As is customary for the CCHS Track and Field opener, 14 athletes headed down to the Polar League Indoor Championships held at the beautiful UW-Superior indoor track. Our smaller turnout, a bit less than half the team, was not due to lack of interest. Like many other schools, the meet coincides with spring break at the school, meaning many students were heading elsewhere with their families for the week-long break.
With eight other Polar League schools competing, there was still plenty of competition. Despite only two weeks of practices, the Vikings had some of our best performances ever at the UWS meet.
Clearly the top athlete at the meet, senior Jack Haussner handily won all three of his individual events, and gave a big head start to our 4×400 relay. Jack was clear of the field in his specialty, the high hurdles, winning the 55m (meter) event in 8.5 seconds. He followed that up immediately in the 55m dash, with a 6.8 second win. Moving over to the jumping pit, he won the long jump with a 19’ 8” jump. After placing 10th at State last year in the high hurdles, Jack has his eyes on a much higher finish this year.
Senior Sophie Eliasen had a number of outstanding performances, including a 1:08.5 win in the 400-meter dash, a fifth-place finish in a very tight 55m dash in 7.9 seconds, and a gutty 4th in the 200-meter dash at 30.1. She was pushed by a number of her younger teammates, as ninth-graders Molly Lavigne nipped her for 4th place in the 55, and Anna Hay was right behind her for 5th place in the 200. Eighth-grader Sammie Garrity showed a lot of promise in her first track meet, running a 1:19 in the 400.
Viking distance runners were led by Kevin Viren’s third-place finish in the mile, at 5:22. Kylie Viren and CeCe Chmelik had strong mile runs of 7:23 and 7:33 respectively.
Hailey Smith opened her season with a good 25’ 4” throw in the shot put, despite having almost nowhere to practice in this snowy spring.
Middle distance runner Keegan Morrison ran a 2:31 half mile, good for 5th place. Close behind were Tanner DeBoer in 2:38, and Brayden Schmidt in 2:49. Ben Rex ran a nice 1:03 in the 400- meter dash. Eighth-grader Kyler Hansen got his first track experience, running the 55m and 200m dashes.
Both of our relay teams finished well. The girls’ 4×200 team placed 5th in 2:11, with Molly leading off in 30 seconds, Anna running 31, CeCe running 37, and Sammie closing in 33. The most exciting race of the day was the final event of the meet, the boys’ 4×400. Jack Haussner gave us a big lead with a 56-second opener. He handed off to Keegan, who ran a strong 66, holding on to most of the lead. Tanner ran a personal best of 65 to keep a smaller lead, passing off to Kevin. Kevin was caught and passed at the end of his first lap. But he hung on tenaciously, and eased back into the lead, while the third-place team was closing fast. With the loudest cheering of the day, he just hung on for the victory in 4:12, having run a 62-second leg, his best ever.
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