Old habits have proven hard to break for the Warrenton girls track team, and Coach Mike Spoede couldn’t be more thrilled.It just took one vacant year for the 3,200-meter relay team to make a return to MSHSAA Championships, reigniting a trend that lasted for six straight seasons leading up to 2012.“This is a chance of a lifetime for these girls,” said Spoede. “It will be really neat for the girls to go and experience this.”The distance crew, which consisted of Corizma Blair, Mary Broker, Andrea Poole and Darya Wilke, ran a 10:41 to claim the fourth and final qualifying spot at the Class 3 sectional meet on Saturday.“Knowing we’re going to state is pretty amazing,” said Poole, who says she has a checklist for each year of high school that includes going to state.It was Blair’s first time ever competing in the relay, as she replaced the injured Madeline Carlson. Spoede wasn’t certain how the sprinter would respond to a slower-paced race, but the substitution went without a hitch.“I was confident and pretty sure she would be fine, but there was also that big unknown,” said Spoede. “It was quite a thrill.”Blair’s split aligned with Broker’s time from the opening leg.“It was tiring, and I wasn’t really all that confident going in,” acknowledged Blair.But the Warriors lost ground in the third leg, falling back into seventh.When Poole took over for the final two laps, she had a lot of work ahead of her to prevent the team from disappointment.“With one of my teammates being out, I wanted to help her achieve her goal of making it to state,” explained Poole. “She was my inspiration.”A tremendous finishing kick during the final 200 meters helped put the Warriors back into contention.“It was a nerve-wracking race, and I was really excited to see what place we were in,” said Blair.While he doesn’t discredit the accomplishment, Spoede says Warrenton found itself in a fortunate sectional. The Warriors would not have qualified at any of the other sectional venues.“There are a lot of teams that ran faster times than we did that aren’t getting to the state meet,” said Spoede.He says this year’s expectations will be more modest than in previous seasons, when the Warriors medaled.“We’re not going to be quite as competitive as the teams we’ve had in the past,” said Spoede, who says the focus is on the future with a cast of one junior, one sophomore and two freshmen.The Warriors’ relay team will open the track events on Saturday with a noon race. Spoede says it is still uncertain exactly which athletes will be running, pending Carlson’s injury.The Warriors vied for a state berth in several other open events, unsuccessful in each.Blair finished seventh in both the 100- and 200-meter races, running in 13.45 seconds and 28.03 seconds, respectively.In the mile run, a final push by Poole wasn’t quite enough. She gained a couple spots, but ended up in fifth-place with a time of 5:43.“The mile was my main focus in my two open events,” said Poole. “I thought maybe I had a shot because of where I was seeded.”Poole took sixth in the 800-meter race, logging a 2:34.BLAIR HELPS RELAY TEAMDerrick Forsythe, Record Sports Editor