Savannah Meyer (above) led the 1600 from the gun, beat out 18 other runners and, with a 5:46.85 PR finish, was almost six seconds ahead of the second-place runner at the subsection meet in Arlington on Thursday.
The freshman brought home the Loyola/Cleveland track & field team’s only gold medal.
Finishing in the top eight of individual events or in the top four of relays, Meyer and a dozen other Crusaders earned a spot at the section meet, which will be held at Mankato West this coming Saturday.
Eleven teams competed at the meet. Teamwise, the Crusader girls finished seventh while the boys were eighth. Host Sibley East won the event.
With a 2:39.48 finish for 8th place, Meyer will also compete next week in the 800.
Sophomore Nathan Strobel will run in the section meet in two events. With 5:07.43 finish, he took 4th place in the 1600. Along with freshman Sam Vetter, junior Gavin Selly and junior anchor James Younge, Strobel, running the third leg, was a member of the 4th-place, 1:39.16 finishing 4x800 team.
Strobel’s brother Henry Strobel will also compete in Mankato in two events. The junior took 8th place in the triple jump with a 37-2.25 and led off the 4th-place 4x200 team, which ran its fastest time of the year and also included three other juniors: Josh Kann, Nick Huisken and Simon Morgan.
Finishing in 3rd place in the 3200 with a time of 10:57.06, Selly will also run at the section meet in that event.
Running the 3200 in his personal best time, freshman TJ Waldron qualified for the section meet with a 10:57.06, 8th-place finish.
"He saved his best race of the year for this meet," said head coach Dale Compton.
Other Loyola/Cleveland girls who will compete at sections are Molly Koester in the 3200, Laruen Yenish in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, Maddie Huiras in the 100 hurdles and Kylie Kolars in both the high jump and the long jump.
Other Crusader boys competing next week are Aidan Gravelle in the wheelchair 100 and 1600, Soren Kelly in the 1600 and Nick Huisken in the pole vault. Besides the 4x800, Younge will also run the 3200.
At the conference meet, held on the Lake Crystal track on May 17, Meyer was part of a second place 4x800 team for an All-Conference Honorable Mention. She was a member of the 4x200 quartet.
Completing the 1600 in 5:01.41 for second place in the conference, Selly received in honorable mention. He also was a member of the third-place 4x400 team.
Also at the conference meet: Waldron came in 8th in the 800 with a time of 2:36; Henry Strobel sprinted as a member of both the 3rd-place 4x100 and the 3rd-place 4x200 teams, took 6th in the triple jump with a leap of 35-01.50 and was 8th in long jump with a leap of 15-11; and Nathan Strobel was 6th in 800 with a 2:25 finish, 7th in triple jump with PR 34-08 and 5th in the 1600 with 5:15:69.
In the true-team meet in Mapleton on May 10th, Meyer took seventh in the 1600 with a 5:48, was 13th in the 800 with a 2:46 and came in 21st in the triple jump with a 26-09.50.
Besides competing in relays at the true-team meet, Henry Strobel took 11th in the triple jump with a 36-03 and 13th in the long jump with a 16-08.50.
Crossing the finish line in 2:24, Nathan Strobel was 21st in the 800 at true team and 10th in the 1600 with a 5:15 completion.
Selly took fourth in the 1600 at true team with a 5:01.00 PR finish. He also was 13th in the 800 with a 2:18 and 21st in the triple jump with a leap of 33-03.5.
Subsection meet results
Girls
100: 24th Mercedes Hernandez 17:42
200: 17th Grace Stoffel 32:56; 20th Hernandez 35:65
400: 24th Alexa Bolstad 1:26.10
800: 8th Savannah Meyer 2:38.48
1600: 1st Meyer 5:46.85
3200: 3rd Molly Koester 13:15.08
100 H: 5th Lauren Yenish 18.41; 6th Maddie Huiras 18:44
300 H: 7th Yenish 53.60
4x100: 6th Maddie Cooney, Arayah Zuehlke, Hannah Odegard, Grace Stoffel 57.84
4x400: 6th Cooney, Huiras, Zuehlke and Yenish, 4:35.55
HJ: 2nd Kylie Kolars 4-10.00; 10th Yenish 4-06.00
LJ: 4th Kolars 14-07.00; 24th Zuehlke 11-10.50
TJ: 21st Odegard 22-10.25
SP: 12th Elaine Ludvik 25-05.50; 29th Annie Wingert 20-06.00; 30th Bolstad 20-05.50
D: 17th Ludvik 69-04; 22nd Kolars 63-07; 27th Bolstad 58-07
Boys
100 WC: 1st Aidan Gravelle 16:63
200: 9th Simon Morgan 24.64
800: 10th Sam Vetter 2:19.48; 12th Soren Kelly 2:27.90
1600: 4th Nathan Strobel 5:07.43 7th Kelly 5:11.24; 12th Carter Zimmerman 5:23.49
1600 WC: 1st Gravelle 4:11.60
3200: 3rd Gavin Selly 10:57.06; 5th James Younge 11:15.27; 8th TJ Waldron 11:48.44
100 H: 2nd Morgan 15.82; 7th Casey Fogal 18.71
300 H: 8th Fogal 50.39; 9th Chase Kijenski 50.55
4x200: 4th Henry Strobel, Josh Kann, Nick Huisken, Morgan 1:39.16
4x400: 5th Kann, Huisken, Kijenski, Henry Strobel
4x800: 4th Vetter, Selly, Nathan Strobel, Younge 9:11.00
HJ: 10th Kijenski 5-00.00
PV: 5th Huisken 10-00.00
TJ: 8th Henry Strobel 37-02.25
SP: 24th Jack Skubitz 29-07.99
D: 20th Christian Barker 83-06; 21st Danny Wood 83-05
Henry Strobel hands off to Josh Kann in the 4x200. The Loyola/Cleveland boys ran their fastest time of the year to take the final qualifying spot for the Section 2A Championship.
TJ Waldron saved his best race of the year for the Subsection championship meet. He ran a personal best and took 8th place in the 3200 and will compete at the Section 2A championship meet.
After qualifying for the 4x800, Nathan Strobel came back in the 1600 to lead a trio of Crusader in the race. Also pictured are Soren Kelly and Carter Zimmerman.
All photos courtesy of Dale Compton