DES MOINES - Linn-Mar sophomore Stephanie Jenks gets a big kick out of breaking records.

The bigger, the better.

Jenks struck again Thursday morning, snapping her own state record in the 3000 meter run by more than two seconds at the Class 4A state track meet in Des Moines.

Jenks was clocked in 9 minutes, 24.67 seconds as she ran away with the race and won by more than 31 seconds, similar to her dominating performance at the Drake Relays last month.

Jenks broke her own all-time state mark of 9:26.87 and topped the meet record of 9:27.25 set by Katie Flood of Dowling Catholic in 2010.

Her next target could be the all-time national record in the 3000 of 9:08.6.

"Maybe," she said after defending her state title in the event. "Maybe I'll get it next year."

Don't bet against her.

Her time of 9:24.67 was the second-fastest in the country for high school girls this year and she's only a sophomore.

Jenks was glad she broke her own state record in the 3000, set last month on this same track at the Drake Relays.

"It's really nice to know I'm improving on something," she said. "I'm motivated by seeing myself improve, so this is nice."

Jenks hoped to break her own record Thursday and kept calculating how fast she needed to run on each lap.

"I was watching the clock," she said. "My mom (Deb) was over there yelling at me when I was falling off."

She didn't fall off much and the public address announcer helped boot her home on the final lap.

"I could tell the announcer said something about the record and I was getting close," she said. "That's when the crowd goes wild. That always motivates me. It pushes me even harder."

Jenks plans to compete in the 800 and 1500 meter runs on Saturday. She'll keep busy in the weeks and months to come after that, including the Dream Mile in New York City June 14 and the world youth triathlon in China in August.

Morgan Martin of Kennedy placed fifth in the discus at 123 feet, 8 inches.

Metro girls fared well in preliminary races Thursday at the three-day state meet, setting themselves up nicely for upcoming races.

Lucy Schneekloth of Jefferson placed second in the prelims of the 200 meter dash in 25.56 seconds. Amarri Waller of Kennedy was fifth in the 200 prelins in 25.69.

Jefferson finished third in the prelims of the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:05.77.

Three Metro runners qualified for the finals in the 100 meter dash with good showings in the preliminary races. Waller of Kennedy was fourth (12.44), Kadejah Sanders of Washington was fifth (12.46) and Jasmine Blue of Jefferson was seventh (12.51).

Pleasant Valley leads the Class 4A girls standings with 24.5 points. Linn-Mar is in seventh place with 10 points and Kennedy is in 17th place with four points.