Heather Burmeister, Katie Read, Jamie Read and Alex Hartmann couldn’t have shown their enthusiasm any more than the fists pumping and shouts of joy they displayed after finishing first in the 4x100-meter relay Saturday at the Section 2A girls track meet.

Everything went smoothly for the foursome from Belle Plaine/Holy Family Academy as they qualified for state with a time of 51.2 at Todnem Field.

“Everything felt great,” Burmeister said. “It was the best I’ve felt this season.”

Burmeister ran the first leg of the relay, and her handoff to Katie Read was described as “perfect” by Read. They’ve had time to perfect the handoff as the two have been running together in the 4x1 for three years. Last year they took seventh at state and look forward to improving on that.

The Tigers took first in the team competition with 114 points. Blue Earth Area was second with 64, and United South Central/Alden-Conger was third with 57.

Burmeister and Read joined Jenny Fatz and Chelsea Fogarty to finish first in the 4x4 with a time of 4:06.95.

Fogarty advanced to state by winning three individual events: 400-meter dash (59.97), 200-meter dash (26.82) and triple jump (35-feet-9).

Mankato Loyola’s Dani Stack set a section record in the 1,600-meter run as she and teammate Stephanie Price qualified for the state meet. Stack finished with a time of 5:06.02, and Price finished in 5:08.59. The previous record of 5:08.63 was held by Loyola’s Sarah Price, set in 2004.

Stack also took first in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:36.99.

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