North Branch girls make a nice showing at True Team State Meet in Stillwater

For the second year in a row, North Branch’s girls track and field team participated in the True Team State meet, and this time, they grabbed a trio of first place finishes to bring home, despite finishing in eighth place out of the eight section teams. The first chunk of points came from the legs of sisters Maddie and Cassie Kunshier. Cassie finished in fifth place in the 200 meter dash in a time of 27 seconds. The time was a personal best for Cassie.

Older sister Maddie came in third place in the 400 meter dash with a time of 59.46 seconds. She was only a half second away from the top spot, occupied by Sophie Schmitz of Willmar. Maddie’s time was also a season best for her. In the 800 meter run and 1,600 meter run, sophomore speedster Rhianna Rinke finished second and first, respectively. She earned second in the 800, which is a fairly new event for her with a time of 2:21.62. It was a two-girl race between she and Schmitz, which Schmitz besting her by just over one second. The third place finisher behind Rinke came in four seconds after her.

In the 1,600 meter run, Rinke, who Head Coach Norm Nagel calls the Energizer Bunny, earned the top spot by a very wide margin. She sped to a time of 5:07.53, which was almost 10 seconds faster than Megan Ostlie of Detroit Lakes, who finished in second place. Rinke earned 35 team points for the two finishes. The Vikings buzzed through the 4x400 meter relay race, as the quartet that featured the Kunshier sisters, Rinke and senior Haley Huset finished with a personal best. They finished in first place with a time of 4:07.52, over two seconds faster than Willmar’s foursome in second place. In pole vault, Mikayla Johnson and Katie Burnside continued their tear across Minnesota, finishing in first and second place again. Johnson, a sophomore, vaulted 10’6” to earn 18 team points for the Lady Vikings, and Burnside, only a freshman, cleared 10 feet to finish in second place and earn 17 points.

The girls finished in eighth place with 257 team points, about 30 behind Willmar, who scored 286.5. Sartell-St. Stephen won the meet with 396.5 points, just edging Rocori, who had 383.5. “Overall the girls gave it all they had. I believe this is a great meet to get us prepared for Conference and Sections,”  Nagel said. “I’m very pleased on how the girls performed. It is an honor to be their coach and to work with these young ladies. “Although we took last the girls competed hard, and it is a great experience for our younger athletes to compete on such a large stage.”