While their season is winding down, members of the Loyola/Cleveland track & field team have been lowering their times and increasing their heights and distances.
They competed against four teams in Sleepy Eye on May 12. Six days earlier, they were among the 13 teams participating in the Section 2A true team meet in Wells.
Sleepy Eye, May 12
In Sleepy Eye, the Crusader boys were fourth of five teams while the girls took third.
With 128 points, River Valley won the boys meet. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop was second with 126. Martin County West/Butterfield-Oden was third with 124, 20 points in front of the Crusaders. Redwood Valley had 51 points.
With 181 points, River Valley also won the girls meet. GFW was second with 129 points, Loyola-Cleveland scored 97 points. Redwood Valley had 75 points, and MCW/BO had 46 points.
With a 2:17.30 PR finish, TJ Waldron was ahead of 15 other runners to win the 800. With a 5:04.59 finish, Waldron took fifth of 20 runners in the 1600. Teammate Soren Kelley won that race in 4:41.43. Sam Vetter was second.
Carter Kern ran the 100 in 15.51 for 22nd place. Kern also lofted the discus 55-8 and long jumped 9-11.5. Oliver Starke finished the 400 in 1:10.48 for 10th place. Starke also shoved the 12-lb shot put a PR 25-1.5.
Chase Kijnenski was first in the 300-m hurdles with a 43.15. He took second in the 110-meter hurdles with a 16.51, just 0.04 seconds behind the winner.
On the girls side, the Meyer sisters duked it out in the 800 with Savannah Meyer winning the race in 2:25.37, just 0.01 seconds in front of Charlotte Meyer, who came in second.
“Anytime I can beat my sister, it’s good, said Savannah Meyer, who, with a 5:33.36 finish, also won the 1600.
Aubrey Blaschko finished the 100 in 14.29 for a respectable eighth place out of 31 runners. Mylie Krenik finished that race in 14.62 for 14th place. The winning time was 13.33.
Miah Bauer took fourth in the 200 with a PR 29.44. The winning time was 26.83. Blaschko also ran the 200 and took sixth place with a PR 29.71. Not her forte, the 800 resulted in 31.57, 13th place finish for Charlotte Meyer. There were 27 competing.
Blaschko ran the second leg and Bauer the third of the second-place 4x100 quartet, which also included Krenik and Maddie Cooney. The girls’ 55.49 was just 0.61 seconds behind the winning group. Also in the 4x100, the team of Vivian Hilfer, Kailyn Hecksel, Morgan Dimmel and Liviana Lee was ninth with a 1:00.93.
Samantha Baker ran anchor in the 4x200 with Maddie Cooney, Kaylin Von Loon and Ava Evenson running before her. The foursome finished the race in 2:08.62 for sixth place. Savannah Meyer ran the third leg of the 4x400. Her group, which also included Lily Phillips leading off, Charlotte Kirschner and Maddie Huiras as anchor, finished in with a 4:39.69 for fifth place.
Hilfer high jumped 4-2 for eighth place. Lee jumped a PR 3-8 for 14th place. The winning leap was 4-8. Lee long jumped 12-5.5 for eighth place. The winning jump was 13-2.75. Krenik triple jumped 25-6 for ninth place.
Huiras won the 100-m hurdles in 16.05 and the 300-m hurdles in 47.24.
Section 2A True Team, Wells
True Team is a different type of competition than a normal meet and is designed to test the strength of the full team rather than just the best individual or two.
It's organized by the Coaches' Association, and every team is allowed to enter two athletes into each event. Another difference is in the scoring: everybody who finishes the race or gets a mark in the field events will score points, The top-ranked team from each section will qualify for the State True Team meet, and places two through five get entered into a wild card to determine four additional qualifiers for State.
With 569 points, the Loyola/Cleveland boys team took fourth place among the 13 teams. It was the Crusaders’ best finish since 2018. The placing also meant the Crusaders were entered into the wild card to potentially get an at-large bid to state. They placed 21st out of 32 in the mock meet, which was based on marks from section True Team meets.
Maple River was first (638), Jackson County Central was second (634), and Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet was third (620.5).
Rounding out the field were Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (554.5), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (499), River Valley (440), host United South Central (432), St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran (426), Blue Earth Area (372.5), Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (341), New Richland-Heartland-Ellendale-Geneva (293) and Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther (152.5).
With 506.5 points, the Crusaders girls were sixth of the 13 teams. It was their highest finish since at least 2015.
JWP was first with 657 points, St. Clair/IL was second with 621.5 points, River Valley was third with 578.5 points, JCC was fourth with 562 points, and MVL was fifth with 549.5 points.
Rounding out the field were LCWM/Nicollet (430), Maple River (408), BEA (354), USC (348), WEM (304.5) and GHEC/T/ML (163).
“Both of our teams had a great meet and competed to the best of their ability,” said head coach Casey Olson. “They look forward to strong finishes to the season.”
With a 10:57.88, Waldron was fourth in the 3200. The winning time was 10:47.46.
With a pair of PRs in jumping events, it was an excellent night for Thayne Remiger. His 19-2.25 long jump was just 5.5 inches shorter than the winning leap and good for second place while he took fourth in the triple jump with a 37-9.5. The winning triple jump was 41-4.75. The senior also pole vaulted 9-6 to tie for 14th place. The winning vault was 14-0.
The Meyer sisters also had a productive outing with Savannah Meyer finishing ahead of two dozen other 800-m runners with a 2:25.9 finish for first place.
With an 11:30.21 finish, Charlotte Meyer won gold in the 3200. With a 5:12 PR finish that broke Savannah’s school record, which she set on April 33—which in turn had broken Charlotte’s school record, which she set last year—the younger Meyer was second in the 1600. Crossing the finish line in a blistering 5:08.39, the winner was her cross-country teammate from St. Clair, Valerie Quast.
Leaping 26-8 for a PR, Krenik 22nd in the triple jump.
With a PR 15.95 photo finish, Huiras won the 100-m hurdles. Her 47.27 time in the 300-m hurdles also earned her a first place.
The track & field teams returned to Sleepy Eye on May 15 to compete in the conference meet. They had an excellent showing there with the boys beating out six other teams to win the conference while the girls took second and Olson named conference coach of the year (see upcoming separate story).
The subsection meet is on Thursday (May 22) at Central High School in Norwood-Young America.
Above: Liviana Lee with the baton in the 4x100 at Sleepy Eye (photo courtesy of Vivian Hilfer)