With both the boys and girls finishing in second place, head coach Casey Olson was happy with the Loyola-Cleveland Crusader track & field team’s effort on Monday in the Valley Conference indoor championship.
The quadrangular meet was held at the MSU,M fieldhouse.
“Today was about going out, getting some marks and competing really well, and I thought we did that.”
Olson said the Crusaders worked together as a team.
A lot of athletes we asked a lot of today in terms of putting them in multiple events, or, in a couple of cases, events that they have never done before. Chase Kijenski won the 55-meter high hurdles, which he had never done before, so that was pretty awesome. Ava Hahn did a lot of damage for us in like four different events.
Both the LCWM-Nicollet boys and the girls teams took first place. In the girls meet, the Knights collected 148 points. The Crusaders totaled 65 points, one more point than St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran. Martin County West had 34 points, and Madelia/Truman/GHEC/ML scored 16 points.
On the boys side, the Knights had 111 points. Loyola Cleveland totaled 72 points. MCW had 53 points, one more point than M/T/GHEC/ML. SC/IL had 45 points.
Finishing the 200 in 29.40, 0.76 faster than her first 200 a week earlier, Hahn took second place. The winner crossed the finish line 0.28 seconds quicker. With a 4-6 leap, the same height she made a week ago, Hahn also took second place in the high jump. She also led off the Crusader’s 4x200.
Over 18 seconds in front of her nearest 1500 competitor in an 11-girl field, Charlotte Meyer crossed the finish stripe in 5:25.70. Meyer also led off the first-place 4x800 team, which also included Izzy Endres, Lilly Phillips and Savannah Meyer. Their time was 11:25.87.
Meyer also ran the third leg of the 4x400. Also in that quartet, which were DQed, were Maddi Huiras, Ayrah Zuehlke and Maddie Cooney.
With a 2:36.20 finish, Savannah Meyer was first in the 800. Huiras won the 55-m high and low hurdles.
In his season debut, Nathan Strobel (above) led off the first-place 4x800 team, which also included Kyle Zimmerman, Sam Vetter and Soren Kelly. With a 9:11.81 finish, the quartet was almost 2-minutes ahead of the second-place group.
With a 4:44.49 finish, Strobel was also fourth among the 14 that ran the 1500-meter race. The winning time was 4:30.60.
“It was good for my first races,” said the senior.
Also in the 1500, TJ Waldron crossed the finish line in 4:59.13 for eighth place, and, among a field of 13, the junior also took fourth in the 800 with a 2:25.22 finish. Ahead of him were teammates Sam Vetter in second place and Preston Grams in third place. The winning time was 2:12.69.
Elijah Mons finished the 3000-meter run in 13:31.28.
Equaling his best indoor high jump of 5-6, Thayne Remiger took second place. The winner also jumped 5-6, but it took him fewer tries. With a 17-05.50 leap, Remiger was also second in the long jump. The winner jumped 4 inches farther.
It was a good night for Kijenski, who won both the 55-m low hurdles too and, putting an exclamation on the boys meet, anchored the first-place 4x400 relay, which also included Kelly, Sam Vetter and Kyle Zimmerman. Strobel was scheduled to run with the three but was not feeling well.
The Crusaders also earned a pair of second places at the Valley indoor a year ago. They will return to the track on April 11 with a meet at Janesville.
Ava Hahn clears the high jump bar.
Charlotte Meyer paced herself in the 1500, but no one was within shouting distance when she crossed the finish line.
Thayne Remiger equaled his best indoor high jump.
Ava Hahn shaved three quarters of a second off her 200 time for second place.
Elijah Mons in the 3000.