Prairie is third with 10.

"We did exactly what we wanted today," said Monica Mims, who ran the third leg on the distance medley. "We got a lot of points, and that forces teams to play catch-up with us (today)."

Funk put it more bluntly.

"City High is on fire," she said. "We definitely made an impression. We're ready to go."

It appears that way. In the preliminaries, the Little Hawks qualified in the top three in the 800, 1,600 and shuttle hurdle relays.

Trefz broke open the 3,000 on the sixth lap and won going away in 10 minutes, 10.21 seconds.

"My plan was just to have a steady push, and to increase the tempo of my run as I went along," she said. "I was listening to the announcer to hear how the rest of the race was going."

What she heard was great news for the Little Hawks. After a slow start, Funk weaved her way through the pack and grabbed the silver in 10:16.36. Shannon Oster of Cedar Rapids Washington was third in 10:21.97.

"I beat everybody I was competing against," Funk said. "I knew Nelle was going to win. Honestly, I just wanted to place."

The Little Hawks opened the meet with a win when Meggan Reed outdueled some of the state's best 800 runners to claim the distance medley.

City High was clocked in 4:04.54, including a 2:12.9 anchor by Reed. Mount Pleasant was second in 4:06.20, Iowa City West was third and Cedar Rapids Xavier was fourth.

Reed and Mount Pleasant's Allison Werner led a four-runner clump through most of the final 800. Then, Reed took off.

"I wanted to sit on (Werner's) shoulder. I wanted to have enough left so that I could lay it all out," Reed said.

"This was a great race. I'd rather run like that than be alone out front."

Rachel Sippy and Jessica Statler finished second and third for Prairie in the high jump. Sippy cleared 5 feet, 5 inches while Statler went 5-3.

For Sippy, it was a much better performance than her last voyage inside Drake Stadium. She tied for 17th at the Drake Relays last month, clearing 5 feet.

"That was a little rough. After Drake, I changed my steps around," she said. "This was a nice way to go out."

LaNeisha Waller of Washington had the fastest preliminary time in the 100-meter dash, running in 12.27 seconds. Lynnette Wilson of Cedar Rapids Kennedy will take the best 400 time into the finals, at 58.78. Cedar Rapids Jefferson's 400-meter relay qualified second.

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