Walther 800 relay wins Class A State title

Deanna Richardson was a little confused.

The Walther Lutheran sophomore was told she would be competing in the 800-meter relay only to learn a few minutes later she would not be running.

The conflicting reports were due to the health of senior Ashley Simon, who had a quadriceps injury. Her status was not determined until the last possible minute.

Richardson, who was an alternate on the relay, was told 15 minutes before the race she would definitely be competing.

Richardson came through when needed as the second leg, as the Broncos won the Class A state title in the 800 relay in 1 minute, 44.10 seconds. The other three runners were Jazzmyn Harvey, Emma Schmidt-Swartz and Morgan Ransom.

"I was real nervous," Richardson said. "I was warming up, but I did not think I was going to run. I had to do it for my team."

Schmidt-Swartz opened up a lead of 40 meters for the Broncos on the third leg.

Harvey wasn't feeling overconfident as the anchor, knowing Danielle Gronewold of Illini West, which finished third, had the leg speed to make it interesting down the stretch.

"I just ran," Harvey said. "I didn't look back to see where she was at."

Simon did run on the relay in the preliminaries on Friday, as Walther qualified with a second-place time of 1:47.18.

The Broncos finished sixth in the 400 relay in 51.05 seconds with Harvey, Jaquitta Walker, Schmidt-Swartz and Simon.

Ana Garcia placed 23rd in the 3200 run in 12:14.78.

The Broncos tied for 20th in the team standings with 14 points.

Harvey was part of the 400 relay a year ago, along with Simon, which won the first state title for the girls program.