Sports : Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ track team at Class3A State track meet in Des Moines

Ashley Boyer takes the handoff from Erika Hammar going into the third leg of the 4x200 relay

Shelby Beyer gets baton from Maddie Springer, the Vikettes were 12th overall with a time of 51.17

Cheyenne Barnes takes off from the blocks at the start of the 4x200 relay. Vikettes finished 10th.

Vikette Allison Emrich fires of a throw in the shot put during action at Friday's State Track Meet

DES MOINES – There no medals but some solid performances over the weekend for the Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ track team at the Class3A State track meet in Des Moines. 

The Vikettes posted season bests in two relays and even flirted with history in one of them, along with a bunch of solid individual performance. 

Coach Heather Kalous’ 4x200 relay team of Cheyenne Barnes, Erika Hammar, Ashley Boyer and Shelby Beyer cruised to a season-best time of 1:49.02 to finish 10th overall. The Vikettes’ Fab Four was just one one-hundredths of a second out of ninth-place  (Spirit Lake Park) and 24 one-hundredths out of eighth-place (Jefferson-Scranton). 

History was in reach in the 4x100 relay as the quartet of Barnes, Hammar, Maddie Springer and Beyer ended up 12th overall. The history part came in the Vikettes’ time of 51.17, which ended up just eight one-hundredths of a second away from the 19-year old school record. 

The standing school mark of 51.09 was set in 1991 by the foursome of Holly Allpress, Melinda Heyer, Tosha Buckingham and Julie Flatburg at the Regional meet at Grinnell. That group ended up as State runners-up in Class 2A (the old three-class system) in 1991. 

The Vikettes also had some strong performances in individual events. Thursday afternoon, Barnes finishes 22nd in the 100 meter dash in a time of 13.37, while Beyer was 20th in 27.68. 

Friday, Allison Emrich had a top throw of 35 feet, six and a half inches to finish 15th in the shot put. Hammar was 12th overall in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, nine and half inches, while Springer ended up 14th with a jump of 15-8. 

Also, Hammar finished 18th in the 100 hurdles in a time of 16.71.