Tiger track and field caps impressive postseason

Not only did the Douglas High School girls track and field team officially receive its 2024 Class 5A regional championship plaque Friday, but the Tigers went on to post some solid times against the state’s best at the state meet over the weekend.

Sophomore Grace Strabala picked up four regional championship titles — two sprints and two relays — in four appearances at the state meet.

She finished sixth in the 100-meter dash and seventh in the 200-meter dash.

The sophomore linked up with three more seniors in Logan Karwoski, Bliss Moody and Elizabeth Gneiting for the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays, where the Tigers finished sixth and fourth, respectively.

Strabala caps her sophomore campaign with a pair of school records in the 100 and 200 while also being a part of the 4x200-meter relay school record, as well.

“It’s very exciting. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a little demeaning when you see all the Las Vegas girls 20 meters ahead of you, but it’s a lot of fun to be here and it’s a huge opportunity,” Strabala said.

Track is a newer venture for Strabala, who said she didn’t start running until eighth grade.

She added that getting quicker starts has been one of her most notable improvements in competition this spring.

“Definitely my block starts. I was kind of slow out of them before. I wasn’t really explosive,” said Strabala. “Just getting that power out of the block starts.”

Strabala serves as the anchor for the Tigers’ 4x200-meter relay team that took fourth in 1 minute, 43.84 seconds was just off their school-record time of 1:43.67.

Moody went on to take fourth in the long jump, landing in the pit with a max mark of 18 feet, 3 inches, breaking the school record she set a couple weeks earlier.

Gneiting put down a measured jump of 17 feet even to finish seventh in the long jump.

In the girls triple jump, Gneiting took fifth with a leap of 36-0.25.

Katelyn Coons took seventh in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles for the Tigers.

Karwoski tied for fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-2.

In the pole vault, junior Stella White was seventh with a mark of 11-6.

As a team, Douglas finished eighth with 36 points.

(Douglas senior Elizabeth Gneiting, right, hands the baton to Logan Karwoski during the 4x200-meter relay at the Class 5A state meet over the weekend at Carson. / Ron Harpin)