Finishing sprint lifts Cole to 6th

Junior posts a personal best in 3,000, gets Friday off before busy Saturday

By John Burbridge

DES MOINES — The way McKayla Cole kicked it up a gear during the final 100 meters of the Class 3A 3,000 run, Thursday at the Iowa High School Track and Field Championships, you’d think she had somewhere to go.

She did. It’s a place called “Thank God it’s Friday“.

“I’ve never really done that before at the end of the 3,000,” the Charles City junior said of her finishing sprint which secured a sixth-place finish and a personal-best time 10 minutes, 24.54 seconds.

“It felt good,” said Cole, who ran at Drake Stadium earlier this season as a Drake Relays qualifier in the 3,000. “It gives me confidence to do it again.”

Winning the 3A 3,000 was Abby Kohut-Jackson of Ballard with a time of 10:08.

Cole, who finished eighth in the 3,000 last year at state as a sophomore, has a busy weekend ahead of her. She’s also a state-qualifier in the 800 and 1,500 runs.

But both of those races are on Saturday. So what is Cole going do with herself with no races on Friday?

“I’m going to take it easy … enjoy the sites and the whole atmosphere down here,” Cole said. “I’m going to relax and cheer Sara (Martin) on.”

Martin, another CC junior, will be competing in the shot put on Friday — one of the first events of the day scheduled for 9 a.m.

On the boys side for Charles City, senior Shane Feller will be competing in the long jump Friday at 9 a.m.

Cole wasn’t the only local 3,000 run state qualifier running at Drake on Thursday. In the Class 1A 3,000, Rockford’s Sheridan Lacoste and Katie Hirv represented the Warriors in the same race.

Lacoste, a sophomore, placed 11th with a time of 11:40.06.