A 5:01.68 finish in the 1600 for Charlotte Meyer at the section meet on Janesville on Saturday represented several milestones for the freshman.
First off, Meyer, who said she didn’t go in with a strategy but was leading soon after the starting gun and never looked back, won the race and earned a ticket to the state meet.
She was 5.92 seconds from second place Valerie Quast of St. Clair, who was her cross-country teammate. In third was Sophia Stencel of Maple River. The three have battled for the top slot in distance races all season.
Secondly, it was a personal best for Meyer. It also broke her own 5:02.54 school record for both Cleveland and Loyola. She set that mark last week at subsections.
Finally, it shattered a section record set almost a generation ago: 5:06.02 by Dani Stack of Loyola in 2008. Since Stack had taken that record from Sarah Price of Loyola, who set it in 2004, the Crusaders have now owned it for 22 years.
Later in the day, Meyer also won the 3200. Her time of 11:20.53 was over 22 seconds less than Stencel’s.
Meyer is one of six Crusader athletes who will compete at the state meet this week. It will be her third-straight trip there.
“Any time you can send six athletes to the state meet, it's a good day,” said head coach Casey Olson. “Everyone showed up ready to compete. Charlotte ran really well in the mile and two mile in the heat, and breaking an 18-year-old section record and school record is just an amazing accomplishment.”
Senior Soren Kelly won both the 1600 (4:27.37 for a personal best and second best time in Crusader history) and 3200 (10:08.48). It will also be his third time competing at state.
Charlotte Kirschner and Jocelyn Kortuem were the one-two punch in the high jump. Both leaped a personal best 5-1. Kirschner did it with fewer misses. It will be her second appearance in the event at state.
“Jocelyn also had a great day individually, PRing by three inches to hit the state standard and finish second to advance to state,” Olson said. “It wasn't surprising because we knew she could, but it's still impressive to do that when it matters most.”
Mitchell Buboltz ran the 800-m in a personal best, 2:03.61, three seconds off his time in the last two weeks for second place. He was just 0.44 seconds behind the winner.
“I'm so proud of how he raced the 800,” Olson said. “He showed a lot of guts and strength to take the lead and trust himself to be able to finish strong. He's put in a lot of effort to get to this point, so it was very satisfying as a coach to see him make it happen.”
Christian Barker flung the discus 148-05 feet for bronze to qualify for a trip to state. The winner whipped it 181-01.
All told, 27 Loyola-Cleveland-Mankato Christian Academy athletes participated in the section meet with 22 of them scoring points by being in the top eight. The Crusader girls were third among the 22 teams while the boys were sixth in a 24-team field.
“Section 2A is quickly becoming one of the stronger sections in Class A, so it's awesome to see our athletes performing so well against some top competition,” Olson said.
With a 49.99 finish in the 300 hurdles, Kortuem also broke her own Cleveland school record. The winning time was 46.57.
Clara Hilfer had her best day yet of pole vaulting with a 9-02 vault to finish third. The winner vaulted 9-8.
“She's improved so much over the last year and has become a lot more consistent with vaulting, so while it's tough to see someone finish one spot out of state, I know she'll be back next year ready to compete again,” Olson said.
Hilfer also was eighth in the 100-m hurdles with a 17.42. Kortuem was 12th with a 17.99. The winning time was 16.16.
Emma Kortuem had a good day in triple jump, finishing ninth with a 31-10.50 and narrowly missing out on finals (top eight), as well as long jump, where she finished 10th with a 15-02.50. The winning long jump was 17-02 while the best triple jump was 35-11.75
“She's improved a lot over the season, and it's been fun to see her progress after not doing track last year,” Olson said.
With a 29-07 put, 6-7 shorter than the winner, Rayna Williams had a good day at shot put, Olson said.
“She has become a lot more consistent at the end of the year.”
With a 54.69 finish, Blake Campbell finished seventh in the 400-m to score as an eighth grader. The winning time was 48.88.
Aubrey Blaschko ran a great split in the 4x100, Olson said. She helped her team improve on its seeding to finish fifth, and its 52.87 finish set a new personal best by almost a second.
Luke Kortuem’s 48.12 finish for 13th place in the 300 hurdles was a personal best. The winning time for that event was 40.77. The freshman also finished 110 hurdles in 18.77 for 12th place. The winning time in that event was 15.73.
“It capped off a year in which he has improved a lot, so it'll be fun to see what he can get to next year,” Olson said.
Temperatures started the day on the cool side but heated up as morning turned into afternoon, so Griffin Rutz had a tough 3200 race as the sun was blazing, but the seventh grader competed well and put himself in the eighth spot among the 15 runners with a 11:07.06, just less than a minute behind Kelly.
“Eighth in the section as a seventh grader is nothing to sneeze at,” Olson said. “Overall, it was a great meet and I'm excited to see how much we can improve competing against the top athletes in the state next week.”
The three-day state meet begins at 9 a.m. each day beginning Thursday (June 4) at St. Michael-Albertville High School.
Last year at state, Meyer finished the 1600 in 5:11.91 for third place and the 3200 in 11:20.49 for fifth place. Two years ago, Meyer was sixth in the 3200. Quast was second in the 1600 and third in the 3200 last year. Kirshner high jumped 5-0 last year. With a 9:42.62 finish, Kelly was fifth in the 3200 last year and 10th in 2024.
Clara Hilfer reset her own Cleveland school record in the pole vault.
Clara Hilfer advanced in the 100-m hurdles and finished in eighth place.
Jocelyn Kortuem in a qualifying heat of the 100-m hurdles
Luke Kortuem in a qualifying heat of the 110-m hurdles
Aubrey Blaschko takes a handoff for the second leg of the 4x100.
Jocelyn Kortuem in the 300-m hurdles (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Luke Kortuem in the 300-m hurdles (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Charlotte Meyer out front in the 3200 (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Griffin Rutz in the 3200 (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Five of the six crusader state qualifiers: from L-R, Jocelyn Kortuem, Charlotte Kirschner, Charlotte Meyer, Soren Kelly and Mitchell Buboltz (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Coaches and some of the sub-section Crusader participants: At left is Casey Olson. Next to him is Landon Javens. On the right is Sean Pickle. Between Charlotte Meyer and Clara Hilfer is Rayna Williams. (photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Emma Kortuem in the triple jump