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Cambridge-Isanti Invite

The North Branch boys track and field team was just a tick off of a prestigious win at their Highway 95 rival Cambridge-Isanti.

The eight-team meet featured the Vikes, C-I, Duluth East, St. Francis and Chisago Lakes. And although the competition was strong, the Vikings managed an easy second place finish, losing out only to the host Jackets.

"We had several athletes who had personal bests in the events," Head Coach Brian Hasleiet said. Many familiar faces dotted the first place lines often for North Branch.

The first event that the Vikings earned the top spot in was the 110 meter hurdles. A trio of seniors were the first three to cross. Brian Grand finished first in 15.17, Justin Murray came in second with a time of 16.02 and Vinnie Kleidon finished third with a time of 16.23.

In the fourth boys event, Tony Ceroll, Joe Klun, Grand and Ken Broden teamed up to win first place in the 4x200 meter relay. They finished in 1:33.79.

The relay teams kept up the momentum, as Zac Carchedi, Ceroll, Ben Besch and Murray finished in second place in the 4x100 meter relay, finishing in 1:33.79.

Murray kept his fine day rolling along with a first place finish in the 300 meter hurdles. He completed the course in 42.01 seconds.

After their nice showing on the track, the field participants made sure they didn't go unnoticed.

Charlie Fernow finished first place in the shot put with a toss of 45'3". While he provided the power, a few others provided the quick spark. Murray claimed the second spot in the long jump with a leap of 19'5".

While Murray was busy claiming his fourth top two finish, Klun earned the top spot in the triple jump event, going 40'7", and Besch and Zack Smith both cleared 13' in the polevault to share top honors.

The guys accumulated 157 points in finishing in second place. The Jackets won the meet with 183 points.

Girls

Although they didn't have as many top performances as the boys, the girls' depth provided them with a second place finish in a tie with St. Francis.

They didn't have any first place finishes on the day, but that didn't mean there wasn't some quality performances.

Miranda Charley was impressive in the 800 meter run as the senior finished in second place with a time of 2:29.43.

Katie Helbig finished in second place in the discus event, just missing out on a throw of 100 feet.

Haley Huset was the other Viking to earn a top two spot when she cleared 4'8" in the high jump. Huset, an eighth grader, earned second place in the event.

As a team, North Branch's 140 was tied with St. Francis for second place. Host Cambridge-Isanti completed the boys/girls sweep with a total of 158.5.

Hamline Elite Meet

Each year, there is a meet that bring together the best talent in the state, and although some may think it's the state tournament, the Hamline Elite Meet is right up there in terms of high-level athletes. "The competition is as good or maybe better that the state meet," Hasleiet said.

The Vikings had six different guys qualify for the event in four different events. "The meet was great for these guys because they had the opportunity to compete against some of the best athletes in the state and they did very well."

Among the qualifiers were Grand in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, as well as one-fourth of the 4x200 meter relay team. Smith and Besch both qualified in the pole vault and Ceroll, Klun and Broden went as part of the 4x200 relay.

Smith and Besch's season bests coming into the week were 12'6" and 12'3", respectively. Smith cleared 13' at the elite meet to finish in eighth place and Ben was way over the bar on all three attempts at 12'6", but a few minor mistakes on all the jumps resulted in the bar coming down with him.

The relay team was seeded ninth coming into the meet, but after some quality handoffs and fast times, they finished in fourth place at the meet and finished with the second-fasted time ever recorded in the event by a North Branch foursome.

Grand also performed very well, finishing in third place in the 110 meter hurdles in 15.58 seconds. In the 300 meter hurdles, he finished in fourth place with a time of 40.07 seconds.

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