“I felt like a rush of relief. I felt very relieved going to finals,” Hewitt said. “But my legs were absolutely killing me. It was a rush of happiness. I felt very accomplished.”

Hewitt ran a time of 59.32 in her finals run and set her personal best time in the preliminary round with a run of 58.40.

“It felt good knowing I gave it my all and knowing I can come back next year and do better,” Hewitt said. “Just give a better performance since I know what it’s like now, being at state and running at state. I’ll be ready next year for state.”

Hewitt said she will be better prepared mentally the next time she has the opportunity to make the trip to St. Michael.

Photo by Jake McNeill River Valley’s Gianluka Fernandez runs in the Class A state boys 4x800 relay finals on Wednesday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

“Mentality is a big thing,” she said. “Just keeping a clear mind whether you have a good race or a bad race. Just keeping a clear mind no matter what is a big thing for me and having a positive attitude no matter what.”

The River Valley boys 4×400 relay team, consisting of Gianluka Fernandez, Lucas Hensch, Noah Christensen and Matthew Groebner, ran a time of 3:27.11 in the preliminary round Tuesday to place eighth. The time broke the school record the group had set in the section finals by over two seconds.

“We didn’t know we advanced right away, because the top two from each heat advance, and we got third in our heat, so we had to get the qualifying time,” Groebner said. “There’s nine spots, and we got number eight. So we got to the finals … We were so excited to get the finals.”

Groebner said breaking the record again was a credit to the whole team.

“We all ran very, very fast,” he said. “We had a good start, and then our second runner, [Fernandez] got us in third from fifth or something, he moved us up a bunch. Then Noah had a really good leg and I just finished it out.”

Photo by Jake McNeill New Ulm’s Isaac Friese competes in the Class AA state boys 4x100 relay prelims on Wednesday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

The team’s finish of eighth surpassed the squad’s expectations coming into the championships.

“Yesterday, we were able to run on fresh legs for it, that probably helped a lot,” Groebner said. “Today, we ran three seconds slower. We got eighth, and we were ranked 15th going into it, so the fact we got eighth out of all those teams, that means a lot, because we never expected to get that far.

Also from the River Valley, the girls 4×800 relay team of Emmie McCone, Lydia Dauer, Marissa Pabst and Katie Thram placed 18th with a time of 10:08.40, while Groebner placed 13th individually in the 1,600 (4:37.37).

Also from the area in the Class A championships, Minnesota Valley Lutheran/New Ulm Cathedral’s Kamryn Davey placed 16th in the girls triple jump finals (33-04.75), while the Sibley East 4×800 boys relay team of Mausten Krueger, Julio Alejandro, Gage Horstman and Gavin Pomplun placed 14th in the finals (8:35.76). Sibley East’s Aidan McCue, who took home a fourth-place medal in the triple jump (43-11.75) Tuesday, took home a fifth-place medal in the long jump (21-06.25) Wednesday.

From Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet, Drew Turgeon placed sixth in the boys discus (159-1).

Photo by Jake McNeill New Ulm’s Michael Hames, center, runs alongside Blake’s Shamore Brinda and Marshall’s Josh Leibfried during the Class AA state boys 4x400 relay prelims on Wednesday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

From New Ulm in the Class AA championships, the 4×100 relay team of Isaac Friese, Hunter Heil, Jackson Ocampo and Jamison Portner placed 15th in the preliminary race (43.84), while the 4×400 relay team of Dain Barie, Michael Hames, George Gag and Sullivan Gusso missed the finals by less than half a second, placing 10th with a time of 3:26.78.