The Cook County High School track team had its first outdoor track meet of the season at the 10-team Hermantown Invitational on Friday, April 30. Ailee Larson sparkled in her track debut, running 1:03.2 for third in the 400 (1/4 mile), one of the better times in the area.
In the middle of the driest, warmest spring in recent memory, the Cook County High School track team had its first outdoor track meet of the season at the 10-team Hermantown Invitational on Friday, April 30. Of course, it was rainy, windy, and foggy with a threat of thunderstorms—we were hoping on the way down they wouldn’t cancel the meet when we got there. Fortunately they didn’t, and the bad weather actually held off until the final couple of events.
It was hectic when we got there, as 2/3 of the team is in ninth grade and under, and almost half of them hadn’t seen or run a track meet. For those of you who aren’t familiar with track, there are 12 running events each for boys and girls, four of which are fourperson relays and two involve jumping over 3-4’ high hurdles. At the same time, there are two throwing events and three jumping events. If it weren’t for the help of parents and some of our experienced athletes, many of the kids would still be wondering what event they were in, when it started and where it was supposed to be.
Ava McMillan gave it her all, leading the girls in the 100-meter dash with a time of 33.4. Ben Seaton had a personal best time of 5:48.5 in the mile run.
We started with our best relay, the 4×800 (1/2 mile each by four teammates). Daniel Ahrendt, Ben Seaton, Darren Waha and David Bergstrom teamed to run 10:01, good for fourth place. Meanwhile the girls’ team of Michelle Weitz, Molly Rider, Shelby Ahrendt and Ailee Larson edged out their cross-country teammates from Two Harbors to place third in 11:24. That’s the way to start!
Then we had a historic event, the first Cook County hurdle racers in almost 20 years. Using a grant from Arrowhead Electric and some help for the North Superior Ski & Run Club, we bought a set of hurdles. Coached by April Wahlstrom, Rachel and Amber Todd were brave enough to give the 100-meter high hurdles a try. As we held our breath and cheered them on, both finished without hitting a hurdle or falling, Amber running a 19.2 and Rachel taking 22.4 seconds. A little later in the meet, Grace Nelson became our first 300-meter hurdler in recent history by running 1:08.2.
Collin Berglund led our young sprinters in the 100-meter dash, running 13.2, while Levi Axtell ran 15.1, Justin Goldstein 15.4, and Emma Nalezny represented the girls in 17.5. Sebastian Schnobrich led the boys in the 200, running 30.6 and Levi Axtell ran 32.7. Ava McMillan led the girls in 33.4, Kara Ramey ran 35.1 and Emma returned to run 38.9. Our sprint relay teams had fun and earned team point for us. We ran the same girls’ team of Amber, Rachel, Ava and Grace in both the 4×100 and the 4×200. Thegirls were sixth in the 4×1 in 1:02. Theyreturned to place fifthin the 4×2 in 2:12.5. Collin, Seb, Levi and Bjorn Johnson paced the boys to 51.7 in the 4×100, while Lars Scannell, Bjorn, Seb and Jordan Zunker placed fifth in the 4×200 with a 2:02.
Our strong cross-country runners produced a lot of points in the longer races. In the mile, Kieran Scannell produced a big PB (personal best) running 4:50.9 for third place in a very tough field. David Bergstrom had a huge PB of 5:13.8, and Ben Seaton also had a best of 5:48.5. Thegirls also all had personal bests—Maggie McMillan ran 7:00, Audrey Summers 7:01, and Cheyenne Sorlie 7:31. Ailee Larson sparkled in her track debut, running 1:03.2 for third in the 400 (1/4 mile), one of the better times in the area. Molly Rider ran a fine 1:13, and Rose Ingebrigtsen 1:19. Joey Chmelik led the boys with a 1:11, while Jordan Zunker came back to run 1:15.
The 800-meter race proved just as exciting. Running against Esko and Hermantown’s best, including threetime section champ Kate Shelerud, Ailee finished second in an outstanding time of 2:30.9. Cheyenne continued her steady improvement, running 3:23. Kieran ran a perfectly executed race against Hermantown’s top middle distance runner. They separated from the field on the first lap. Knowing he was facing a faster closer, Kieran moved ahead on the back stretch. They came down the finishing stretch side by side in the most exciting race of the day. Kieran was just edged out, running a 2:08.8. Lars and Jordan, tired from the earlier events, took it a little easy, finishing in 3:05 and 3:06 respectively. In the grueling two-mile race, Darren ran an outstanding race, finishing fifth in 12:16. Joey and Daniel were close behind in 12:43 and 12:44 respectively. Meanwhile Michelle ran her usual steady pace, finishing seventh in 13:33. Audrey ran a very well paced 14:40.
In the field events, Amber placed eighth in the long jump with a 13’2” jump. Levi threw the discus 74’9”, and Justin put the shot over 30’ in his first try. The meet closed with the 4×400 relay. David, Ben, Bjorn and Kieran ran 4:14 for fifth, while Molly, Rose, Maggie and Kara ran 5:17 for sixth.
In the team standings both the boys and girls ended up fifth of the 10 teams, pretty good for our young, growing team.
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