Five days after practicing high jump for the first time ever, Vivian Hilfer (above) cleared the opening 3-8 height at the Tomahawk-Valley Indoor Conference Championship, which was held in the MSU,M Fieldhouse on Monday.
With the bar raised 3 more inches, she crashed in her first two attempts, and it looked like the junior would have to settle for second-to-last place.
But the third time was the proverbial charm, and she landed without the bar following her. To her amazement, she flopped over 4-2 in just one attempt. The next setting was an additional 2 inches, but on her second try, Hilfer made it over that height too before she was eliminated at 4-6.
So, with a respectable fourth place among the 11 jumpers, it was an outstanding effort, especially since not only was it the first time Hilfer competed in the high jump, she is a rookie to the Loyola/Cleveland track & field team, and, as she has focused on competitive dancing since she was a toddler, this spring was the first time she has participated in high school athletics.
“One of my friends said they were going to do it, and I had only danced competitively, so I wanted to try an actual high school sport in my last two years,” Hilfer explained. “But I really like it so far. I’m having a lot of fun. I have all of my friends here, so I’m excited.”
Since track skews toward individual effort, the mindset is not the same as being on a dance team, Hilfer said, but several of the needed abilities transfer.
“Some of it is similar to my dance practices with working all the leg muscles and having your core super strong. But it’s different obviously because we are running a lot more and working on endurance instead of straight cardio. But it’s really cool to have both of those skills in my back pocket because dance translates over to a lot of the things we are doing in track.”
Hilfer, who tried long jump in the meet a week earlier, also competed in the 50-m low hurdles on Monday, where her 12:54 finish, three quarters of a second slower than her time last week, was good for sixth place.
“It wasn’t my best run, but it was only my second time doing it.”
Second-year head coach Casey Olson said it has been fun having Hilfer on the team this spring.
“She has a lot of energy, and she also is going to be really good at some things that she doesn’t know yet she is going to be really good at. I’m really excited for her because she is willing to try anything.”
With over 100 athletes between the junior high and varsity teams, Olson is excited for the entire program as well.
“We are a lot bigger this year, so that is awesome. It means that we have a lot more depth. It means that we have a lot more people to support their teammates, which is a big thing I try to focus on. And, it means we have a lot more fun.”
As a team at the indoor championship, the Crusaders boys tied River Valley (Springfield, Sleepy Eye Public, Sleep Eye Saint Mary’s) for first place. Each totaled 120 points. GFW was third with 76 points. In girls competition, River Valley was first with 192 points, Loyola/Cleveland was second with 114, and GFW was third with 62. Other teams competing were GHEC/T/ML, Lester Prairie, MCW/BO and Wabasso.
The meet was productive for the Meyer sisters. Savannah Meyer took first in the 800 with a 2:35.97 finish, 2.57 seconds out front and 2.5 seconds better than her time a week ago. Charlotte Meyer easily won the 3000 with a 11:00.18 finish, over 45 seconds in front of the second-place runner.
The siblings were the bookends to the second-place 4x800 team: Charlotte, an eighth grader, led off, and Savannah, a senior, ran anchor. Lily Phillips and Izzy Endres ran the second and third slots. Their 10:53.10 was 9.82 seconds behind the winners.
In her second year in a Crusader uniform, senior Ava Hahn was second in the 200. Her 28.33 was 1.05 seconds off the winner, who competed in a different heat. But Hahn raced directly against her friend from Wabasso, Carly Fenger, and that was fun, she said.
Hahn also ran anchor in the Crusader’s second place 4x400 team, which also included Charlotte Kirshner, Aryah Zuehlke and Maddie Cooney. Their 4:51.81 was about 8 seconds behind the winning time.
With a 2:20.93 finish, senior TJ Waldron took bronze in the boys 800. He was about 8 seconds behind the winner.
Miah Bauer, a sophomore, was 10th among the 22 runners in the 55-m dash. The winning time was 7.56. With an 8.77, senior Mylie Krenik was 13th in the 55. Krenik also triple jumped for 25-00.5.
Sophomore Oliver Starke ran the boys 55 in 9.22. The winning time in the was 6.99.
Freshman Aubrey Blaschko led off the fifth-place 4x200 team. The Crusaders, who also included Charlotte Maxfield, Sabella Braulick and Titoluwani Ehinmowo, finished the relay in 2:09.26.
Elijah Mons, a junior, tripped up early in the 55-m low hurdles and had to settle for a 13.82 finish. Mons triple jumped 29-10. Carter Kern, a junior, long jumped 10-06.
The Crusaders set five new indoor school records at the meet. Maddie Huiras broke both the 55-m high hurdles (with a 9.29 for first place) and 50-m low hurdles (with a 9.07 for first place) records. Charlotte Meyer broke the 3000-m record, Soren Kelly broke the 1500-m record (with a 4:24.11 for first place), and Hahn broke the 200 record.
Besides that, the Crusaders had seven school top five all-time indoor performances. Molly Koester was second all-time in the 3000. Gisele McCabe was fourth all-time in the 3000. Sam Vetter was third all-time in the 3000. Endres was third all-time in the 1500. The girls 4x800 team was fourth all-time. The boys 4x800 team of Kelly, Vetter, Mitchell Buboltz and Jack Green were fourth all-time. Brayden Hecksel was fifth all-time in the pole vault.
In other results, Chase Kijenski was first in the high jump (5-09), second in the long jump (17-09) and second in the 50-m low hurdles (9.03). Casey Fogal was third in the 50-m low hurdles (8.99). Christian Barker was third in the shot put (38-0). Brianna Michels was second in the shot put (29-10.5), and Eli Blace was second in the triple jump (34-10).
The Crusaders return to the track on Tuesday when they travel to St. James.
Assisting Olson are Bree Meyer and Landon Javens.
