Ashley Sickler almost put a damper on Jennifer Schnaidt's day.
Almost.
Schnaidt, a Dickinson High senior, outlasted Sickler, a Dickinson Trinity sophomore, in the final leg of the girls 1,600-meter relay at the Coca-Cola Classic track and field meet Tuesday at Whitney Stadium.
Schnaidt's late kick gave the Midgets the win in the relay and gave the plucky senior her fourth victory on the day.
"I try to kick at the last 150 (meters)," Schnaidt said. "I didn't know if she was going to kick. I didn't want to die out so I just waited until the last 100."
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Schnaidt was gassed after her fourth event of the afternoon - and with good reason.
In only her second meet of the season - weather and educational commitments slowed her progress in late March and early April - Schnaidt was a wrecking ball.
She edged teammate Amity Lantz in the 100 with a time of 12.89 seconds. Lantz was second with a 13.04.
Schnaidt was less than a second faster than five others - including Dickinson eighth-graders Lantz and Brienna Lynch - in the 200, but came away with a win at 27.05.
Dickinson girls coach Hank Pankratz said Schnaidt's leadership has helped the Midgets' younger runners improve.
"When she's there at practice - she had missed for a while - the kids respond and they work harder," Pankratz said.
After the 400 and 1,600 relay teams qualified for state, Schnaidt felt relieved.
"Our goal today was to qualify that mile (1,600) relay and that's what we did," Schnaidt said.
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Times and results for the relays and other events were unavailable to the media and coaches when the paper went to press.
Dickinson and Trinity kept the mile relay close even though the Midgets maintained a lead throughout the race.
"It worked out very nice," Trinity coach Craig Kovash said. "Each girl we partnered up with with Dickinson High, they ran comparable times. We really pushed each other."
Around the meet
Minot High dominated the team portion of the meet, winning four of the 12 reported events and padded its team score with solid performances throughout the meet.
Melanie Funke won the 800 in 2:28.20. Brecca Wahlund took the 1,600 in 5:20.58. Kaylie Marten won the 3,200 in 11:54.24. Whitney Meyer, Morgan Ihmels and Stephanie Metz finished first through third in the 100 hurdles.
Richardton-Taylor junior Katie Zent begged coach Dan Glasser to let her run the 400 and she didn't disappoint, winning the event in 1:00.93.
Dickinson's Brooke Biederstad qualified for state in the shot put with a toss of 38 feet, 2 inches. Midgets senior Paige Nash won the high jump with a leap of 5-4. Trinity's Jennifer Bachamp had a solid 9-foot leap to win the pole vault.
