Joe Drennan
Sports EditorEight Forest Lake High School track and field girls qualified for the state meet this weekend.
Becky Alexander qualified for the state meet in the discus by setting a new school record with a throw of 126í-6î for a third place finish at the Section 7AA meet in Cambridge over the weekend.
Kristen Howe advanced to the state meet in both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter run. Howe finished first in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:15.45 and first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:21.17.
ìKristen is looking forward to some good competition at the state meet,î girls track coach Janet Howe said. ìItís hard for her to set a personal best time when she is running so much of the race on her own.î
Freshman Brittni Lafontsee surprised her coaches by having her best triple jump of the season to finish second and advance to the state meet. Lafontseeís jump was 12í-7.25î.
ìShe pulled out an awesome triple jump,î Howe said. ìIt was exciting and a surprising advancement for her.î
The 4x200-meter relay team of Megan Becker, Lacee Enfield, Lafontsee and Kelcy Kaufman advanced to the state meet with their second place time of 1:50.22.
ìThe relay team is loaded with freshmen and one sophomore,î Howe said. ìTheyíre going to be back next year so weíre excited about that.î
In the 400-meter dash, Kristi Buerkle advanced to the state meet after finishing first with a time of 1:00.65. Buerkle won an exciting race as the second place finisher finished with a time of 1:01.17.
The Rangers had other good performances that did not qualify for the state meet.
Stephanie England had a personal best in the discus with her throw of 32í-2.5î. Freshman Auralee McGary finished fifth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:05.71.
ìWeíll be looking for big things from her next year,î Howe said of McGary.
As a team the Rangers finished third with 101 points. Anoka won the section with 136 points and Elk River/Rogers/Zimmerman finished second with 126.5 points.
The Rangers will be graduating several senior athletes, but that doesnít worry Howe.
ìOur ninth grade class that came in this year was really strong,î Howe said. ìWeíre losing a couple seniors, but theyíve done a good job training the younger kids.î
The state meet is June 11-12 at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
Boys track
The Forest Lake High School boys track and field team didnít qualify any athletes for the state meet, but like the girls team there were plenty of athletes who had good performances.
In the 100-meter dash Alex Boerum placed sixth with a time of 12.04. Senior Lorin Skoglund placed fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.38.
ìWith the tough conditions I thought Lorin ran well,î Rangers coach Paul Kendrick said. ìHe worked pretty hard for that fourth place finish.î
Brandon Yetter placed tenth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:48.29.
Chris Clark and Jamison Hull finished ninth and tenth in the 3200-meter run. Clark finished with a time of 10:22.91 and Hull 10:29.80.
Matt Hansmann placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.86, while the 4x400-meter relay team placed second behind Duluth East with a time of 3:31.88
Brian Maloneyís jump of 41í in the triple jump was good enough for fourth place.
Derek Peterson narrowly missed a return trip to the state meet as he placed third in the shot put with a throw of 51í-4î. Tyler Kleinhuizen placed eighth with a throw of 45í-9î. In the discus, Tryn Almendinger placed third with a throw of 137í-1î with Kleinhuizen and Peterson placing sixth and seventh. Kleinhuizen had a throw of 131í-4î and Peterson 130í-5î.
The Rangers placed fifth in the section behind section 7AA winner Elk River/Rogers/Zimmerman.
ìFor our young team I think the kids had a nice meet,î Kendrick said. ìItís tough when you donít have a core of upperclassmen that you can plug in to score some points but we did real well placing fifth out of the 14 teams.î
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