Above: Sarah Toftey makes a perfect exchange with the baton to Robin Henrikson. Far left: Will Surbaugh runs to a 4th place finish in the 2-mile with a time of 12:39. Left: Showing good form, Aurora Schelmeske races to a 5th place in the 800 meters. The athletes competed at the Esko Showcase Showdown track meet on May 2.
April Wahlstrom
On May 2, the Vikings’ track and field team headed to Esko for their Showcase meet on Esko’s brand new track. For this meet the schools were divided into two sections. We were in the section with the smaller schools so we competed against Cromwell, Carlton, Barnum, Lakeview Christian Academy and Floodwood. Our Viking girls came in 3rd place and our boys’ team came in 5th place. The weather was beautiful and over the course of the day many of the kids learned the hard way (despite my many reminders) to resist sitting and baking in the sun before their events. Those who raced later in the day were a little beat by the heat.
Sophie Eliasen had a great day. She came in 4th place in the 200m dash with a time of 28.64. Ellen Callender also scored points for us as she finished in 8th place with a time of 34.83. In the 100m dash, Bayley Cox scored points for our team coming in 8th place with a time of 15.19. Molly Thomas finished in 3rd place with a time of 1:07.53 for the 400m dash. Sarah Toftey had a nice showing in the 800m run finishing in 2nd place with a time of 3:02 and she was followed by Aurora Schelmeske in 5th place and Lucy Callender in 6th place.
Matea Acero is back, healthy and she is doing a great job of leading the distance crew. She came in 2nd place in the 1600m with a time of 6:03. She was followed by Robin and Linnea Henrikson in 5th and 6th place. Maya McHugh braved the heat of the day when she ran the 3200m run. McHugh finished in 3rd place with a time of 14:17. Linnea Henrikson is having a nice season with the 300m hurdles. She finished in 5th place with a time of 1:05.91.
Our relay teams for the girls had a nice showing. Our 4x200m team (Eliasen, Thomas, Emily Jacobsen, and Cox) came in 2nd place with a time of 2:03. Claire Sherburne, Ellen Callender, Chloe Blackburn and Robin Henrikson made up our 4x100m relay team and they finished in 4th place. Finishing out the day was our 4x400m relay team (Eliasen, Thomas, Toftey, and Jacobsen) who came in 2nd place with a time of 4:45.
We had a strong day in the field. Three girls scored points in the shot put, Jacobsen was in 3rd with a throw of 29′-3″, Sherburne in 7th and Alicia Smith was in 8th. Emily Jacobsen had her first crack at the discus and she threw 71-06 allowing her to be in 6th and Smith finished in 8th place.
I have been impressed with our boys’ team this year. They are young, really young. We have been basically running a junior high team at these varsity meets, however, they are having fun, they are learning a lot and they are really improving. This group has the motivation to keep trying their best at each meet regardless of how big the competition is.
One of those athletes who have impressed me is Trent Spry. During cross-country he was running a mile in over 8 minutes. Today he ran his mile in 6:40 and he finished in 7th place. Will Surbaugh had to run the 2-mile in the heat of the day and he stayed on our goal pace and he finished in 4th place with a time of 12:39.
Our three 300m hurdlers, Jack Haussner, Henry DeArruda-Weaver, and Ole Sorenson came in 4th, 5th, and 6th place. Haussner finished in 59.43 seconds. Will Lamb ran the 800meters (1/2 mile) in 2:46 and finished in 5th place.
Our relay teams had some learning moments through mishaps today with their hand-offs. However, they didn’t give up, they corrected and they moved on. Our 4x200m team (Lamb, Haussner, Sorenson, and DeArruda- Weaver) finished in 3rd place with a time of 2:05. Our 4x400m team (Lamb, Haussner, Sorensen, and Surbaugh) spent time practicing their hand-offs so they went better which allowed them to finish in 2nd place with a time of 4:53.
This is a young team but it has already been fun to watch this young enthusiastic group grow and develop over the season and it will be fun to watch them grow and develop over the coming years.
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