Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Near the conclusion of the girls state track and field meet, it would be Taylor Brett who would grab all of Forest Lake’s five points, with a fifth-place finish in the pole vault.

Not that finishing in the top five against Minnesota’s best isn’t impressive enough, but Brett did so in just her first year of competing in the event.

During Saturday’s finals at Hamline, Rangers head coach Eric Kaluza pointed out how Brett began the season at the eight-foot mark, and here she was clearing 10’6” — just four inches behind Apple Valley’s Kristen Dare, who took first.

Outside of Brett’s accomplishments, the Forest Lake girls only other state representative was Kristie Miller in the 200 meters.

Going in to Friday’s preliminaries, there were 13 girls in the field of 18 who had posted a time between 25 and 26 seconds.

Miller’s qualifying mark from sections (25.92)  put her within range of those who could make the finals.

FAST CROWD: In Friday’s 200 meter prelims, Kristie Miller’s time of 25.99 kept her with the pack, but it wasn’t enough to move her into the finals.  

The junior finished in the middle of the pack of Heat 1, however, and would not advance out of the preliminaries.

Considering how fast the competition was — with times dipping into the 24s and low 25s — Kaluza was happy with Miller’s 25.99.  She would end up in 13th place.

“Kristie demonstrated that with a little extra effort, you can get to the next level. I see her performing at even a higher level next year which would be extremely great to watch,” he said.

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