TheViking track team opened its 2010 season at the Polar League Indoor meet at UWS on March 27. We hadn’t been able to run the indoor meet the last few years, since it has been scheduled during spring break. Ironically, the beautiful spring weather this year meant we hadn’t run indoors this year, something we did up to the end of April last year. Oh well, you never know about spring in Cook County. Since the meet was so early in the season, only 24 of the approximately 34 athletes out for track were confident enough to race.
UW Superior has a beautiful indoor track facility. Not a lot of seating, however, so the large group of family and friends mostly had a ringside seat— watching the meet from inside the 200- meter track. Since about half the team had never competed in a track meet, I was glad for the help from the parents. Track is a hectic sport, with a race always being set up or contested on the track while the jumping and throwing events are going on at the same time, often by the same athletes.
We started out with one of our strongest events, the 4×800 relay where four teammates each run ½ mile. Our boys’ team of Daniel Ahrendt, Darren Waha, Ben Seaton and Kieran Scannell finished third in 10:19, while our girls’ team of Michelle Weitz, Maggie McMillan, Audrey Summers and Shelby Ahrendt finished second in 12:45. Next up, the 55-meter dash had a lot of participants. Peter Warren led our boys with a 7.3- second time, just missing a top sixth place. Collin Berglund was next for the Vikings in 7.6, Levi Axtell, 8.4. Lars Scannell, 8.5, Lino Rauzi, 8.8 and Will Seaton, 8.9. For the girls, Ava McMillan ran a fine 8.7, Rachel Todd, 9.0 and Brittany Lilienthal- Wanttie, 9.2
After a very short rest, our distance runners were right back at it in the mile race. Kieran had a great dual with manytime state meet runner Jordan Smith of Cromwell, finishing second in 5:06. Ben ran a well-paced 5:58, Darren 6:01, Joey Chmelik 6:12 and Pete Summers a strong 6:16. For the girls, Shelby and Michelle just missed placing in 6:46 and 6:51; Katrina Axtell was solid 7:36, and Cheyenne Sorlie a big personal best (PB) of 7:52.
Our young runners set the pace in the 400-meter race. Bjorn Johnson led our boys with a 1:06, Cy Fortunato, 1:09, and Jordan Zunker, 1:16. Maggie was our only girl, running 1:23.
We fielded two boys’ teams and one girls’ team in the 4×200, a fun indoor where each person runs a lap. Our first boys’ team of Collin, Levi, Lino and Lars placed sixth in 2:04, while our second team of Will, Peter, Cy and Jordan was next in 2:10. Our girls’ team of Rachel, Ava, Brittany and Mara MacDonell placed sixth in 2:17. And then our distance runners were right back at it in the ½ mile race. Daniel surprised us by placing sixth in 2:47, with Joey, Lino and Pete close behind in 2:53, 2:57, and 2:59. Audrey, Katrina and Cheyenne also had very good races, running 3:16, 3:24 and 3:29 respectively.
The 200-meter dash was next. Freshman Peter earned an individual fifth place with a 26.4 (top six places were recorded in all events). Collin and Lars were game but tired, running 29.8 and 33.3 respectively. Ava again led our girl sprinters with a 33.0, Rachel, 34.1, and Brittany, 35.8.
In the final running event, we fielded two teams each in the 4×400 relay. And all four placed. The boys’ first team of Daniel, Darren, Ben and Kieran finished fourth in 4:33. The second team of Will, Joey, Pete and Levi were sixth in 5:12. Our number one girls’ team of Michelle, Maggie, Mara and Shelby were also fourth in 5:23, with Ava, Katrina, Cheyenne and Audrey 5th in 5:53.
Meanwhile, our field event athletes squeezed in throwing the shot put and long jumping. Peter threw 29’ 3”, Levi, 24’ 0”, and Brittany, 21’ 9”. Peter just missed a place in the long jump with a 16’ 0”, Lars, 12’ 7” and Mara 11’ 2”.
Overall, it was a very satisfying meet. In a mostly varsity race, our 19 junior high and five high school racers performed well. We had fun and are looking forward to our first outdoor meet at Hermantown Friday, April 30.
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