Ailee Larson (no. 3 in Viking singlet) has had a great season, finishing second in the 800 meter run at the Section 7A meet and qualifying for State.
It’s been about 20 years since the last Cook County athlete qualified for the Minnesota State Track meet although we have had two past state champions— Dick Dorr in the long jump and Ann Siekert in the discus. This year we have two state qualifiers, as junior Ailee Larson and freshman Kieran Scannell both qualified for next week’s state meet at Hamline University in St. Paul.
If you have been following the track team’s results in the Cook County News-Herald,
you know the CCHS team had three qualifiers for the Section 7A finals at UMD. Freshman sprinter Peter Warren was the #10 qualifier (of 14) in the 200- meter dash and the #11 qualifier in the 100-meter dash. Kieran, the Section 7A cross-country champion last fall, came into the finals as the #3 seed in the 2-mile. Ailee, new to track but a state qualifier in cross country last fall, came in to the half mile finals as the #1 seed, after an upset of last year’s 10th place finisher at state, Kate Shelrud of Esko. Since only the top two qualify to go to state, we knew anything could happen at Section finals.
Our small group of athletes, teammates, friends and family arrived at UMD early on Friday morning to rain, fog and cool weather. Yuk. After about a half hour delay, Peter was our first runner to take to the track in the 100-meter preliminary races. The two preliminary races of seven each reduce the final field to eight, one for each lane of the track. Peter has made tremendous progress this season, improving from a decent junior high sprinter with a 13.5 best in the 100 last year to one of the top sprinters in the Polar League with a 12.0 best this year. As the #11 seed, and the youngest runner in the race however, our expectations were reasonably modest.
Standing on the back of the starting block at the beginning of the race to keep if from moving, I had a great view of the start. As a distance runner, it is a real change to see the sprinters explode out of the blocks and power down the track. Peter got an excellent start, one of the first out. Unfortunately, about 15 yards down the track he dragged a spike on the track, causing a slight stumble. That mistake slowed him up just enough to eliminate him from the finals, although he did recover enough to finish 11th overall, the same as his seeding.
Coming back later in the slower heat of the 200 meter dash, Peter finished second in that heat with a personal best of 24.46. Unfortunately, everyone in the fast heat ran up to expectations, so Peter finished 10th overall, just as his seed time predicted. Still he had an extremely good season and proved himself as one of the up and coming sprinters in the area.
After a long wait, Ailee completed her warm up and took to the track. In her short track career, Ailee has proved to be a great natural racer. The half mile is the shortest distance event on the track, requiring a good blend of endurance, speed and tactics for success. As a top cross-country runner, she clearly has the endurance. Her quarter mile sprint time is almost as good as her half mile time, so she has the speed, and so far her tactics have been flawless. Our strategy was pretty simple—stay near Kate unless the pace was way too fast. We knew we couldn’t surprise her again, but we wanted to be sure about making the top two, feeling there was no one else in the field that could beat Ailee unless she ran out of gas too early. The race developed exactly as we guessed.
Kate took it out hard, running 200 meters in about 33 seconds—a pace that would set a state record if held all the way. Ailee gave her a little room, but kept in touch. As the race progressed, she held position, and they separated from the field. Coming down the finish, Ailee turned on the jets and pulled to within 1 second, running a 2:20.6, a 6 second season best and good enough to qualify her in the middle of the state meet field. We had one ticket punched for state!
Right after the finish of the girls’ two mile (won by cross country teammate Sonja Peterson of Two Harbors), Kieran took the track for the boys’ two mile. Although Kieran’s best time for the season was almost 15 seconds slower than the top two ranked runners, Jackson Lindquist of Esko and the top runner from Crosby-Ironton, we were confident Kieran would be in the hunt. He had only run the twomile twice this season, and was coming to great racing shape at just the right time. Our strategy was also pretty simple—don’t let anybody get away. Fortunately, the pace was quick but steady. The top four distanced themselves from the field, running a steady stream of 75-78 second quarter miles – about 10:15 pace – reasonably faster than Kieran’s best. And he didn’t let anybody get away. As the steady beat continued, the top four were whittled down to two— Kieran and Jackson. With a lap to go, he was obviously in. In fact he couldn’t contain himself, as he took the lead in the last lap and quickly opened a gap. Running a sub-70-second final lap, he won by over seven seconds in a quality time of 10:01, a huge 21-second improvement. Two tickets punched!
Now it is down to Hamline. Based upon last year’s results, both Ailee and Kieran should be competitive at state. They both need to lift their performances up a little, but they are on track to do just that. Go Vikings!
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