The best was saved for last at the Linn-Mar Relays Tuesday night.

All seven teams in the 4x400 relay came in thinking they had a legitimate shot to crack the 4:08 mark seen as fast enough to qualify for next week’s Drake Relays in Des Moines.

The cut-off date is Thursday, so this was their last chance.

“It will be the race of the night,” longtime Linn-Mar assistant coach Max Huffman said beforehand. “The competition will bring out their best.”

It certainly worked out that way for the Linn-Mar quartet of sophomores Kennedy Japenga, Audra Schminke, Rachel Perry and freshman Maddie Saville. They took more than eight seconds off their top time and won a close four-team finish in 4:01 in the final race on the program.

“We loaded up for this one tonight with strongest runners,” said head coach Craig Pilcher. “We wanted to make Drake.”

Dubuque Senior and Kennedy came in right on their tail. And even fourth-place Washington with a replacement runner exceeded its previous best by 12 seconds with a 4:06 clocking.

It was only the second time this year that the four Linn-Mar girls had run together.

“We knew what we had to do,” said Japenga. “So we just went out and did it. It feels great.”

For Perry, it was her second victory of the night. She earlier took almost two seconds off her best time by claiming the 400 meter dash in 58.97. Huffman said her time puts her among the elite Class 4A mid-distance sprinters in the state.

Washington’s fourth-place finish in the 4x400 kept star senior speedster Brooke Foreman from winning her fourth race of the night. She previously breezed to easy wins in the 100 meter hurdles and 400 meter hurdles and ran the opening leg of the Warriors’ sizzling victory in the 4x100 meter relay.

“I was really focused tonight,” Foreman said. “This was the best weather we’ve had this year, and I came out strong. We really want to gear up for Drake.”

Freshman Crystal “I Got Power” Watts was plugged onto the 4x400 for Washington when Jasmyne Jones re-injured her leg in an earlier race. Completing the team were Taylor Vogel and Shannon Gorman.

Gorman began the meet by out-dueling Kennedy sophomores Alyssa Averhoff and Allison Culver in the 3000 meter run. Her time of 10:33 was more than 20 seconds faster than the Kennedy duo and 13 seconds off her personal best.

Kennedy’s Kathia Wampole turned in an impressive performance with two wins and a close second. She took the 1500 run in 5:06, anchored the winning 4x800 (with Megan Terukina, Jessica Rodman and Lauren Meyer) in 9:47 and was nudged by Xavier freshman Kayla Torson in the 800 meter run.

The 800 was a wire-to-wire sprint with Torson posting a 2:20.33 to Wampole’s 2:20.46.

“It was a back and forth race,” Wampole said. “We pushed each other all the way. She had a little more at the end. But then she’s got some wheels.”

Linn-Mar won the team title with 139 points. Kennedy was second with 128, Washington fifth with 88, Marion seventh with 58 and Xavier eighth with 54.5.

LINN-MAR RELAYS

Teams
1. Linn-Mar 139, 2. Kennedy 128, 3. Davenport Central 108, 4. Dubuque Senior 89.5, 5. CR Washington 88, 6. Davenport West 67, 7. Marion 58, 8. Xavier 54.5

Long jump
1. Shalanne Thomas (DC) 17-7 1/4, 2. Allanah McCorkle (DC) 17-3 3/4, 3. Callie Stone (CRW) 16-4 3/4

Shot put
1. Brianna Nash (DC) 35-3 1/2, 2. Lannie Nietert (LM) 33-8, 3. Jazz Royster (CRW) 31-9

Discus
1. Nash (DC) 102-9 1/2, 2. Nietert (LM) 96-5, 3. Sam Ross (Mar) 92-10

High jump
1. Sara staruel (LM) 5-0, 2. (tie) Kelarey Nathan (DC), Alex Bartz (CRX) 4-10

3000
1. Shannon Gorman (CRW) 10:33.96, 2. Alyssa Averhoff (CRK) 10:55.07, 3. Allison Culver (CRK) 10:59.12

3200 relay
1. Kennedy (Terukina, Rodman, Meyer, Wampole) 9:47.82, 2. Dubuque Senior 10:04.75, 3. Linn-Mar 10:20.94

Shuttle hurdle relay
1. Dubuque Senior 1:08.02, 2. Linn-Mar 1:08.31, 3. Davenport West 1:17.85

100
1. McCorkle (DC) 12.95, 2. Kadejah Sanders (CRW) 13.23, 3. Hannah Rochford (CRX) 13.35

Distance medley relay
1. Marion (A.Kolarik, Draeger, M.Kolarik, Scott) 4:23.98, 2. Linn-Mar 4:25.77, 3. Davenport West 4:36.33

400
1. Rachel Perry (LM) 58.97, 2. Kendra Conforti (DS) 1:03.80, 3. Sam Livingston (Mar) 1:04.09

4x200 relay
1. Dubuque Senior 1:47.19, 2. Davenport Central 1:47.70, 3. Davenport West 1:49.79

100 hurdles
1. Brooke Foreman (CRW) 15.40, 2. Sammie Osterberger (DS) 16.16, 3. Tanner Werthman (DW) 16.43

800
1. Kayla Torson (CRX) 2:20.33, 2. Kathia Wampole (CRK) 2:20.46, 3. Allison Scott (Mar) 2:28.58

200
1. Thomas (DC) 26.74, 2. Capria Davis (CRK) 27.09, 3. Jasmine Butler (DC) 27.10

400 hurdles
1. Foreman (CRW) 1:05.06, 2. Kelsie Coates (CRK) 1:08.64, 3. Tadajsha Thornton (DC) 1:12.56

Sprint medley relay
1. Davenport West 1:55.64, 2. Dubuque Senior 1:58.45, 3. Marion 1:59.03

1500
1. Wampole (CRK) 5:06.79, 2. Culver (CRK) 5:09.58, 3. Morgan Uridil (LM) 5:15.24

4x100 relay
1. Washington (Foreman, Jones, Muller, Sanders) 51.34, 2. Davenport Central 51.39, 3. Xavier 51.41

4x400 relay
1. Linn-Mar (Japenga, Schminke, Saville, Perry) 4:01.82, 2. Davenport West 4:03.11, 3. Kennedy 4:04.13