MILTON — Towanda saw a pair of freshmen punch their ticket to states in the 3200 at the District IV Track and Field Championships Thursday.

Maris Cobb and Emmett Klees both hit the state standards in their 2-miles to earn a trip to Shippensburg.

Cobb took fourth in a personal best of 11:26.18.

“It feels really good,” Cobb said about making states. “I feel really accomplished, and I’m so excited.”

It was a tough race. The top runners both broke the district record and ran away from everybody early on.

“I was trying to stay in the pack that as similar to me,” explained Cobb. “I was just going to follow my coach’s advice, and get in at the right time.

Cobb negative split to get under the state qualifying mark, running a 5:47.64 first mile, and a 5:39 final mile.

Her fastest lap was her final lap of 1:17.09.

“In the beginning (I was hitting the right splits), but in the middle I’m always sort of slow,” Cobb said. “That was a little bit of motivation to keep going.”

It was a bit of deja-vu from cross-country districts in the final two laps as she was running with a pair of Lewisburg runners from that race last October.

“They kept me on pace, and pushed me to keep going harder,” Cobb said. “It hurt rally bad, but it’s what I needed to do to accomplish this.”

It could be a busy week for Cobb next week. Her softball team will be going into district play, and could play two games next week before she heads down to states.

“In district softball I’ve just got to keep playing a clean game, and I’ve got other keep running hard,” said Cobb.

Klees (9:35.27) had quite the roller coaster race to come in fifth.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he said about earning a state spot, his second after cross-country in the fall. “I’m really hoping, too, that I can get to states in the 1600.”

He opened with a fast time of 1:09.93 and ran in a pack of as many as seven runners during the first mile.

“That was really stressful having to keep up with them,” said Klees. “I kept getting scared I was going to slip away, and just let them get in front of me. I just kept remembering what mom said and I didn’t let go.”

In the second mile top seed, Michael Fritz of Northwest, took a short lead but Klees stayed in striking distance.

Then on the seventh lap Klees thought he heard the bell, and made a break for first. 

“I got confused because in my mind I thought the bell had already run because I was getting the last race mixed up,” he said. “The sign was incorrect so I just had the impression it was the last lap, and I couldn’t let Canton get in front of me. Only when the bell run did I realize I accidentally went out too early, and I couldn’t do anything to keep him from getting in front of me.”

It ended up being his fastest lap, 1:08.45, but he had to hold on for another 400 meters.

He managed to come back in 1:13.87, losing two spots but making it to states on time.

“I was pretty happy but I was upset I didn’t get first, because I definitely could have reached for it,” remarked Klees. “I’m still happy with the placement I got, if I had just not gone out that early I definitely could have made it.”

Jazick Brown got one step closer to states, taking third in the 100 with a PR of 11.08. That punches his ticket to Saturday’s final.

“It feels good,” Brown said about making the finals. “I did pretty good today, I feel like. We had a good tail wind. I hit state qualifying time today - I was seeded seventh, now I’m seeded third so I feel pretty good.”

The girls 4x800 took fifth in 9:58.59, missing states by a little over six seconds. The team consisted of Mary-Kate Eberlin, Cobb, Kylee Barnes, and Izzy Larson.

Mya Maynard (108-feet, 3-inches) also got on the podium, taking sixth in the discus.

Kolton McPeak (130-feet, 10-inches) was 13th in the javelin while Katelyn Blokzyl (18.82) was 21st in the 100 hurdles.

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