Section true team
Huskies 2nd in boys meet; 4th in girls
True team track and field meets differ from traditional meets in that every entry in every event earns team points. That means every step and every inch can sway the team scores back and forth.
As a hot, sunny afternoon turned into a cool-ish evening, results were calculated in the boys portion of Tuesday’s Section 2A true team meet at Wells Concrete Stadium in Wells.
Jackson County Central and Maple River traded spots in first and second place a few times and Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial was lurking in the background, not too far off the pace.
Eventually, seven hours after the meet started, JCC’s team and supporters continually refreshed their phones on one end of the straightaway and Maple River did the same at the other.
Ultimately it was the Eagles who let out a cheer as the results became official and Maple River edged JCC 638-634 for the title and an automatic berth in the state meet Saturday, May 17 at Eden Prairie.
The Huskies still have a chance to qualify for state as a wildcard. The teams that place second through fifth in each section will be entered into a 32-team virtual meet for four wildcard berths in the state meet.
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet, Loyola/Cleveland and Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton will also be entered from Section 2A for the boys. The wildcard spots are expected to be announced Saturday night.
“We had a lot of good performances, a lot of PR’s,” said JCC coach Rafe York. “We knew coming in that it was going to come down to just a few points and they had just a few more than us. That’s how it goes, now we just hope for the wildcard.”
It’s well known that York loves track season.
Rafe especially enjoys the true team concept.
“It kind of increases the importance of those guys who train all year and never get in the medals at the traditional scored meets,” he said. “It makes them carry a little more value toward the team production.
“It’s a great thing, whoever came up with it, It’s great that Minnesota has this true team. Nobody else it that I know of. It’s a lot of fun.”
But for now it’s a waiting game. The Huskies will have a few practices in preparation for the Trojan Relays in Worthington at the beginning of the week and hopefully for a trip to the Cities at the end of the week.
“The virtual meet is a totally different animal,” said York, pointing out that he’s had JCC teams finish ahead of a team at the section meet but then finish behind that team in the virtual meet.
“It comes down that there’s a lot of teams being factored in,” he said while adding that he’ll simply wait for the results. “I could probably sit down with the 32 teams and figure it out, but I probably have better things to do with my life.”
Ben Dahlin had two first-place finishes for the JCC boys, winning the 200 meters in 22.63 seconds and the 400 meters (50.51). He was also second in the 100 meters (11.25).
Other firsts for the Huskies came from Clay Malchow in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (41.91) and Ron'Queall Kyle in long jump (19-7.75).
JCC’s girls were fourth in the team standings as they also recorded a number of good performances and PR’s.
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton won the team title with 657 points, followed by St. Clair/Imannuel Lutheran (621.5), River Valley (578.5) and the Huskies (562).
Stevie Untiedt was second in the 400 meters (1:02.74) for Jackson County Central and was on the Huskies’ 4x200 relay team that was second (1:52.66). Running the other legs were Natalia Botello-Ramos, Zoey Hall and Allison Luebben.
Also, Tianna Uilk was third in discus (94-10).
Section 2A true team track and field
At Wells
Boys
Team standings
1. Maple River 638, 2. Jackson County Central 634, 3. Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet 620.5, 4. Loyola/Cleveland 569, 5. Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 554.5, 6. Minnesota Valley Lutheran 499, 7. River Valley 440, 8. United South Central/Alden-Conger 432, 9. St. Clair/Imannuel Lutheran 426, 10. Blue Earth Area 372.5, 11. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 341, 12. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 293, 13. Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 152.5.
JCC place winners
Track events
100 meters: Ben Dahlin, 2nd, 11.25; Gage Johnson, 9th, 11.73.
200 meters: Ben Dahlin, 1st, 22.63; Ron'Queall Kyle, 14th, 24.44.
400 meters: Ben Dahlin, 1st, 50.51; Quinn Landherr, 4th, 52.86.
800 meters: Kristoph Olsem, 8th, 2:19.85; Grant Ambrose, 16th, 2:27.14.
1600 meters: David Botello-Ramos, 16th, 5:35.30; Gavin Tusa, 21st, 5:56.50.
3200 meters: David Botello-Ramos, 13th, 12:02.57; Gavin Tusa, 18th. 12:58.30.
110 hurdles: Clay Malchow, 2nd, 16.39; James Atura, 4th, 16.58.
300 hurdles: Clay Malchow, 1st, 41.91; James Atura, 8th, 44.67.
Relays
4x100: Tavion Diggs, Aiven Farmer, Gage Johnson, Isaac Hesebeck, 3rd, 46.39.
4x200: Clay Malchow, Ron’Queall Kyle, Aiven Farmer, Quinn Landherr, 2nd, 1:35.64.
4x400: Dez Tupper, Isaac Hesebeck, Evan Bartholomaus, Quinn Landherr, 3rd, 3:35.05.
4x800: Tellef Landherr, Braeden Tuffveson, Dez Tupper, Grant Ambrose, 4th, 9:24.43.
Field events
Shot put: Aiven Farmer, 6th, 39-9.25; Kyler Hall, 14th, 35-11.
Discus: Aiven Farmer, 3rd, 121-0; Kyler Hall, 17th, 93-1.
High jump: Ron'Queall Kyle, 8th, 5-8; Kristoph Olsem, 13th. 5-4.
Pole vault: Quinn Landherr, 4th, 11-6; Tellef Landherr, 11th, 10-6.
Long jump: Ron'Queall Kyle, 1st, 19-7.75; Isaac Hesebeck, 20th, 16-8.
Triple jump: Tellef Landherr, 8th, 36-6; Grant Freking, 11th, 35-10.
Girls
Team standings
1. Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 657, 2. St. Clair/Imannuel Lutheran 621.5, 3. River Valley 578.5, 4. Jackson County Central 562, 5. Minnesota Valley Lutheran 549.5, 6. Loyola/Cleveland 506.5, 7. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 458.5, 8. Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet 430, 9. Maple River 408, 10. Blue Earth Area 354, 11. United South Central/Alden-Conger 348, 12. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 304.5, 13. Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 163.
JCC place winners
Track events
100 meters: Natalia Botello-Ramos, 8th, 13.45; Allison Luebben, 9th, 13.50.
200 meters: Allison Luebben, 5th, 27.76; Zoey Hall, 16th, 29.13.
400 meters: Stevie Untiedt, 2nd, 1:02.74; Mara Swan, 17th, 1:08.96.
800 meters: Erica Hanson, 11th. 2:42.74; Zadi Farmer, 18th, 2:50.7.
1600 meters: Naiya Ayers, 11th, 6:10.36; Abigail Mohr, 15th, 6:21.96.
3200 meters: Naiya Ayers, 6th, 13:10.90; Amiree Elias Galvan, 14th, 15:01.91.
100 hurdles: Rylie Cother, 4th, 16.50; Emri Morrell, 18th, 20.01.
300 hurdles: Arianna Hanson, 16th, 56.71; Emri Morrell, 20th, 1:00.82.
Relays
4x100: Natalia Botello-Ramos, Paylin Sether, Romi Rosenbrook, Zoey Hall, 4th, 53.72.
4x200: Natalia Botello-Ramos, Zoey Hall, Stevie Untiedt, Allison Luebben, 2nd, 1:52.66.
4x400: Mara Swan, Erica Hanson, Zadi Farmer, Stevie Untiedt, 9th, 4:37.71.
4x800: Erica Hanson, Abigail Mohr, Zadi Farmer, Amiree Elias Galven, 7th, 11:38.02.
Field events
Shot put: Tianna Uilk, 7th, 31-10.5; Payton Coquyt, 10th, 30-8.
Discus: Tianna Uilk, 3rd, 94-10; Renae Vancura, 13th, 80-5.
High jump: Rylie Cother, 5th, 4-10; Emri Morrell, 23rd, 4-2.
Pole vault: Erica Hanson, 4th, 9-0; Romi Rosenbrook, 6th, 8-0.
Long jump: Rylie Cother, 4th, 16-4; Paylin Sether, 10th, 14-9.
Triple jump: Paylin Sether, 5th, 30-10; Zoey Hall, 16th, 28-11.5.
Section champions
Here are the champions from each section. The section champions qualify for the state meet and will be joined by four wildcard teams. Those wildcard teams will be announced on Saturday.
Boys
1A: St. Charles
2A: Maple River
3A: Luverne
4A: Concordia Academy
5A: Holdingford
6A: Osakis
7A: Pierz
8A: Walker-Hackensack-Akeley
Girls
1A: Grand Meadow-LeRoy-Ostrander-Kingsland-Southland
2A: Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton
3A: Luverne
4A: Concordia Academy
5A: Minnewaska Area
6A: Pelican Rapids
7A: Pierz
8A: West Marshall
