Alexis Timp won the 3000 meter run at the Marion Early Bird Girls Track meet Thursday on a cold, blustery day, but she was in no hurry to find her sweatshirt and get warm.

Timp stayed near the finish line and cheered for all the other girls as they finished the grueling race, whether they were her Marion High School teammates or not.

She cheered for the runners from Anamosa and North Linn just as hard.

"I do the same thing in cross country," said Timp, a junior at Marion. "You wait for all your team to get through, and you wait for the last girl. It's just support for everybody. It's something you should be proud of."

It was hard to run for a good time Thursday with a stiff wind at the Thomas Park track. Timp was happy with her clocking of 12:10.66, which clipped about 10 seconds off her personal best.

"I felt great," she said. "Just keep pushing through it."

Timp said she's not chasing a specific time this year. Rather, she just wants to keep improving.

"My coach keeps telling me to run 1:30's every lap and we'll keep increasing it," she said. "I just run my heart out and do my best."

Leah Smith won the 800 meter run for Marion in 2:33.35. The Indians also won the distance medley in 4:33.21 and captured the sprint medley in 1:58.63.

Marion, Anamosa, Alburnett, Cascade, Vinton-Shellsburg, North Linn, Springville, Union-LaPorte City and North Cedar participated in the nine-team meet. No team scores were kept.

A light rain began to fall halfway through, followed by a deluge about an hour later, but the meet stayed on schedule in the soggy conditions.

MARION EARLY BIRD
At Thomas Park

No team standings

 High Jump - Megan Close, N. Linn, 5-0; Long Jump - Nicole Sanborn, Anamosa, 15-6 (Angie Williams, Marion, 2nd, 14-11); Shot Put - Helena McNamara, Anamosa, 40-4 (Paige Satterly, Marion, 5th, 31-10 1/2); Discus - Madison Koch, North Cedar, 116-0 (Paige Satterly, Marion, 5th, 89-10); 3000 - Alexis Timp, Marion, 12:10.66 (Tara Zumwalt, Marion, 4th, 12:58.93); 4x800 - North Linn 10:39.30 (Marion, 6th, 12:23.71); Shuttle Hurdle - North Linn 1:10.78; 100 - Shelby Bever, Vinton-Shellsburg, 13.85 (Angie Williams, Marion, 5th, 14.44); Distance Medley - Marion (Williams, Combs, Cannon, Scott) 4:33.21; 400 - Abby Meyer, Cascade, 1:01.57; 4x200 - Vinton-Shellsburg 1:51.43; 100 Hurdles - Sarah Goode, North Linn, 17.48 (Morgan Kolarik, Marion, 3rd, 17.76); 800 - Leah Smith, Marion, 2:33.35; 200 - Abby Green, Cascade, 27.60; 400 Hurdles - Sarah Goode, North Linn,
1:13.80 (Morgan Kolarik, Marion, 6th, 1:19.51); Sprint Medley - Marion (Combs, Kolarik, Cannon, Scott) 1:58.63; 1500 - Mariah Kauder, Cascade, 5:21.31; 4x100 - Vinton-Shellsburg 53.12 (Marion, 6th, 57.71); 4x400 - Cascade 4:17.64.