FORT BENTON — 51.36 seconds.
That's Class C's current best time in the girls 4x100-meter relay, a mark hit by the Fort Benton Longhorns at Monday's Cascade Top 8 meet.
"I look forward to passing people on the corners," Allyson Jacques, who runs the first leg, said at the Longhorns' practice Tuesday. "Knowing that I can do that ... it gives me a rush of adrenaline."
"We got an amazing group of girls here," said Angeline Riener, the second leg of the race. "Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, so I feel like just the connections that we've had in the years that we spent together really helps that out."
"Really good talent, really pushing each other every day in practice," third runner Etta Wicks said. "Having competition between each other and just being able to build off each other morale wise and speed wise."
"I get the baton and I just think go, and I just run as fast as I can and hoping I'm far ahead," anchor Lilly Ferris said.
That time of 51.36 eclipsed their prior best of 51.58 which was recorded at the Choteau Acantha Invitational on April 12.
Riener, a senior, and Wicks, a junior, both said they try to push underclassmen Jacques and Ferris.
"I just hope that they see me working hard, and want to, you know, mimic that," Riener said. "I feel like that's really what drives them."
"I had a really great group of leaders to show me how to warm up and get ready for races," Wicks said. "Now I hope that I can pass that on to them."
On top of the success in the relay, Riener currently holds Class C's best high jump with a height of 5 feet, 4½ inches, and Wicks has the top 100-meter dash time (12.58 seconds).
"It's kind of early right now, but I want to hit my peak at districts and divisionals and state," Riener said.
"Pushing myself every practice, every day trying to get better," Wicks said. "A lot of work has gone in to achieving that time."
This group is one of only two teams to have hit the qualifying standard for the Class C state meet, and a championship is within reach if they can maintain their top time.
"I know for (Riener) and (Wicks), they both work really hard, and now (Ferris) coming up being a freshman, it would mean a lot for us and a lot for our careers after high school," Jacques said on possibly winning a state title. "So, I think that'd be really great."
"It would mean the world to me," Riener said. "All our hard work pays off in the end, and that's really what I want to see."
"It would just mean so much, especially for (Riener) I know, and probably the younger girls, too," Wicks said.
"It would mean everything," Ferris said. "I'd love to be a part of it and do it for the upperclassmen that are with us right now."
Fort Benton next competes Saturday in Kalispell at the Archie Row meet.
