Track Head Coach April Wahlstrom (in back) stands on the blocks of two runners as the kids work on their starts. With almost 50 boys and girls out for track, Cook County High School will be well-represented at track meets this spring. Runners (L-R) Shae Morawitz, Hanna Borson, Lily Gruber-Schulz, Alyssa Martinson, Michaela Peterson, Melanie Stoddard, and Natassja Sheils.
It’s been a pretty crazy spring. As usual, we start practice in mid-March, with a tune-up indoor meet three weeks later, before gearing up for the regular outdoor season in late April. Last year we ran the school halls and gym for the first month, waiting for the snow and ice to melt, then went to a fun meet at UW-Superior’s beautiful new indoor track. This year we started out running in shorts and T-shirts outdoors, returning to somewhat normal weather last week. To our surprise, the indoor meet was moved to UMD’s small fieldhouse (more of a practice facility than a meet facility) with its small track (10 laps to the mile vs. the usual 8). We didn’t care though, with only one senior on the team, returning state meet competitor Molly Zafft (recovering from shoulder surgery), and lots of new athletes, we had lots of enthusiasm to tackle the 12-team Polar League indoor meet.
We dove right in with the 4×800 relay, where each runner goes about a half of a mile (800 meters) before handing off the baton. All-conference cross country runner Matea Acero led the girls’ team to a 6th place finish in 12:17, along with teammates Molly Thomas, Morgan Weyrens-Welch and Tarin Hanson, all first year track runners. Meanwhile, our solid boys’ distance quartet of Ben Seaton, Joey Chmelik, Levi Axtell and Nate Carlson placed 4th in 9:55.
Our sprinters hit the track next. Last year’s section 7A finalist Peter Warren led the boys with a 6.9 second time in the 55-meter dash, placing 5th in a very tight field. Cy Fortunato was next for the Vikings in 7.7 and Andy Farley in 7.8. Jessica Collman- Berg led the girls, just missing a top 6 place, running 8.2. Adrianna Berglund and Alyssa Martinson ran 9.2; Sarah Toftey 9.4 and Hannah Toftey 9.6. Kyle Martinson was our only hurdler, placing 7th in the 55-meter high hurdles in 10.8 seconds.
Our semi-recovered distance runners returned for the mile run. Matea had our top finish, placing 3rd in 6:14, with Morgan 9th in 6:39 and Cailan Carpenter running a solid 7:42. Joey out-sprinted Ben for 6th place in 5:41, with Rusty Day running a very steady 7:05. Nate, struggling to stay in the tight inside lane for the ¼ mile, ran 1:03, with Roman Schnobrich next in 1:08, a big 15 second improvement from last year, and 7th grader Will Lamb going 1:13. Molly led the girls in 1:18, with Alyssa in 1:20 and Sarah Larsen in 1:32.
Our next relay was the unique 4×176, with each runner going 1/10th of a mile. Peter led the boys’ team of Kyle, Cy and Andy to a 1:27, while Jessica led our top girls’ quartet of Sarah T, Sarah L and Tarin to a 1:50 finish, and Abby Sutton leading our second group of Alyssa, Adrianna and Hannah to a 1:52 finish. Levi returned for another ½ mile, this time the open event, and earned us a 4th place in 2:32, with Will just nipping Roman in 2:52. Cailan returned after the tough mile to run 3:27 in the ½ mile.
Peter closed out our sprints with a 25.2, 3rd place finish in the 200, a ½ second improvement from last year, while Cy turned in a 1-second improvement to 28.3. Jessica returned to lead the girls with a 30.6 top 10 finish. Molly was next in 33.2, with Adrianna, Hannah, and Abby all in 36.8. Our boys’ 4×400 relay was poised to get a 2nd place finish, when Levi miscounted the laps and stopped one too early. He quickly realized his mistake and finished to get a 4th place team finish in 4:23. Teammates Ben, Nate and Joey won’t let him forget that one! The second boys’ team of Andy, Roman, Will and Rusty ran 5:03. Our girls’ team of Tarin, Cailan, Sarah T and Sarah L ran 5:50.
Meanwhile, a number of our competitors were squeezing in field events, besides their running events. Our biggest surprise was Jessica in the shot put. With only one day of practice, she threw 28’ 11,” good for 6th place, and close to the qualifiers for last years’ section finals. Abby upped her best by 2 feet to 25’ 8”, and Levi was very competitive in his first meet with a 29’ 2” effort. Kyle got his first taste of the long jump, going 15’6”. He also went 31’ 4” in the triple jump, placing 5th. Will scored an impressive 25’ 1” effort.
All in all, we were very happy with the efforts of our young, mostly inexperienced athletes in the tough Polar League Indoor Championships.
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