High School students dashed, jumped over hurdles, high-jumped and relay raced their way across the finish line during the Class 1A Semifinals on the first day of the Illinois High School Association Girl’s Track & Field meet hosted at O’Brien Stadium on Thursday.

Marianne Mihas, from the Latin School of Chicago, who finished in first during the first heat of the 1600-meter run at a time of 5:14.00 and qualified for the 600-meter dash on Saturday; said she felt the race was pretty solid and she feels fine because she knows she has another race to win.

“I sort of took it as a prep for Saturday. I thought about how I could do really well on Saturday and knew I had to finish the race today,” Mihas said.

Tori Thomas from Alleman High School, located in Rock Island, finished in first place during the first heat of the 200-meter dash at a time of 25.84.

“I was really excited to see if I could finish easily and not tense up. I didn’t feel nervous because I knew my teammates and family were watching me for support,” Thomas said.

Taylor Rose-Jones from North Mac High School said her team did not make it to finals but it still felt great to compete.

“It was a little nerve-wracking but it was good. It was just a lot of fun and just to get this far was great,” Rose-Jones said.

A qualifier for the field events include Carmen DeVries from Lena-Winslow High School who finished the long jump at 4.50 meters and she also won the third heat of the 400-meter dash in 57.95.

On Friday classes 2A and 3A are competing in the semifinals and, On Saturday contestants from 1A, 2A and 3A will compete for the finals.

Olivia Swenson-Hultz can be reached at 581-2812 or at omswensonhultz@eiu.edu