Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Fort Dodge senior teammates Carsyn Zehr (left) and Lilly Davis complete their exchange during the distance medley on Thursday inside Dodger Stadium.

The Fort Dodge girls didn’t earn any first-place finishes at the 43rd annual Dodger Relays on Thursday at J.H. Nitzke Track, but they continued to show steady improvement.

The Dodgers finished sixth with 81.5 points. Mason City (125) was the champion, followed by St. Edmond (121.5) and Forest City (117.5).

“I knew we had a possible shot at getting as high as fourth,” said FDSH head coach Todd Constable.” The girls ran extremely hard. It’s always good to host the Dodger Relays.”

Senior Mackenzie McIlrath had a pair of Top-3 finishes. McIlrath was second in the high jump with a leap of 4-10. She finished behind Forest City’s Lexi Isebrand (5-0).

McIlrath placed third in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:15.85.

Humboldt’s Sophia Harris (1:14.62) was the 400 hurdles champion.

“It’s important for people to know how much Mackenzie works,” Constable said. “People don’t realize how good of an athlete she is and how great of a student she is.

“All of our seniors — Mackenzie, Carsyn Zehr, Macy Brown and Lilly Davis — have really been tremendous.”

The Dodgers’ 4×100 quartet of Aneliese Schuur, Hope Alstott, Mesh McCaleb and Ava Wessels took silver in the 4×100 in 54.09. Forest City (52.27) won the event.

“They wanted to know what they needed for Drake (in the 4×1) and we knew it was a low 52,” Constable said. “They were pretty bummed they didn’t qualify, but we just want to keep getting better and peak in a couple of weeks.

“We are starting to get back to full strength.”

Freshman Maddie Hoshaw also brought home a bronze medal in the 200. She crossed the tape in 28.68, just behind Forest City’s Colette Loges (28.43).

Mason City’s Latasha York (27.67) was the winner.

“Maddie is an outstanding athlete. It’s going to be fun watching her progress,” Constable said. “She has a bright future. We have three more years to see her develop.”

The sprint medley squad of Schuur, Alstott, Wessels and Lucy Porter was third (2:04.05). Ky’Mariana Mosley was fourth in both the shot put (31-03) and discus (96-01).

The distance medley quartet of Wessels, Hoshaw, Lilly Davis and Carsyn Zehr (4:49.75) was also fourth. Maeleena Meyer took fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (17.77).

Davis, Hoshaw, Porter and McIlrath (4:29.76) were fourth in the 4×400.

“We couldn’t have such a great meet without all of our volunteers,” Constable said. “Boys coaches Kevin Astor, Nik Moser and Sam Moser helped a lot. (Starter) Fran Long runs a tremendous race and does such a smooth job transitioning. It’s efficient and there is not much down time.

“Josh Smith works our automatic timing system. (FDSH athletic and activities director) Mr. (Brandon) Ruffridge helps us put on a great meet.”