The girls 100-meter dash at the Class D, District 8 meet last week at Bertrand quite competitive.
There was Shelton sophomore Kalli Brannagan and Bertrand junior Taylor Tacha running neck and neck right to the wire.
"They were both timed in 12.3," Shelton coach Ron Blase said. "My thumb was a little be quicker than that, but we'll take it. She was only a tenth of a second off the school record. We thought maybe she had broken it. I had her at 12.1 something."
That 12.3 that Brannagan and Tacha produced was the fastest of all the Class D district times.
"It was good for her to get pushed," Blase said. "She commented that she was a little nervous going into the finals against her."
Brannagan, who finished fifth in Class C last year in both the 100 and 200 and anchored the 400 relay team to third, will be competing in the 100, 200 and 400 relay again this year.
Brannagan's 26.2 time tied her with Wheeler Central's Kaitlin Thunker for the second fastest district time in Class D. Palmer's Jessica Trejo had the fastest time at 26.1.
Shelton's 400 relay team of Alexis Brandt, Kelsey Rouse, Kaci Clevenger and Brannagan ran 52.7 at the district meet after the second runner had to come to a complete stop to get the baton from the first runner.
The Bulldogs went on to win the race. They will run in lane one of the second heat at the state meet.
"Kalli Brannagan looks pretty good in the 100 and the 200," Blase said. "I was really happy the four-by-one got into the fast heat. We had a bad exchange at the district meet and were still able to come back and win it. I didn't know if the time would be good enough to get them into the fast heat.
"We have definitely been working on that in practice."
The 400 relay team has developed into one of the top in the state in Class D.
"We finally got the personnel settled on about the third week of the year," Blase said. "From there on, we've been able to keep the times pretty low, kind of in the low 52 and high 51 range."
And it's a young team that could be even better the next two years.
"None of these kids are seniors on the four-by-one relay," Blase said. "We have two sophomores and two freshmen and another freshman girl (Vanessa Resh) in the 800 who is doing well.
"It makes you look forward to next year. Plus we have a pretty good eighth-grade group coming up that has won every meet this year. We probably have a few who could come up and compete at the high school level this year, but we'll wait a year."
The Bulldogs got one of their biggest wins of the year at the Central Nebraska Track and Field Championships in Grand Island. Shelton took advantage of the situation when Grand Island Senior High was disqualified for a false start to roll to the win.
"We were hoping to by able to run against Grand Island," Blase said. "It's too bad they had that false start. I think they would have pulled us along. Who knows what time we could have had."
The Bulldogs dropped down to Class D this season, but Blase said it doesn't really matter too much. There are some top-notch sprinters in Class D like defending 100 and 200 champion Skylar Rohde of Ansley.
"I think C and D are pretty close to the same," Blase said. "It depends on the district you're at. I think it was one of the toughest D districts for girls. I don't think it was quite as tough for the boys. We aren't quite as strong in the boys as we have been in the past. I wish I had last year's team competing this year. I think they would have done pretty well."
