At the end of the A-4 District track meet, Juniors Dylan Folda and Darian Sopka had not yet qualified for the State meet. Late Saturday, May 12th, it was determined that Folda and Sopka had qualified due to filling wildcard spots.

Sokpa (100m) and Folda (300m hurdles and 110m hurdles) competed in the district meet but did not finish top four in their respective events. They were competing against the top runners in the state and did not receive an automatic bid. It was announced late on Saturday afternoon that Folda and Sopka had times within the top eight times at the district meet, not counting the top four finishers.

Darian Sokpa ran a 11.53 100 meter dash, which earned him a spot in the state meet. Folda ran 16.22 in the 110-meter hurdles, and 41.36 in the 300-meter hurdles.

“I knew before districts my best chance to qualify was the 300 hurdles, but when I got the last wildcard spot for the 110s I was so suprised and grateful that I would get an opportunity to run my usual events” Folda said.

Competing against the top competition in the state is difficult, but Folda uses it as motivation.

“Everyone knew we had the best hurdling district, I just used the tough competition to push me even harder” Folda said.

For Folda and Sokpa, competing in state has been long awaited.

“I’m beyond excited to be able to compete in the state track meet, especially alongside Darian Soakpa. We’ve been talking about going to state together since our freshman year.”