Posted: 6/8/05
Five track athletes headed to state
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Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
Going into the Section 7AA track meet over the weekend both the Forest Lake High School boys and girls track and field teams knew theyíd be strong competitors, but neither were truly expecting the second place finish for the boys and the third place finish for the girls. On top of the team finishes, five individuals qualified for the state meet this weekend.
Kristi Buerkle qualified for the state meet in both the 200 and 400-meter dash with first place finishes. Buerkle had a time of 26.19 in the 200-meter dash and a time of 58.08 in the 400-meter dash. Becky Alexander was the other girls track athlete to qualify for the state meet with a first place finish in the discus with a toss of 122í.
ìBoth girls look to do rather well at the state meet based upon their performances this season,î Rangers head girls coach Janet Howe said.
The boys have three athletes going to the state meet. Tyler Kleinhuizen and Derek Peterson finished one-two in the discus. Kleinhuizen was the section champion with a throw of 149í-9î and Peterson second with a throw of 140í-6î. The other boy headed to the state meet is Matt Mach who finished first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 9:57.11.
ìI am looking for big things out of our throwers at the state meet,î Rangers boys head coach Paul Kendrick said. ìThey can finish second or third or even win the event.î
To get to the state meet both Kleinhuizen and Peterson had to throw in some bad throwing conditions.
ìThey came out in some crummy weather and had a solid effort,î Kendrick said. ìThe number one thrower in the state fouled three times and he was done ó it was that kind of day weather wise.î
While Buerkle, Alexander, Kleinhuizen, Peterson and Mach are going to the state meet, it doesnít mean they were the only ones with impressive performances at the section meet.
In the boys 100-meter dash Kyle Fuller placed seventh in the semi-finals and moved up to fifth in the finals with a time of 11.67. Fuller also placed eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.76. Jesse Kolbow had a fourth place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.92 in the finals.
The Rangers had two top ten finishers in the boys 1600-meter run. Zach Clark placed sixth with a time of 4:38.48 and Mach ninth with a time of 4:42.75.
In the girls 3200-meter run Auralee McGary placed eighth with a time of 12:18. On the boys side of the 3200-meter run Mach won the race, but Clark placed fifth with a time of 10:12.63.
Chelynne Pringle placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.45. In the boys 110-meter hurdles Geoff Cass placed fifth with a time of 16.18.
Pringle placed third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.62 and teammate Christy Newell placed eighth with a time of 50.98. Cass placed seventh in the boys 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.66.
The girls relay teams placed in the top ten in all four relays. The Rangers placed sixth in the 4x100 with a time of 53.10, third in the 4x200 with a time of 1:47.96, sixth in the 4x400 with a time of 4:18.19 and ninth in the 4x800 with a time of 10:47.94.
The boys relay teams placed in the top four in all four of their relays with the 4x100 team placing third with a time of 45.53. The 4x200 team placed fourth with a time of 1:33.44, the 4x400 team fourth with a time of 3:30.79 and the 4x800 team third with a time of 8:27.60.
ìWe were able to execute our relays,î Kendrick said. ìWe didnít have any dominating finishes but we were consistent and got points.î
Three Rangers girls placed in the top ten of the high jump as Newell placed third, Joanna Koski fourth and Audrey Mills ninth. Newell had a jump of 5í, Koski also jumped 5í and Mills had a jump of 4í-10î.
Pole vault was another successful event for the Rangers girls as Amanda Connelly placed third, Pringle fourth and Newell seventh. Connelly had a height of 9í-7î as did Pringle and Newell had a height of 9í-1î. In the boys pole vault Joseph Maier placed eight with a jump of 12í-6î and Alex Boerum tenth with a jump of 12í.
Brittni Lafontsee placed fourth in the girls long jump with a distance of 16í-2.25î. Jesse Travis placed tenth in the boys long jump with a distance of 18í 8.5î.
Three boys placed in the top ten of the triple jump for the Rangers. Brandon Neujahr was tops with a seventh place distance of 39í-10î, followed by Maier in eighth place with a jump of 39í-7.5î and Aaron Anderson in ninth with a jump of 39í-6.75î. In the girls triple jump Molly Tolzman placed fifth with a jump of 32í-3.75í.
The shot put was another good event for the Rangers for both the girls and boys teams. Alexander placed third on the girls side with a throw of 36í-2î and Peterson and Kleinhuizen placed fourth and fifth on the boys side. Peterson had a throw of 51í-11î and Kleinhuizen 51í-5î. Stephanie England placed eighth in the girls discus with a throw of 104í 7î.
When all the team points were added up the girls placed third with 101 points behind Elk River (122 points) and Anoka (142.5 points).
ìI think a lot of the kids saw how good they did this year and if they train harder what might happen next year,î Howe said. ìI think they see the potential of so many good things happening. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year and we still ended up third.î
The boys placed second with 86.5 points behind Elk River who had 118 points.
ìA lot of people were able to help us out,î Kendrick said. ìWe really pushed to have a top two finish at the section meet and I think we really peaked as a team. We really had some big things happen and itís a tremendous group of young athletes we have here that can challenge as one of the top teams next year at state.î
The state meet is Friday and Saturday at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Both days start at 9 a.m.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
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