After throwing a 121-foot, 7-inch mark on her first attempt at the Class 4A girls’ discus toss, Duff was not able to match or pass the mark in her next two attempts. She qualified for the finals as the fifth seed, but the senior wasn’t satisfied with where she was.

It took until her sixth and final throw of the morning, but Duff broke through. A personal-best throw of 128-7 jumped her up to third place, where she finished for her best career finish at the state meet.

In her final run at the discus toss, Duff said she was thrilled with the results.

“I’m very proud of myself,” Duff said. “I came in with a lot of emotions today because I knew it was the last time I would be throwing in my high school career, and it was important to me that I did well.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown senior Rachel Smith (7) enters the first turn during her leg of the Class 4A girls’ 4x800-meter relay Thursday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The Bobcat quartet of Micah Blevins, Smith, Grace Rasmussen and Phoebe Hermanson finished 19th in a season-best time of 10 minutes, 2.98 seconds.

“It was just crazy.”

The weekend is not over for Duff — she’ll compete in the shot put Friday morning.

Duff said the expectations she has for the shot put and any pressure on it are lessened by her strong showing Thursday.

“Shot put hasn’t been my main event, but I’m excited to try and do my best,” Duff said.

Conner Smith took part in his final event for Marshalltown at the 3,200 meter run Thursday morning, outperforming his 20th seed by finishing 15th in 10 minutes, 8.32 seconds.

He utilized a different strategy than in last year’s race where he started out front and tailed off as the race went on. This year he started out with a slower pace before attempting to pick it up as the race neared its conclusion.

While Conner Smith was pleased with the finish, he said he felt there was more he could have done — and said the hot weather definitely had an impact.

“For what it was, I think I ran okay, but I still think I could have been better,” Conner said. “It’s difficult, it always takes me a little bit of time to get used to the heat, usually a couple of weeks. Obviously, I didn’t have that much time, but you just gotta deal with what you get.”

Conner qualified for state track and cross country in each of his final two seasons with the Bobcats.

Two Marshalltown seniors made their final appearances for the Bobcats in the girls’ 4×800 relay. Rachel Smith and Phoebe Hermanson took their final bow alongside Micah Blevins and Grace Rasmussen. Rachel Smith ran the second leg while Hermanson ran the anchor leg as Marshalltown finished 19th in 10:02.98, a season-best time.

Blevins runs Saturday in the open 800, while Rasmussen is a sophomore. But for Hermanson and Rachel, it was a long-awaited finale.

“I think we ran our heart out,” Rachel said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of different things throughout the season, injury-wise especially.

“All of us are in it together, and I think we ran with the mindset that we run with the strength God gives us. It was really special to run with these girls and special to be back.”

Hermanson got choked up when talking about her injury struggles this season and what it meant to get out on the blue oval with her teammates.

“I was just grateful for every opportunity I got to run this season,” Hermanson said. “I couldn’t have gotten here without them [my teammates].”

Marshalltown has two field events and one track event Friday morning, with Duff in the shot put, Malachi Holmes in the long jump and Aaron Seberger in the 110 high hurdles.