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The Mississippi 8 Conference track meet took place Tuesday, May 19 at Cambridge-Isanti High School.

North Branch Boys
The Viking boys edged out M8C powerhouse St. Michael Albertville to claim their first track and field Mississippi 8 Conference championship in school history.
The Vikings tallied 113 points, which was just eight points ahead of STMA and 10 points ahead of Buffalo.

Conference champions include Arik Steele in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, Kennedy Ashley, Jason Logan-Kukowski, Matt Marrin and Max Southbloom in the 4x200 relay, Kyle Crandell in the pole vault and Michael Hensch in the shot put.

Along with those M8C title holders, other All Conference members of the team were Marrin in the 200 meter dash, Connor Martineau in the long jump and high jump, and Nick Helms in shot put and discus

All-M8C Honorable Mention awards went to Marrin in the 100, Jack Klun in the truple jump, Evan Amunrud in the 400, Ashley in the 200 and Ashley, Amunrud, Steele and Logan-Kukowski in the 4x400 relay.

The boys are getting primed for their section and state runs, and they aren’t slowing down any time soon. “This was a great effort by the entire boys team,” Head Coach Tim Kingsland said. “We all pulled together and were able to take title.”

North Branch Girls
The girls struggled a bit in their half of the meet, but they were missing a few key pieces. They finished in ninth place with only 38 team points. St. Michael-Albertville ran away with the meet, scoring 237 points. Monticello, the second place team, had only 83 points.

Mikayla Johnson was the only conference champion for the NB girls. She won the pole vaulting competition by clearing 11 feet.
Johnson also earned All-Conference Honorable Mention in the 100 meter dash, finishing fifth.

Rhianna Rinke was the only other All-Conference performer for NB girls, finishing second in the 3,200 meter run.

Honorable Mention awards went to Jillian Yerges in the 1,600 meter run, Savannah Linkert in the 300 hurdles and Josee Axberg in the shot put.
 
Wildcat Boys
The Wildcat boys had just two athletes win All Conference honors.  The top four in each individual event and the top two in each relay event are awarded All Conference.  The most impressive performance of the day came from Quinton Lee.  He had a 101 degree fever and was only able to run in one race – the 300 meter hurdles.  But despite his illness, he placed third to earn All Conference.  Frank Brezany was the other All Conference Wildcat, finishing third in the pole vault.

The Wildcats did get plenty of Honorable Mentions (fifth through eighth in individual events and third and fourth place in the relays).  The 4 x 800 meter relay team of Nic Bartz, Zac West, Phil LaPlante and Luke Crouse finished 4th with a season PR.  Andrew Soulis ran what Wildcat boys’ head coach Ken Orwoll described as “his best race ever” in the 110 meter high hurdles to finish 8th.  The 4 x 100 meter relay team of Dylan Blaul, Arran Hickcox, Andrew Schneider and Peter Vitalis finished first in the slower of the two heats and ended up third overall, missing All Conference by .07 seconds.  Vitalis was also fifth in the high jump.  Nathan Schrader finished sixth in the discus to also earn Honorable Mention.
 
Wildcat Girls
To start the meet, the 4x800 meter relay team of Natalie Sandstrom, Katie Christy, Jessica Bartz, and Sarah Greene placed second to earn All Conference honors and broke the school record with a time of 9:54.41.  Wildcat girls’ head coach Kara Odegaard said, “These girls have continued to work hard and push each other all season.  It was great to see them work together to achieve their goal.  I am so proud of them! “

Isabel Hindt had a great day.  She earned All Conference in the 400 meter dash with a second place finish and a time of 1:01.23 and got Honorable Mention in the 200 meter dash with a sixth place finish and a time of 27.17.  “Isabel always runs so smooth,” said Odegaard.  “She makes racing look easy.”  In the 800 meter run, Greene came in fourth to earn All Conference, with a season personal best of 2:22.59. Greene also earned All Conference in the high jump with a second place finish and a leap of 5'0".  The 4x400 meter relay team of Greene, Isabel Hindt, Christy, and Sandstrom earned Honorable Mention with a 3rd place finish and a time of 4:12.46.  The 4x100 meter relay team of Sally Nelson, Audrey Roy, Madi Hindt and Vicky Kilian ran a season best of 54.26, finishing in sixth place.

Odegaard said, “The girls had a great day.  We had so many personal bests.  It was awesome to see the girls peaking at the right time and continuing to improve.  I am excited to see what they can do this week at sections.”

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