The Emmaus girls 3200-meter relay team has been preparing all season for this time of year.

The foursome’s goal was to run its best at exactly this time of the season, and through two postseason races it has accomplished that mission.

The foursome of Abby Dalton, Katrina Durrwachter, Sophie Pickering and Abby Heilenman ran its best time of the season for the second straight week to take the silver medal in last week’s District 11 Class 3A Championships, posting a 9:28.82 and finishing just behind Colonial League champ Southern Lehigh (9:25.47).

“We feel really good,” said Durrwachter, the lone senior in the group. “It was another best time and Southern Lehigh is really strong. We hadn’t raced them this year. And we weren’t too far behind them. We were content with second. It wasn’t gold but we can’t complain. We’re going to states.”

The top two finishers in each event and others who meet qualifying standards earn trips to this weekend’s state championship meet at Shippensburg University.

Dalton, Durrwachter and Pickering earned state medals last year in the 3200-meter relay, along with Emmaus graduate Katie Bacher. Last year the group ran a 9:20.07 in the state preliminary and 9:18.77 to take eighth place in the finals.

This year’s group isn’t too focused on matching last year’s effort. The foursome just wants to run its best at states.

“We have nothing to lose at this point,” Durrwachter said. “Finals would be nice. We don’t have the heat sheets yet, but to beat Southern Lehigh at states would be nice for some redemption.”

The Emmaus foursome dropped eight seconds off last week’s league title-winning time of 9:36.84. Another drop this weekend could put Emmaus back on the medal stand Saturday afternoon.

The goal all season has been for the team to run its best in the postseason.

“We were training hard,” said Pickering. “As we got closer and closer to leagues and districts we started to taper.”

“Our coach laid it out during the season,” said Durrwachter. “She has it down to a science for us to peak perfectly.”

While the 3200-relay is the only Emmaus state qualifier, a few other Hornets finished in the top five last week at districts, which were held May 17-18 at Blue Mountain High School.

Durrwachter came up one place short of state qualifying in the 800 with a third place finish and a time of 2:19.39.

The Emmaus girls 400-meter relay took third place with a time of 50.56.

Alan Doelue earned fourth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.32, and Mackenzie Dries was fourth in the 400 in 1:00.04.

Dalton ran to fifth place in the 3200 in 11:36.73, and the Hornet boys 3200-meter relay team placed fifth at 8:24.73.