THE STREIT STUFF

 DES MOINES -- In the days leading up to last weekend’s co-ed state track meet, the practice workload lessened for Harlan Community senior Gillian Streit.
 The hay is in the barn, HCHS girls assistant coach Todd Bladt told his standout thrower. The only thing left to do is go out there and perform to the best of your ability.
 The strategy was sound, to be sure, but not even Bladt could have anticipated what was about to unfold during Thursday’s Class 3-A girls discus competition near Drake Stadium.
 On Streit’s first throw of the afternoon, she unleashed a toss of 137 feet, three inches that broke Amy Velthoff’s school record of 136-1 and increased Streit’s ‘PR’ by more than five feet.
 Upon hearing the measurement, Streit raised her arms in the air and allowed a big smile to come across her face - an unofficial but inevitable victory pose.
 Moments later, Streit’s second throw landed in nearly the same spot as the first. This time: 137-2. She would later add a toss of 131-11 (her old PR) in the finals, giving her the best three throws of the entire competition en route to earning a state gold medal.
 One year after placing 11th in both the discus and shot put at state - and just three weeks after fouling twice and throwing 112-1 in the Drake Relays’ discus, in the very same ring - Streit displayed strength and poise in earning the Cyclone girls’ first individual state title since 2006, when Brittany Moore won the 400 dash and Regina Reinig won the 800.
 “Ecstatic,” Streit said of her mood. “I knew coming in there was going to be a lot of competition, so I was just thinking, ‘Do your best and you get what you get,’ and I apparently got first.”

Streit also qualified for state in the shot put again this year and placed 16th with a toss of 34-11 on Friday afternoon.