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by CHUCK FITZER

Mississippi 8 Conference Championships

The Wildcats girls won the Mississippi 8 Conference Championship by nine points over second place Monticello.  The Wildcat boys came in sixth on their side of things.  The girls had four conference champions:  freshman Annika Hall in the 800 meters and the 1600 meters, senior Ava Bringgold in the 300-meter hurdles, and freshman Madison Eagle in the discus.  The meet was held at Cambridge-Isanti High School last Thursday, May 22.

Girls’ Individual Results

Hall’s time of 5:03.85 broke the school record in the 1600 meters.  She also had a time of 2:22.02 in the 800 meters.  Bringgold, in addition to winning the 300-meter hurdles in 47.37 seconds, placed second in the 100-meter hurdles, leapt to second in the high jump, and finished fifth in the 200 meters.  And Eagle, who won the discus with a throw of 113’9”, also finished second in the shot put.

Senior Bene Smith sprinted to a third-place finish in the 100 meters and vaulted into third place in the pole vault.  Senior Kaia Osmundson  came in fourth at 1600 meters and fifth at 800 meters.  Junior Lauren Kowarsch ran to a fifth-place finish in the 3200 meters.  In another strong performance by a freshman, McKaylie Malek placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles.  Senior Kendra Warren came in second in the triple jump. In an odd coincidence, the Wildcats came in fourth pace in all four relays.

Boys’ Individual Results

Senior Biruk Killeen was the Wildcats boys’ top performer for the day, coming in second in both the 1600 meters and 3200 meters – quite a performance.  Senior Edmond Morris sprinted to fifth place finish at both 100-meters and 200-meters.  The Wildcats had a number of other finishers in the fourth to seventh place range.  The 4x100 relay team finished fourth.  Sophomore William Pearson, senior Marcello Cardoni and sophomore Everett Otte finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, in the shot put.  Pearson also came in seventh in the discus.  Senior Blake Siefert jumped to sixth place in the high jump.  Seniors Trent Guth and Nathaniel Bear tied for fifth in the pole vault.  And sophomore Judah Appleby placed fourth in the triple jump.

Girls’ Team Results

1. Chisago Lakes             129

2.Monticello                 120

3.Becker                       102

4.Cambridge-Isanti        88

5.  Zimmerman                  75

6.  North Branch               72

7.  St. Francis                     60

8.  Princeton                      33

9.  Big Lake                        20

Boys’ Team Results

1.Camb-Isanti               153

2.Becker                           116

3.Monticello                    96

4.St. Francis                     85

5.Big Lake                        78

6.Chisago Lakes              68

7.Zimmerman                  58

8.North Branch             24.5

9.Princeton                   22.5

Track Tidbits

At the State True Team meet two weeks ago, Kaia Osmundson, Kara Hall, Lauren Kowarsch and Annika Hall ran 9:48.16 and broke the 4x800 school record set in 2015 by Sarah Greene, Katie Christy, Natalie Sandstrom and Jessica Bartz.  Wildcat head coach Brandy Peterson said “Sarah Dalquist, formerly Sarah Greene, is one of our coaches this season and her highlight of the True Team meet was watching those girls break the record.”

The Section 7AA Championship preliminaries took place yesterday at Forest Lake High School.  The section finals are this Saturday at Forest Lake High School Starting at 5 p.m.  The Wildcats should send quite a few athletes to the state tournament, especially on the girls’ side of things.

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