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At the annual Track and Field State Tournament last weekend, North Branch sent two compeitors packing for Hamline University in three events.

First up on the plate was John Morrison in the shot put event. Although Morrison had posted a personal best in the sectional tournament, he had a tough hill to climb to get to the top with the elite-level throwers in the state. His best toss of 45' left him in 16th place in the tournament.

Morrison also qualified for the discus event, and narrowly missed out on the podium after some impressive throws. His best throw of 138'2" left him two places out of the top eight in 10th place. Four of the guys in front of him, however, are seniors and will be out of the picture next year when Morrison returns as a senior.

Senior Casey Dehn of Owatonna was crowned double champion when he won the discus and shot put events.

"John had a great track season not only in track but he also qualified for state in wrestling. That's a great sports year for John," Head Coach Brian Hasleiet noted. "He's only a junior so we're looking forward to him coming back next year and continuing his success in our program."

Catie Bettendorf was again the lone representative for the North Branch girls track team this year. She earned a spot in the tournament last year in the 300-meter hurdles, and she repeated her section championship to return to the meet.

She fared a little better than last year as far as time goes, running a personal best of 47.17 seconds, but the competition was too stiff for Bettendorf to break through. The cut-off for the finals qualifying time was 45.49 seconds. Senior Jessica Keesling of White Bear Lake was the top qualifier, and she won the meet with a time of 45.69 seconds in a rain-soaked final.

Hasleiet knows she'll be missed on the track. "Catie ran her best time of the season and you can't ask for anything more than that," he said. "Catie was a great asset to our program over the years. She really worked to make herself an excellent hurdler."

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