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True Team State 

Tournament

The Wildcats girls finished second to Rocori at the True Team State Tournament last Saturday, May 18 at Stillwater High School.  The Wildcats edged out Byron by just 1 ½ points for second, showing once again how every athlete finishing an event, no matter how far back they are, can make a difference in a True Team event since every finishing athlete is awarded team points.

Annika Hall was the only Wildcat to win an event, coming in first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:15.07.  But the Wildcats picked up a lot of points with 16 top ten finishes, including Addy Barrett, ninth, 100 meters; Ava Bringgold, seventh, 200 meters; Kaia Osmundson, fourth, 800 meters;  Hall, third, 1600 meters; Osmundson, fifth, 1600 meters; Bringgold, seventh, 100 meter hurdles; Bringgold, seventh, 300 meter hurdles; 4x100 relay team, second; 4x200 relay team, third; Laura Carlson, eighth, shotput;  Bringgold, fifth, high jump; Lily Hubbard, sixth, high jump; Bene’ Smith, fourth, pole vault; and Kendra Warren, seventh, triple jump.

Bringgold’s solid finishes in her four individual events netted 79 of the Wildcats’ 518 points.  A good example of how all finishes matter would be the performance of Lauren Kowarsch.  She finished 15th in each of her two events, the 400-meter run and the 3200-meter run, but those finishes picked up 20 points for the Wildcats.  If she had finished just one spot lower in each of those two events, the Wildcats would have fallen to third place.  So, the True Team format encourages athletes to do their best to the very end of each event, no matter how far back they are from the front of the pack.

Team Results

1. Rocori                   601.5

2. Chisago Lakes    518

3. Byron                    516.5

4. Pequot Lakes     491.5

5. Belle Plaine         447

6. Delano                 431.5

7.  Marshall              416.5

8. Simley                  410

9. North Branch     401.5

10. Foley                     387

11. Winona                326.5

12. Holy Angels         153

Monticello Final 

Countdown

Earlier in the week, no team scores were kept in the Wildcats’ final meet before the postseason, the Monticello Final Countdown, held Tuesday, May 14 at Monticello.  Two Wildcat girls had first place finishes in the six-team meet.  Eighth grader Madison Eagle won the shotput with a heave of 32’5”.   And junior Kendra Warren won the triple jump with a distance of 32’11”.   Junior Biruk Killeen had the only first place finish for the boys, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.2.

Girls

Other top three finishers for the girls included Addy Barrett, third place, 100 meters; Ava Bringgold, third place, 200 meters; Kaia Osmundson, second place, 800 meters; Annika Hall, second place, 1600 meters; Bringgold, third place, 100 meter hurdles; 4x100 meter relay team, second place; Bringgold, second place, high jump; Lily Hubbard, third place, high jump; Amelia Anderson and Catharine Larson, tied for second place in the pole vault; Barrett, second place in the long jump; and Eden Appleby, third place in the triple jump.

Boys

Top three finishers for the boys were Simon Strand, third place; 400-meter dash; Killeen, third place, 1600-meter run; Ben Paulsen, second place, 110-meter hurdles; Trent Guth, third place, pole vault; and Jacob Grabow, second place, triple jump.

Track Tidbits

 Mississippi 8 Conference Championship meet at Zimmerman was May 22, and the next event for the Wildcats is the Section 7AA Championship meet.  The meet will take place at Cloquet and will be split over two days, as usual:  Wednesday, May 29 and Saturday, June 1.  The meet gets underway at 11 a.m. both days.

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