Four Whitman runners went to the MPSSAA 4A State Championship Feb. 20 and performed exceptionally. Whitman’s participants competed in two events overall.

Junior Breanna McDonald participated in the open 800 meter race and placed sixth. McDonald, sophomores Elizabeth Sklaire and Alicia Lauwers and senior Jenan Al-Hifnawi participated in the 4×800 meter relay and won a bronze medal.

McDonald finished just 2.62 seconds out of the podium, but still felt that she could have performed better.

“I did want to medal, but I was happy with my time because I got a 2:30 at the beginning of the season, and now I’m down to a 2:23,” McDonald said. “It was hard navigating around the huge crowds of girls around me, so that did slow me down.”

The 4×800 team finished in fourth, but the first place team was disqualified, bumping them up to the podium. They also felt that their race could have gone better, for the same reason that McDonald felt she underperformed in the 800m.

“For some reason we had a lot of trouble getting through the pack,” Lauwers said. “It was different than other races, so that could have affected our times.”

Coach Stephen Hays was pleased with the placements, as, in both events, the runners performed better than their seedings, but is looking ahead to the outdoor track season.

“You can always improve, so you never want to be satisfied,” Hays said. “We don’t focus on indoor track, we focus on outdoor, so relative to where we were last year, we’re ahead.”