Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Going into the 2007 track and field season, Forest Lake head coach Paul Kendrick felt his boys had a legitimate chance to win the section. As last week’s competition drew closer, he was certain that the Rangers were the favorites, and that with approximately 130 points, his group could take first.

At the Section 7AA meet in Grand Rapids, Forest Lake’s 141 points did indeed give them the top spot, and there were a few athletes who barely missed out on adding even more to the total.

“The kids really outperformed a little bit of what I thought and I was really excited about that,” Kendrick said.

Heading off to this Friday and Saturday’s state track and field meet at Hamline University are Matt Schwartz and Tyler Kleinhuizen in both the shot put and the discus; Dillon Grant in the 100 meters as well as the 400- and 800-meter relays; Zach Waldoch in the 1600 meters, and Griffin Lentsch in the triple jump.

Dan Blaser, Dalton Keep and Mitch Koenig fill out the quick quartet on both relay teams.

Four members who did not make the short list for the Hamline adventure were Kenny Klein in the shot, Dillon Edelen in the 110-meter high hurdles, Zach Clark in the 1600 meters, and Keep as an individual in the 200-meter sprint.

If sections handed out medals, Klein’s throw of 50-5 would have given him the bronze, and put him on the medal stand with Kleinhuizen (58-7 1/2) and Schwartz (51-10 1/2).

Edelen came up with a personal best time in the hurdles, but his 16.10 wasn’t enough to place him in the top two, who automatically go to state.

In the 200 meters, Keep clung to the second-best time in the preliminaries, but even his personal best in the finals (22.72) couldn’t prevent Garrett Cora of Duluth East from grabbing the coveted second place.

“He just got nipped at the end,” Kendrick said of Keep.

Besides having Klein complete the sweep in the shot put, Schwartz and Kleinhuizen continued their spring of dominance.

Whereas Kleinhuizen won the first event, Schwartz took the latter, with a distance of 166-10 in the discus. Kleinhuizen was second, with a throw of 162-05. Logan Robinson came in fifth place (145-9), which earned four points for the Rangers.

Grant had a busy Saturday, not only being a part of the two relay teams, but he also beat the state-qualifying time of 11.18 in the 100 meters, with a 11.17.

The 1600-meters is where Waldoch earned his trip to state, ending up in second place with a time of 4:39.94. Clark was next in line at 4:40.13.

When it comes to Lentsch in the triple jump, he came up with a leap of 41-5 1/2, and might have caught himself off-guard with the second place finish and the ticket to state.

Kendrick said the sophomore had been hovering around 40 feet this season, but then hit his stride when it counted.

“A young kid who had a lot more in him finally jumped what I thought he should have jumped,” Kendrick joked. “Him getting into state, I think surprised him, but it didn’t surprise the coach.”

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