United’s 4×800 team made their mark early at the state track and field championships Friday morning.
The team, consisting of Wyatt Medure, Brayden Ganslein, Nick Hardgrove and Kaleb Nastari, was way in the back for the first half of the race. It didn’t look to promising at first.
When Ganslein handed the baton to Hardgrove, he kicked it into high gear as he moved from nearly last to middle of the pack.
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Hardgrove did what he could before handing the baton to the 2022 defending 800-meter state champion and Penn State commit Nastari.
Nastari stepped it up during his two-lap final leg, passing runners with nearly each stride he took.
The Eagles finished sixth in the distance relay with a time of 8:07.27.
Bluffton’s team of Sam Derstine, Erik Nygaard, Eden Antrim, and Landon Armstrong won the event with a time of 7:52.13.