Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

If the old sayings are true, where speed kills, there is strength in numbers and it pays to go the extra mile, then the boys track and field team is prepared to have one of its best seasons in recent memory.

So much so that Forest Lake head coach Paul Kendrick doesn’t hold back when he looks at the upcoming schedule.

“I believe we have a shot to qualify for the State True Team, or at least be in the top two at the section meet, which would be a good goal for the team,” he says.

The speed will come from a corps of sprinters that includes juniors Dalton Keep, who already has state meet experience, Dillon Grant, Brian Rivard and Casey Whitrock. The appropriately named Dan Blazer is a sophomore who will step up from a solid spring in 2006, while Aaron Anderson will be a speedster from the senior class, who also branches out to the field events.

“As far as sprinters, too, he’s coming back as probably our leading long and triple jump person,” Kendrick says.

Senior Alex Warren has spent the off-season training, and Kendrick says his captain will be an asset in both the 400 meters and the field events, like the triple jump.

A major plus for the Rangers’ prospects reveal themselves when Kendrick glances at his roster and has another realization on why he likes this team so much.

“We’ve got some studs in here,” he says. “[There are] some kids here who have some ‘quicks’ to them.”

Two of the studs that jump out at Kendrick are juniors Mitch Koenig and Jacob McAlpine. They bring nice reputations from other sports and Kendrick is excited they joined the squad.

The strength in numbers portion can begin with two individuals who ended last year with matching third place medals at the state meet.

Gopher-recruit Tyler Kleinhuizen landed his medal in the shot put, and then he can also point to his recent accomplishment of earning All-American status. The senior captain picked up the honor in March while competing at the Nike Indoor Nationals Track and Field Meet. Kleinhuizen sets some awfully high standards for himself, so even though he threw close to 59 feet last season, he wants to reach at least 63 feet in 2007.

Considering that senior Matt Schwartz took third place in the discus last June, there is plenty of depth amongst the throwers.

Collin Peterson, another senior, has a very good chance to break the 50-foot barrier in the shot, and classmates Logan Robinson and Jon Ohmann are back and should continue to improve on their discus results.

Luke Daninger, Kenny Klein and Nick Wilson are three juniors who Kendrick hopes their hard work turns into big numbers.

“Those are all guys that have been putting a lot of time in the weight room, and that we expect to take a big step forward.”

Not surprisingly, the distance runners are made up of a bunch of familiar names who spend their falls participating in cross country.

Zach Clark is just one who fits the description, but the senior captain is joined by senior Seamus Glewwe, juniors Spencer Cossalter and Ben Brodin as well as a younger crowd like sophomores Andy Orth, Nick Kelley and Nathan Moen.

“So it’s a pretty good contingent there,” Kendrick states.

As a unit, the distance team was on the cusp of making a difference when the ‘06 schedule came to a close, so now the Rangers hope they carry a bigger load and score points on a consistent basis.

Kendrick says the runners will be better in the 800 meters and significantly stronger in the mile.

One of those runners will be senior captain Brandon Yetter, who has a legitimate shot at reaching 2:00 in the 800, and could place at both the section and the conference meets.

Rounding it off for what should be balanced team are athletes like junior Jake Schmidt and sophomore Rory Alt in the pole vault.

With an eye on sending at least 12 team members to the state meet in June, Kendrick has reason to do a little boasting.

“I think our team has the potential to be strong,” Kendrick says. “This should be, potentially, the best team we’ve had in the last half-dozen years.

“I also see we have a lot of young talent and first-year kids. So in my mind we’re going to be a late blooming team.”

Oh yeah, then go ahead and add, “Good things come to those who wait,” to that list of phrases.

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