The St. Edmond track and field program qualified eight relays and three individuals for the Class 1A state meet, which begins Thursday.

Seniors Quinten McCarville and Caroline Shelly, along with Aaron Lursen, are set to compete in the long jump and the 800-meter races, while the Gael boys advanced the 4×200, 4×400, 4×800, distance medley and shuttle hurdle relays.

For the St. Edmond girls, the 4×400, 4×800 and distance medley relays secured bids through districts.

Cayne Reed, Jonathan Xiao, Zach Smith, Braydon Smith, Klay Baker, Hayden Mayer, Sam Mericle, Drew Szalat, John Nemmers, Thomas Cosgrove, Isaac Landwehr, Lursen and McCarville will fill the relays for SEHS head coach Donn Larson.

Messenger photos by Britt Kudla: St. Edmond girls state track qualifiers include (front row, left to right): Michaela Leiting, Gracie Harvey and Ellie Knox. Back: Emma Alstott, Hannah Landwehr, Reese Lemberg, Mya McClain and Caroline Shelly.

McCarville has the ninth-best high jump after districts and will take to the infield at 9 a.m. on Friday. Lursen, seeded 14th, runs at 11:10 a.m. on Saturday.

“This is so rewarding,” Larson said. “To have almost all of our relays and two individual events, it’s just incredible. Honestly, when the season started, I thought we’d be lucky to get two events, so to have 16 kids going down is amazing.

“We maybe don’t have a superstar frontrunner in the state title hunt like we’ve had in the past, but we’ve got a bunch of kids who have put in the time and are deserving of this.”

The 4×800 of Mericle, Mayer, Szalat and Lursen will run on Thursday at 12:10 p.m. with the 11th-best seed time. Cosgrove, McCarville, Szalat and Landwehr race at 2 p.m. that afternoon in the shuttle hurdle relays.

On Friday, the distance medley of Xiao, Nemmers, Baker and Lursen will compete, along with the 4×200 of Reed, Xiao, Smith and Smith. The 4×400 of Zach Smith, Baker, Mayer and Reed are also set for action.

The distance medley of Xiao, Nemmers, Baker and Lursen run on Friday along with the 4×200 of Reed, Xiao, Smith and Smith.

“This is the biggest state track meet in the nation,” Larson said. “It is going to be something special and something they will remember for the rest of their lives, with big crowds and great competition.

“I’m so happy for them.”

On the girls side, joining Shelly in the relays will be Mya McClain, Gracie Harvey, Ellie Knox, Emma Alstott and Michaela Leiting.

The 4×800 of Shelly, Alstott, Harvey and Leiting is seeded sixth and will run at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday. Comprising the distance medley is McClain, Harvey, Shelly and Leiting, as they run on Friday. The 4×400 of McClain, Harvey, Knox and Shelly does as well.

In the 800, Shelly will run at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. She is seeded ninth overall.

“I’m just really, really happy for the girls, because they have worked so hard all year,” Shelly said. “Especially that senior group who missed out on 2020 (due to COVID). They’ve never questioned anything in practice and have always done each workout to the best of their abilities.

“We’ve got a day between our 4×8 and distance medley, so that will allow Michaela a great chance to recover. And we’ve got good weather coming in, so I know the girls are really excited and ready to go on the blue oval.”