Today we start our look back at a successful 2020-21 sports year in Southeast Iowa with our top 10 sport stories countdown. To kick off our countdown for Washington we travel back to the spring with a state track qualifier coming in as the #10 best story. 

Unable to have a season in 2020, the Demon girls track team had one representative advance to the Blue Oval in 2021 when Abby Kleese cracked the top two at the district meet in Mount Pleasant. On May 13th, the freshman punched her ticket to state by placing second in the class 3A 800m run where she clocked a personal best time of 2:28.76. She held off Maddie Jones of Fairfield for the automatic qualifier by 1.62 seconds in an exciting stretch to the finish. She broke down the run post-race. “My first 400m I was just trying to keep up with the first girl. The final stretch I felt Maddie Jones on my shoulder so I just pushed really hard to the end. As soon as I crossed the finish line I was hysterical. I was crying and it felt amazing.”

Kleese was the only freshman represented in that race at Drake Stadium and finished 23rd in the state with a time of 2:40.67. Check back in tomorrow for #9 on our countdown when we look back on a memorable basketball win.