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North Branch Triangular

Boys

After a nice start to their own triangular on Tuesday, April 14, the North Branch boys track and field team quickly came unraveled and finished in third place against two of the top teams in the North Suburban Conference.

In the first event, the 4x800 relay, Zach Good, Ken Broden, Joe Klun and Ryan Norman teamed up for a 8:47.28 time for first place. The 10 team points was key, but the Vikings stumbled for the most part after that.

Mike Heidelberger earned some team points when he finished in second place in the 1,600 meter run. Colin Charpentier came in just behind him in third place.

In the 4x400 relay, the Vikings again worked their way towards the top, but finished in second place. This time, the quartet was comprised of Good, Boyd Suparat, Klun and Broden.

John Morrison stepped up in the discus event, finishing second place. His toss of 116'11" was the only North Branch throw that cracked 100 feet.

Klun earned the Vikings second win of the day with a first place finish in the triple jump. He leaped 38'1" to win the event by almost a full foot. His only competition came from teammate David Leason, who finished second with a jump of 37'2".

The point totals just weren't enough to compete with Spring Lake Park and Irondale, however. Both teams are stacked with a nice mix of distance runners and sprinters.

Spring Lake Park also has some good relays and field events to go along with their runners, and it showed in the standings. Spring Lake Park won the meet easily with 100 points. Irondale came in second with a score of 49, and North Branch brought up the back with a 37.

"If you take a close look at the results, you're going to see a lot of improvement from so many people," Head Coach Brian Hasleiet said. "That's what it's all about at this time of year."

North Branch Triangular

Girls

The girls had a significantly better performance during the triangular, but it still wasn't enough to topple Spring Lake Park, whose depth and talent go beyond North Branch's reaches right now.

In the opening 4x800 relay, the team o Megan Zimmerman, Dani Privratsky, Miranda Charley and Shayna Gray provided a second place finish for the Vikings.

Catie Bettendorf kept the momentum going with a second place finish in the 100 meter hurdles.

The run of second places continued with a strong time by the foursome in the 4x200 relay. Teagan Anderson, Kristin Slaughter, Becky Ramberg and Bradi Herdina earned the team points in that event.

Ali Zimmerman and Haley Hasleiet finished one-two in the 1,600 meter run, which kept the Vikings in the running for the top spot with Spring Lake Park, who was already separating themselves from the other two teams.

A third place finish in the 4x100 meter relay was tough for the Vikings, but Maria Gozzi redeemed them with a first place finish in the 400-meter dash.

Although many girls finished in the top two, it was always tough for them to crack the top Spring Lake Park runner. Sadie Kolke in the 800-meter, Herdina in the 200-meter and Alyssa Kroschel in the 3,200-meter run all finished second in their respective events.

With their last running event before the field events, the Vikes earned one last second place in the 4x400 relay. Charley, Hasleiet, Kolke and Bettendorf teamed up for the second place finish.

The girls are really trying to rebuild in the field events this year, and they are lacking any top tier competitors in most of the events. Gozzi and Richard tied for third place in the high jump, Katherine Helbig finished fourth in the discus and Kroschel and Anderson tied for first place in the pole vault.

Outside of those five competitors, no other North Branch competitor was able to crack the top five in any of the other field events.

Coach Hasleiet understands his team needs to improve, but at this stage in the season, he's happy with the progress so far. "We just want to keep getting better and that's what we did during this meet," he said. "Our track team as a whole definitely has improved since our last meet."

The team will travel to Highway 95 rival Cambridge-Isanti on Friday, April 24 at 3:30 p.m., to participate in a large meet with local teams. Hasleiet's goal is to just keep the improvement rolling, and then the wins will starting following.

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