June 5, 2008 at 8:03 a.m.
Records crumble as four Vikings head to state tourney at Hamline
Records crumble as four Vikings head to state tourney at Hamline
In the section meet on Wednesday, May 28 and Saturday, May 31, four Vikings records were broken, and six more were challenged.
Two of the school records propelled athletes to the state tournament this weekend. Jared Grams' sub-11 second 100-meter dash time of 10.99 shot him to the top of the record book and into the state meet. Grams also rocketed through the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.91 seconds. Although the time didn't qualify him for the tournament in that distance, it was good enough to move into second place in North Branch running history in the 200-meter dash.
Amanda Johnson leaped to a record in the pole vault event with a jump of nine feet 10 inches, and the height was good enough to send her to the prestigious state tournament at Hamline.
Other records that were broken, but didn't send the athletes to the tournament were the girls x800-meter relay and the boys 2x200-meter relay.
The girls quartet was composed of Sadie Kolke, Kendra Norman, Shayna Gray and Miranda Charley. Their second-place time of 9:45.77 shaved more than 11 seconds off the previous school record.
The boys 4x200 team included Grams, Joe Klun, TJ Leason and Brian Grand, and the squad finished in second place in the event.
Leason also finished in third place in the 400-meter dash and in the high jump. Grand finished in fourth place in the long jump.
In five other events, current Viking athletes broke into the top five all-time in times and distances.
Catie Bettendorf moved into fourth place all-time in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.58 seconds. She also moved up to third place all-time in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing the challenging race in 47.1, a time that was good enough to qualify her for the state tournament also in that event.
"All four of the athletes [who qualified for state] had great days to make it," Gead Coach Brian Hasleiet said. "They've worked hard this year and really deserve to compete another week."
Shayna Gray eeked into the top five with a 2:25.23 in the 800-meter run.
Grand, who is only a sophomore and still has two years to improve his stock, ran a blazing-fast 15.11 in the 110-meter hurdles, which moved him into second place in the North Branch record books. He also moved to third place all-time in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, two inches.
In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Sara Swanson finished in fourth place with a time of 1:00.23.
"I'd have to say that's a very good couple of days of track and field," Hasleiet understated. "I was extremely happy with how well all of our athletes competed over the two days."
The state tournament begins on Friday, June 6 at Hamline University. Bettendorf, Grams and Grand will have preliminaries to run on Friday, and will compete on Saturday if their times hold up. Johnson will begin and end on Saturday in pole vaulting.
"Thanks again to all of our athletes whose seasons finished last week," Hasleiet said. "Despite the weather that we've had to deal with this spring, I'd have to say we had a very successful season, and it isn't over quite yet."
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