NORTH TAMA TELEGRAPH FILE PHOTO

BELLE PLAINE – The North Tama girls 4×800-meter relay team of sophomore Shawna Cibula, sophomore Isla Breakenridge, junior Olivia Youngblood, and senior anchor Gabriella Seda qualified for state after placing second at the Class 1A district meet held at Belle Plaine High School, Thursday, May 14. In Class 1A, the top place winner in each event plus the next 14 best district performances statewide advance to the state meet. The Redhawks were the fourth team to qualify at-large from the statewide pool by finishing in 10 minutes, 15.36 seconds at Belle Plaine – a personal best but behind the automatic qualifier, Lynnville-Sully (10:11.63). The Redhawks were set to compete at the state championships this past Thursday, May 21, beginning at 11:10 a.m. This will be the second year in a row the 4×8 quartet has qualified for state; the squad finished 16th at the 2025 state meet with a time of 10:19.14. The 2026 Iowa High School Track & Field Championships take place May 21-23 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.