Above: Shelby Ahrendt ran a fine leg in the girls’ 4×800 race at the Hermantown Invitational held Friday, April 29. The girls placed 5th out of 12 teams.
Over a month after our only indoor meet, after seven weeks of practice in some of the worst spring weather in memory, and after having our meet scheduled for Tuesday in Two Harbors cancelled because of 30 mph winds, 30 degree temperatures and snow, we finally got a chance to compete at the big 12-team meet in Hermantown Friday, April 29. The weather in Hermantown was great, 50 degrees, mostly sunny and a moderate wind. We sure felt rusty, and had our usual spring conflicts with other school functions, but 30 of our 50 team members made it to Hermantown for a great day of racing against area track powers Esko, Hermantown, Two Harbors and Duluth Marshall plus most of the rest of the Polar League.
Track is literally a 3-ring circus, with jumping events, and throwing events near the track, and 13 different running races, all with multiple heats, going on at the same time. As a coach, you wish you could be in six places at the same time. But our young, half new to track team did a nice job of getting to their event at the right place at the right time, thanks to a lot of help from parents and experienced teammates.
Left: Kieran Scannell scorched the field in the mile by running a lifetime best of 4:33. He won the race by 21 seconds. Scannell came back and took second in the twomile with a fine time of 10:37.
Relay races are the most fun part of track, and we fielded one or two teams in each of the four relays. With our strong distance-running tradition, both of our 4×800 (four runners each running 800 meters – about half mile) teams placed well.
Our girls’ team of Matea Acero, Audrey Summers, Shelby Ahrendt and Ailee Larson ran 11:24 to finish 5th. Our boys’ team of Levi Axtell, Dan Ahrendt, Joey Chmelik and Nate Carlson also finished 5th in 10:13, a great effort for an all 8th and 9th grade team. Our girls’ 4×400 team of Molly Zafft, Ailee, Kara Ramey and Shelby stayed close to the leaders for most of the race, finishing 3rd in 4:42. Our boys’ team, consisting of the same junior high boys as the 4×800, just missed a top 8 place in 4:30. Our second girls’ team of Matea, Cheyenne Sorlie, Emma Olfson, and Lily Gruber-Schulz earned a 6th place finish in 5:35.
Above: Molly Zafft powered through her leg of the 4×400 meter relay for the Vikings. The girls finished 3rd overall in a great early season time of 4:42.
Our girls’ sprinters are deep and getting stronger, and led us in the 4×100 with a 57.7, 4th place finish. Our boys’ sprinters, led by our sprinting star Peter Warren and including Kyle Martinson, Bjorn Johnson, and Seb Schnobrich, ran 53.7, good for 6th place. Our girls’ B team of Adrianna Berglund, Lauren Thompson, Elizabeth O’Phelan, and Linden Sutton ran 1:10.9. Our boys’ 4×200 team of Seb, Nate, Bjorn and Alex Smith earned team points with a 1:56.8, 5th place finish. Our girls’ A team of Emma, Kara, Lily and Adrianna ran 2:22, while our B team of Elizabeth, Lauren, Abby Sutton, and Linden stayed close in 2:31.
Our big guns earned big points in the individual running events. Ailee Larson, who is looking for her second appearance at the state track meet, to go with two in cross-country, got off to a great start by beating defending state champion Kate Shelrud of Esko in the 800, 2:27.3 to 2:29.7. It was a great race. Ailee dropped in behind Kate, Erika Shady of Esko and 2 Hermantown runners. Halfway through the first lap, Ailee and Kate separated from the others. Just before they completed the first of two laps, Ailee surprisingly moved into the lead. I knew she must have been feeling good. Coming around the backstretch, Kate pulled even, but Ailee found another gear and moved clear for the victory.
Teammate Shelby stayed in the hunt in this stellar field, running 2:48, good for 8th place.
Kieran Scannell, also looking for his second state appearance in track to go with two in cross-country, got stuck in both the mile and the 2-mile (coach thought he needed some distance work). He dominated the mile, running steady 70-second laps to win by 21 seconds in an area-best time of 4:33.
In the 2 mile, rested Esko nemesis Jackson Lindquist put the pedal to the metal from the start. Kieran hung on for a 5:02 first mile, before slowing to a 5:35 second mile, good for second place.
Sprinter/jumper Peter Warren placed in three individual events. In the 100- dash, he stumbled out of the blocks, but recovered and powered to an 11.9 second place finish.
In the 200, he got out quick, leading into the finishing stretch. He died a little however, and got caught by three runners at the line, finishing in a personal best of 24.2. He completed a successful day with a 17’ 9” personal best, good for 7th in the long jump.
Other award winners for the Vikings were Molly in the 400, 68.2 for 8th place; and Matea 6:23 in the mile, also 8th place. Near misses were Cheyenne, with a 6:44 pr mile, Audrey a 14:28 2 mile, Jessica a 30.8 200, Abby a 71’0” discus throw and Levi, a 95.3 discus.
Overall, the boys finished 5th and the girls tied for 6th in the 12-team field.
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