Left: Maya McHugh (front) led the Viking girls’ track team in the mile event with a 7th place finish in a strong field. Above: Getting ready to go into her spin, Alicia Smith gets set to throw the shot put at the Polar League indoor meet.
A spring break depleted Viking Track and Field team went to the season opener Polar League indoor meet at University of Wisconsin- Superior Saturday, March 28, joining seven other Polar League teams including track powers Esko, Two Harbors and Moose Lake. Although a number of the other schools were also starting spring break that weekend, there were still plenty of talented young athletes for strong competition at the beautiful UWS Fieldhouse.
First up for the Vikings was the 55-meter dash. Eighth-grader Sophie Eliasen got us off to an exciting start, finishing 2nd overall out of 50 competitors and beating a state track meet competitor from last year with a fine time of 7.7 seconds.
It didn’t take long for the Viking distance-running excellence to show up, as 9th grader Maya McHugh ran a wonderfully paced 1600 (1-mile) race in 6:15 in the very next event, finishing 7th against strong competition. Seventhgrader Trent Spry also had a well-paced race of 7:08 in the boy’s mile.
The excitement continued for the Vikings in the 400-meter run. Sophomore Molly Thomas ran an exciting race, just slipping into 2nd in 69.8 in an exciting girls’ race.
Not to be outdone, Sean MacDonell, an excellent cross county runner but new to track, ran a courageous race for the boys, leaving everything on the track while slipping from 2nd to 5th in the final, agonizing straightaway with a time of 62.4. Collapsing into the infield after the beforerace, weAprilweren’t19 and getsure he would be able to return for the 800, just two events later.
In our first relay of the afternoon, Claire Sherburne led our girls’ team, including Alicia Smith, Chloe Blackburn and Amelia Roth to a competitive 2:40 in the girls’ 4×200. Right after the relay, Maya bounced back with an excellent 800 (halfmile) of 2:47 to finish 4th.
And not too surprisingly, Sean did find his legs after most of the lactic acid drained away, and finished a surprising 2nd for the boys in 2:28.
The girls’ 200-meter dash was a big point scorer for the girls, as Sophie finished 3rd in 28.8 (looking a lot like Sean did after the 400), while Molly strode to 5th in 29.6.
Our very tired but excited girls lined up for the final event of the meet, the 4×400 relay. Sophie started us out with a 71 second leg, passing to Molly who ran a 70. Maya finished her busy day with a 75, which was matched by a gritty performance by Emily Jacobsen, giving the girls a 3rd place finish in 4:51, within sight of the top two teams.
Besides all the running, our new but strong girls throwing group represented the Vikings well. Emily threw the shot 24’8”, placing 7th and within 2 feet of second. Alicia had a solid throw of 23’5” as did Claire with a 21’3”. Alicia doubled up, riding a bus over to Superior High school for the outdoor discus competition, where she finished 8th in 61’ 4”.
All in all, a great showing in the first meet of the season.
Leave a Reply