Spartans will take two events to State

 AUDUBON -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton distance runner Evan Wilson and the Spartan boys shuttle hurdle relay team stepped up with their best times of the year on Thursday (May 11), earning at-large state meet bids after placing third in the Class 1-A State Qualifying Track Meet held at Audubon.
 The Spartans’ lone qualifiers will compete Thursday at the 2017 State Track and Field Championships inside Des Moines’ Drake Stadium.
 Wilson, a junior, will be making his second state meet appearance in the 3,200-meter run. He placed third behind Nodaway Valley’s Shane Breheny and Brycen Wallace at the state qualifying meet, but his personal-best time of 10:09.1 was good enough to rank ninth out of 24 qualifiers in 1-A.
 The Spartan boys also punched a state meet ticket in the shuttle hurdle relay as Creighton Nelson, Levi Deakins, Cole Bruns and Brady Schlueter knocked more than a second off their season-best time to place third in 1:04.05.
 As a team, the Spartan boys placed in 14 events and scored 51.5 points to finish seventh out of 14 teams in the meet.
 The Spartan girls were unable to secure any state meet berths on Thursday and finished 10th in the team standings with 27 points.