CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – After the preliminaries of the 800-meter run were removed from the state meet, the possibility of the distance triple came back into play for some runners. Eureka’s Hannah Long decided she was game to tackle the three distance races as well as the 3,200-meter relay.
“We talked about it at the beginning of the year, but we weren’t really sure,” said Long, who acknowledged the lack of an 800 prelim was a factor. “We figured I’ve been doing a little more mileage and definitely ramping up my practices and so we figured I was prepared to do the triple this year, and I was a lot stronger than last year.”
Long has little difficulty in winning all three distance races. She was pushed by Marquette’s Hannah Pierson in the 1,600, but Long surged past Pierson’s challenge and added separation over the final lap to win in 5:04.49. Long also won the 800 (2:14.74) and the 3,200 (10:52.96).
It was in the 3,200-meter relay that Long had to really work. She took the baton on the anchor leg in fourth place, more than 25 meters behind the leaders. She shortened the gap slightly on her first lap, but it was in the final 200 meters that Long turned on the jets and rallied the Wildcats to the victory (9:22.12).
“I just felt really good and before the race we said I could kick it in the last 200 and so I just did that and got a pretty good time so I was excited,” Long said. “I think that definitely did give me a little more confidence because I’ve been struggling the last few weeks with an injury. Just getting back to it that first race really built my confidence for the rest of my races today.”
Long said she’s been nursing a little bit of a hip and back injury since her race at Arcadia, but she’s healthy now and ready to tackle four races the remainder of the season.
Marquette’s Noah Kauppila was originally listed in the 3,200 field, but after securing his place at sectionals in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 relay, Kauppila scratched from his final race.
“There was no way he was going to do four events at state,” Marquette coach Matt Nienhaus said. “Noah’s tough, but that’s too much at state. He got in the two events he wanted, and as a senior, we let him make the decision.”
Kauppila found himself matched up against Lafayette’s Dylan Quisenberry all day. Quisenberry anchored the 3,200 relay to victory (7:56.20), and Kauppila’s relay team finished fourth (8:07.49).
In the 1,600, Quisenberry and Kauppila made a pre-race agreement to let the race unfold without any unnecessary work on their part. The two ran side-by-side in sixth and seventh in a very patient pace of 2:17 for the first 800. With less than 200 meters left the duo started a head-to-head sprint and Quisenberry pulled out the victory in (4:25.91). Kauppila was second (4:26.40).
“Right before we ran it, we both said to each other, because I knew he was at least planning on running the 3,200, I was like, ‘You’re just going for place today hopefully?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, no hard times today.’ There was no reason today to go murder ourselves and go run a 4:10,” Quisenberry said. “It was kind of cruising. I knew we were slow, but I actually didn’t think we were going that slow (through the first 800).
“It was my kind of race. Yes I can go out hard, but I definitely love races where they sit back and I can kick and do my thing.”
Kauppila ran to the front of the 800 meter field, and when Quisenberry tripped and fell about 100 meters into the race, Kauppila took off without any challengers and won in 1:56.14. Quisenberry regained himself and finished runner-up (1:58.88).
“I tripped and hit the ground hard. We were in the middle of the group, so almost everyone slowed down except Noah. Someone hit him, and he told me he got worried that someone was going to trip again so that’s when he took off.
“I got really mad when I fell and hit the ground. I’m not going to let this ruin my chance to go to state and win something, and so I just gave it my all until the end.”