CHARLESTON | Seton Academy's 400-meter relay team ran the fastest time of the day in the preliminaries of the IHSA Class 1A state meet Thursday at Eastern Illinois University.
The quartet of Jasmine Gardner, Mykel Adams, Hunter Guy and DeJay Terry won their heat 48.92 seconds. The 800 team of Garnder, Nancy Jeanty, Guy and Terry also won its heat qualified with a 1:46.22.
The Sting had seven entries and five qualified for Saturday's finals and coach Damani Shakoor is optimistic of his team bringing home a team trophy on Saturday.
"We are doing pretty good for a team that hasn't had an opportunity to practice on a track this season," Shakoor said. "We've been working hard all year at improving our times."
Terry also qualified in the 100 (12.88) and 200 (25.77). Adams qualified in the 400 as she was third in her heat with a time of 59.52 seconds.
Guy said she hurt her left hamstring, but with a day off before the finals, she said she should be ready. She said a third-place finish is not out of the question if the Sting have a good day Saturday.
"We ran OK today (Thursday), but it wasn't as good as we did in sectionals," Guy said. "We expect to run well and we are all excited about Saturday. We didn't run our best, but we know we can do better."
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