Above: Audrey Summers ran a strong last leg in the 4×800-meter relay event at Conference. The Vikings finished 6th with a time of 11:34. Right: Nate Carlson ran a blazing 2:13 relay leg for the Vikings in the Conference 4×800 relay and led the Vikings to a 3rd place finish.
The Polar League conference track meet is always tough, especially since Esko is always tough, as any Cook County High School sports team that has to compete against them knows. Add strong teams from Moose Lake, Two Harbors, and the other eight of us are fighting for individual honors and to score team points. Coming into the meet, held in Barnum, we had no one ranked in the top 2 in any event, the placing required to earn the coveted All- Conference designation. Sprinters Molly Zafft had a No. 3 and No. 5 seed, and Peter Warren had a No. 4 and a No. 5. None of our relay teams were higher than No. 5, so we knew we had our work cut out for us.
Molly was especially determined. Not only is she our only senior, but as she put it, after six years of multiple sports, she had never earned an All-Conference designation, even last year when she surprised everyone by getting to state in the 200. She wanted it!
She didn’t have long to wait, as the 100-meter dash was the third event of the meet. At the gun, she was a little slow getting out of the blocks, giving her Esko challengers a good half step lead. She kept her head down during the initial drive phase of the race, passed the No. 2 runner, almost catching the winner with an excellent 2nd place finish in 13.6. She earned her All- Conference honors!
A few hours later, she returned in the 200. Molly proved the seeding way wrong again (she was No. 5), getting out well and repeating her 2nd place with a 27.3.
Meanwhile, Peter Warren was facing an even tougher challenge. Not only did Esko have their normal top-notch runners but the Moose Lake track coach was able to convince a lot of their star football athletes to come out for track — and they are fast. Their No. 1 runner Jake Disperhaut is leading the section by a phenomenal ½ second in the 100. At the gun, Peter got a great start, and was immediately in the hunt, he finished 3rd, just missing Esko’s top runner by 4/100s of a second in 11.9. Later in the 200, Peter uncharacteristically struggled with the finish, dropping back to 6th in 23.9.
Molly Zafft placed 2nd in the 100-and 200-meter runs at Conference right behind Esko’s Marissa Shady in both events.
The next best finish for the Vikings was junior Mara MacDonell’s 5th in the triple jump, with a big PR of 29’ 0”. It is exciting to see Mara move up to the top tier after years of long, hard work.
First-year runner Meadow Adams looked very smooth in the 300 hurdles, placing 7th in 54.9, as did Joey Chmelik with a 2:18, 7th in the 800. Our final team point scorers were Nate Carlson with a PR 47.0, 8th place in the 300 hurdles; Morgan Weyrens-Welch, 8th with a 2:57 in the 800; and Jessica Berg- Collman, 8th in both the 200 in 29.4 and the shot put in 28’ 10”.
The Vikings tallied significant points in the four relays, led by the boys’ 4×800 team of Levi Axtell, Ben Seaton, Joey and Nate. They placed 3rd in 9:16, a season best led by Nate’s outstanding 2:13 closing leg. The girls’ 4×200 team of Molly, Jessica, Meadow and Mara continued its improvement, placing 4th in 2:03. The boys’ 4×400 quartet of Ben, Peter, Joey and Nate also had a season best of 3:52, placing 5th. The girls’ 4×800 team of Jessica, Morgan, Matea Acero and Audrey Summers placed 6th in the 4×800 in 11:34. Our all 7th grade girls’ 4×400 team of Emily Jacobson, Molly Thomas, Alyssa Martinson and Tarin Hanson placed 7th in 5:25, led by Alyssa’s 79-second leg. Another young girls’ team, Alyssa, Lauren Thompson, Hanna Toftey and Sarah Toftey placed 7th in the 4×100, as did the boys’ 4×100 team of Cy Fortunato, Noah Warren, Jack Viren and Roman Schnobrich with a 58.7. The same foursome returned to place 8th in the 4×100 in 1:55.
Although out of the award-winning limelight, a lot of Viking athletes turned in strong performances. Our deep-distance running squad faced a lot of challenges from their distance-deep Polar League competitors. Ben had another PR running 5:11 in the mile. Roman improved to 2:38 in the 800. Cailan Carpenter broke 16 minutes for the first time in the two-mile with a 15:42, while Rusty Day took 30 seconds off his twomile time of 14:09. Michaela Peterson had a similar improvement to 10:02 in her mile run. Mel Stoddard improved to 23.4 in the 100 high hurdles. Young Will Lamb moved up to 6:07 in the mile. Alyssa pushed Molly Thomas to a 3:01 in the 800, while she ran 3:02. Noah stepped up with a 27.1 in the 200, while Matea recorded a 13:16 in the girls’ twomile.
Adrianna Berglund had a nice 60’ 3” discus throw. In a sad note, hurdler Kyle Martinson was in the middle of his best high hurdle race this season, well in front of his heat, when he dragged a foot on the 4th hurdle, clobbered the 5th hurdle, fell and broke his collarbone. We’ll miss him the rest of the season.
Both the boys and girls finished 7th in the 11-team standing. Next up is the 7A subsection finals next Wednesday. With all the Polar League teams there, plus another five teams, we’ll have our hands full. The top seven individuals and top four relay teams move on to Section finals. Go Vikings!
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