MANKATO &8212; A year after finishing eighth in her heat of the 200-meter run at the state track and field meet New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva&8217;s Heather Schmit will have a chance to better her result.

Actually, she has doubled her chances.

The Panther sophomore qualified for this year&8217;s state meet in both the 100 and 200.

NRHEG qualified a trio of girls for this weekend&8217;s state meet which runs Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Schmit ran a 26.45 to qualify in the 200 &8212; which is nearly two seconds faster than she ran at state a season ago &045; and came to the line in 12.73 in the 100. Her time in the 100 was the third fastest among all qualifiers.

Eighth-grader Alyssa Kerkhoff punched her ticket to state in the 400 running a 1:00.10 while senior Krystle Lonning will represent the Panthers in the discus with a throw of 110 feet, 6 inches.

Blake Kerkhoff will run for the Panther boys at state making it to St. Paul in the 400 with a time of 51.61.

The USC/AC boys&8217; track team will be represented by E.J. Knight in the triple jump after he went 41 feet, 9 1/2 inches. The Rebels&8217; 4×400 relay team of

the USC/AC team of Jordan Stenzel, Jake Elmer, Alex Ramaker, and Bryan Hauge lopped nearly six seconds off their best time to advance.