April 20

To the best of my recollections, this was the first outdoor event of the spring season. This meet was originally scheduled to take place in Sartell.  Sartell is southeast of Alex. It still had too much snow. We hosted the three other track powers of our conference: Brainerd, Sartell, and Willmar. And it was “Weakie’s” first ever event at the new high school. He proclaimed it a beautiful day for track – sunny and in the mid-50’s. 

[ANATOMY OF THE TRIPLE JUMP:  This is Kaye Paschka. You may recognize Kaye as the point guard for our state tournament basketball team. This was a practice jump. She went on to win the triple jump . . . and the 110-meter hurdles.]

[As a last minute replacement site, the event was a walk-in.  And as they say, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.  I only know some of the athletes if I recognize them from other sports.  Here is another Cardinal triple jumper.]

[And here’s “Weakie.”  Based on daily associations at the ‘Y,’ he was particularly interested in seeing the boys 100-meter dash and the girls shot put . . . ]

[So here we are checking out the shot put arena.]

[Cardinal long jumpers warming up . . . ]

[And “Weakie” found a place in the sun to watch.]

[The timing judge in the red jacket is better known as the father of the top two 5000-meter runners in Golden Gopher history . . . ]

[They were hand timing because frost had temporarily disabled the electronic timing system (as I understand it).]

[And here comes the first heat of the girls 100-meter dash . . . ]

[We had three black clad Cardinals in this heat . . . ]

[They all appear to be doing well here . . . ]

[And to the finish, it appears that Willmar (“W”)  won, but we may have had 2, 3, 4?]

[And here comes heat 2, then heat 3 of the girls 100-meter.  I think there were five heats in all – and I think we had 3 runners in each of those heats.  So, I naturally thought we must be really good in relays.  In fact, we did win the 4 x 100 quite handily, and were 2nd in the 4 x 200 – and if there were ever a 15 x 100, we’d lap the field!]

[Individually, we placed 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the 100m; 2nd, 4th, and 5th in the 200m.  All the results are at the end of this missive.]

[“Weakie” had a box seat at the finish line . . . ]

[And next up was the boys 100-meter . . . ]

[Nathan Lusty (l) and Drew Olson (r) are running for the Cards . . . ]

[We were interested in seeing Drew because his folks work out at the ‘Y’ at the same time we do – well, they work out, we amble.]

[Drew and Nathan would place 1st and 3rd in the finals.  In a subsequent meet, Drew would tie the Cardinal all-time record at 10.94.]

[Discuss . . . ]

[I do not know this competitor . . . ]

[Looked like a good throw . . . ]

[Mya Lesnar I know from volleyball.  As I recall she went to state in the shot last year . . ]

[And McKenzie Duwenhoegger, from both volleyball and our center on the basketball team.  She and Mya will make a run at state in both discuss and shot put . . . ]

[ANATOMY OF THE SHOT PUT: This is Bryce Ludwig. You may recognize Bryce as the tight end on the football team or the power forward on the basketball team. These were his last two throws in the meet – 52’+ and 53’+ – to win the event.]

[In a subsequent meet, Bryce set a PR of 55’11”.  He’ll make state and be competitive there.]

[A relay of unknown quantity . . . ]

[Prepping for the long jump . . . ]

[Back at the shot put pits.  As it went on, they could only use one of the three pits because of mud (on the right).  That delayed the girls competition . . . ]

[The school as backdrop . . . ]

[The girls 1,600m is underway . . . ]

[The Cardinal in 5th place here is 8th grader Aleah Miller (as I later discovered from the results).  The 4-pack of Cardinals behind her hung together the whole race . . . ]

[Aleah . . . ]

[Still hanging in there at 4th . . . ]

[And the 4-pack . . . ]

[Aleah put on a tremendous kick on the last lap – you can see her almost tied for the lead between the guys 2 – 3 (from the left) of the 5 guys in black warm-ups . . . ]

[Now they’re right behind red hoodie . . . ]

[Between the 2 blue hoodies, to a very close 2nd-place finish.  As an 8th grader, her whole future, as they say, is ahead of her . . . ]

[This is Nolan Christenson with the early lead in the 1,600m . . . ]

[He’s a bit behind now in I believe the last lap . . . ]

[But he had a terrific kick the final 220 meters and won handily with a PR.]

[And this has every appearance of being the 4 x 100 . . . ]

[And if I’m reading the result right, this is Anna Doherty on lead-off . . . ]

[Passing to Erika Roderick . . . ]

[And ultimately to Kaye Paschka who crossed the finish line with a substantial margin.]

[And here we have Drew Olson anchoring the Cardinals 4 x 100 relay team . . . ]

[There he is!  And was in 3rd place when he got the baton and really closed ground . . . ]

[He was really pumped that he pulled it out.]

[We hoped to also see the girl putters (last seen warming up on the infield) but it just got too late.  I had been in the great outdoors for 3 1/2 hours, and it was time to pick up the Super for an evening at the Andria for Nunsense.]

[On the way out, I noticed this race featuring 5 Cardinals.  I don’t know what it was, but any race that includes a curve is more than I can fathom.]

[All-in-all, it looks like we have two really competitive teams.]

And for future reference, here are all the results – on loan from the Cardinal Connection :

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Sabre Quad hosted at Alexandria – Alex Girls Track and Field Results

Team Scores: Willmar 113, Alexandria 108, Brainerd 29.5, Sartell 21.5

On Friday, April 20^th the Alexandria Cards had the privilege of hosting the Sabre Quad, marking our first outdoor meet of the season! We walked away with 15 personal bests, 13 season bests, and A LOT of learning!  This is a young team still learning the techniques and strategies needed for each event, but they are equally competitive, hardworking, and coachable! We walked away with second place, behind Willmar, but we are not yet to the point where we are putting together our strongest line-ups, and we left many points out on the track.  I cannot wait to see how this team grows with each meet!

Top 5 Alexandria Athletes in each event (top 5 athletes earned points) include: 

·         100m Hurdles: Kaye Paschka (1^st), Jacy Roste (4^th)

·         100m Dash: Hannah Quitmeyer (2^nd), Anna Doherty (3^rd), Christina Drown (5^th)

·         1600m: Aleah Miller (2^nd)

·         400m: Addison Rodel (2^nd), Erika Roderick (3^rd)

·         300m Hurdles: Kaye Paschka (1^st), Sierra Cory (2^nd), Lexi Cole (5^th)

·         800m: Bethany Miller (1^st), Myah Kremer (3^rd)

·         200m: Hannah Quitmeyer (2^nd), Addison Rodel (4^th), Christina Drown (5^th).

·         High Jump: Taylor Partington (1^st), Sierra Cory (3^rd)

·         Pole Vault: Jacy Roste (2^nd), Abby Forester (5^th),  Sarah Rohr (5^th)

·         Long Jump: Christina Drown (2^nd), Erika Roderick (4^th)

·         Triple Jump: Kaye Paschka (1^st)

·         Discus: McKenzie Duwenhoegger (2^nd), Mya Lesnar (3^rd), Christina Palmer (4^th)

·         Shot Put: McKenzie Duwenhoegger (3^rd), Mya Lesnar (4^th), Hailey Gill (5^th)

Relays earning points include:

·         4x200m: Christina Drown, Micah Summer, Meg Schercliffe, Myah Kremer (2^nd)

·         4x100m: Anna Doherty, Erika Roderick, Hannah Quitmeyer, Kaye Paschka (1^st)

·         4x400m: Carly Wiirre, Aleah Miller, Caitlin Bright, Bethany Miller (2^nd)

Athletes Earning Season bests include:  Aleah Miller (1600m), Addison Rodel (400m), Julia Brito (400m), Bobbi Galvin (400m), Greta Kremer (400m), Maddy Dahlseid (400m), Christina Drown (200m), Micah Summer (200m), Tausha Lange (200m), Taylor Partington (High Jump), Paige Melton (Shot Put), Meghan Moore (Shot Put), and Mallory Yanda (Shot Put).

Athletes Earning Personal Records include: Sierra Cory (100m Hurdles), Molly Panther (1600m), Lauren Russell (1600m), Stormy Hegg (1600m), Georgia Reemts (400m, 200m), Carmen Krueger (400m, 200m), Brooklyn Von Bank (400m), Kamryn Coauette (800m), Hannah Rinicker (200m), Christina Drown (Long Jump), Erika Roderick (Long Jump), Mya Lesnar (Discus), and Avery Granning (Shot Put).

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

The Cardinal boys track and field team won their Quad against Brainerd, Sartell and Willmar on Friday night. The Cards used 30 personal bests and 7 first place finishes to edge out Brainerd; team scores were Alex 85, Brainerd 84, Willmar 69 and Sartell 33.

First places went to: Drew Olson 100m (11.33) and 200m (23.48, personal best), Nolan Christenson 1600m (4:43.3, personal best), Joshua Kietzmann triple jump (41-8.75, personal best), Bryce Ludwig shot put (53-5) and discus (166-00) and the 4x100m relay team (45.77) Nathan Lusty, Jared Schneider, Michael Empting and Drew Olson.

Second places: Dane Galloway 800m (2:15.79, personal best), Nolan Morical high Jump (5-6, personal best).

Third places: Nathan Lusty 100m (11.69), Wade Odland 400m (53.88), Preston Bowden 300H (42.83), Jackson Wichtendahl 800m (2:16.57), Keaton Gruber 3200m (9:55.61, personal best), Jamyson Wolkow shot put (46-00.5), 4×200 relay (1:36.29) Graham Peterson, Joshua Kietzmann, Nolan Morical and Wade Odland, 4×400 relay (3:46.49) Noah Struck, Keaton Gruber, Brain Denke and Jack Englund).

Fourth places: Daniel Jantzen 300H (43.65), Logan Runge 800m (2:16.75) Nathan Lusty 200m (24.03) and pole vault (10-6)

Fifth places: Preston Bowden 110H (16.44), Jared Schneider long jump (19-4) and triple jump (38-00)

Other big improvements went to: Adam Pohlen in the 110H and 300H, Brett Strandskov 100m and 200m, in the 1600m Jacob Kleven, Hayden Peterson, Brain Denke and Lance Jacobson,Christopher Krueger in the 400m, in the 800m Nathan Klimek and Peyton Fischer, in the 200m Nolan Morical, Malachi Hedstrom and Noah Huss, Nathan Schneiderhan in the pole vault, Paul Schwartz in the long jump, Gabe Moore and Alex Neale in the discus and in the shot put Gabe Moore, Preston Peterson, Brendin Houck, Parker Bomstad and Neko Glaser.

Run like hell and get the agony over with.  ~  Clarence DeMar

Up Next:  Depends on the weather (doesn’t everything?)