PREP TRACK AND FIELD: Trojans sweep SWU Invite

WORTHINGTON — Sparked by a trio of individual first-place finishes from Sarah Cham and a gold-medal effort from both Lydia Kemper and Tara Svalland Thursday afternoon, the Worthington Trojans scored 171 points and won the girls’ team title at the Southwestern United Wildcat Invitational track and field meet at Trojan Field.

The Trojan boys, fueled by 10 individual winning performances from nine different athletes, racked up 231 points to claim yet another team title. Worthington has won the team championship in all seven meets that it has competed in this spring.

Windom’s boys scored 100 points to finish second, while Southwest Christian was third with 84. Mountain Lake Christian (72), Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (70.25), Adrian (47), Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central (36.75) and Southwestern United (34) completed the eight-team standings.

Adrian’s girls scored 108 points to finish second, while SWC (98) and Windom (90.5) were third and fourth, respectively. SWU (70), W-WG/RRC (62), T-M-B (55.5) and MLC (14) rounded out the eight-team field.

Cham wins three individual events, contributes to Trojans’ first-place 4x200

Cham finished the day with four gold medals, leading the Trojans to the team title. Cham won a pair of individual races, clocking first-place times of 16.12 (100-meter hurdles) and 27.4 (200-meter dash).

Cham also won the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet even and teamed with Kemper, Whitney Coriolan and Cassie Landgaard to win the 4x200-meter relay in a time of 1:49.47.

“It was a pretty good day for me, and I had a lot of fun,” Cham said. “The triple jump is my favorite event, and I did well today. I was also able to compete in the open 200 rather than the 400, which I normally race in.”

Svalland, Landgaard, Samantha Thuringer and Alina Keodouangsy combined to win the 4x100 for Worthington, finishing with a time of 54.46 seconds. The Trojans’ 4x800 team (Meredith Moore, Ariana Lopez, Stephanie Jaycox and Alicia Darling) placed second with a time of 12:07.05.

Kemper won the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.37 and later took second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:43.45.

Svalland won the high jump (4-10) and was third in the long jump (14-5). Coriolan finished with a pair of second-place performances — the 100 hurdles (18.32) and the 300 hurdles (50.23).

Keodouangsy placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.12 seconds, while Ellen Dudley took second in the pole vault with a height of 7-6. Brooke Henning (high jump, 4-6) and Chelsea Schmitz (triple jump, 31-5) each had a third-place finish for the Trojans.

Jaycox (fourth, 1,600-meter run, 6:24.45), Landgaard (fourth, 200, 29.35), Carsen Wetzel (fifth, high jump, 4-4), Marin Korthals (fifth, shot put, 31-2 1/2) and Keodouangsy (fifth, long jump, 13-10 1/2) also had top-five individual finishes for the Trojans.

Windom, Adrian each have four individual event winners

Windom’s Hannah Steele was a twin winner, claiming first place in both the discus (118-4 1/2) and the shot put (37-9 1/2). The Eagles’ Meredith Hentges (3,200-meter run, 12:45.61) and Kelcey Olson (pole vault, 8-6) also won an event.

Megan Muller had two top-five finishes for Windom, placing third in the pole vault (7-0) and fourth in the 100 (14.53). Miki Bolin was fourth in both the pole vault (6-6) and the triple jump (31-0).

Other top-five performances for Windom included Danielle Antes in the shot put (third, 32-8 1/2) and in the discus (fifth, 93-2 1/2), and Holly Larson in the discus (fourth, 94-11 1/2).

Adrian had four girls win an event apiece. Megan Sauer won the 1,600 with a time of 5:51.55, Jordin Kopplow won the 800 with a time of 2:31.07, Hailee Heitkamp won the 300 hurdles with a time of 48.71, and Nicole Slater won the long jump with a leap of 14-7 1/2.

Austyn Thier (1:03.46) and Slater (1:05.23) finished 2-3 in the 400 for Adrian, while Morgan Sauer finished second in the 3,200 with a time of 13:35.06. Haley Howe (third, 100, 14.34) and Shelly Loosbrock (fourth, 100 hurdles, 19.88) had the remaining top-five finishes for the Dragons.

SWU’s Mara Eichenberger was the other individual winner, as she raced to a time of 13.85 seconds to win the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Eichenberger also placed third in the 200 (29.08).

Katey Granstra, Jennifer Schmidt and Regina Steffen each had a pair of top-five finishes for the host Wildcats. Granstra was second in both the discus (114-5 1/2) and the shot put (33-10).

Schmidt placed second in the high jump (4-10) and third in the 800 (2:47.54), while Steffen finished second in the long jump (14-5 1/2) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (57.06). Hailey Schumacher also had a fifth-place effort for SWU, clocking a time of 2:55.79 in the 800.

Among the other stand-out performances on the girls’ side included second-place finishes by SWC teammates Megan Walhof (200, 28.3) and Hannah Van Dyke (triple jump, 31-5 1/2), a second-place effort by W-WG/RRC’s Juliana Pederson (1,600, 5:59.95), a fourth-place finish by T-M-B’s Sammie Gervais (high jump, 4-6) and a fifth-place result by MLC’s Whitney Klassen (400, 1:05.96).

SWC (4x400, 4:16.96) and T-M-B (4x800, 11:06.59) were the other winning relay teams.

Okello wins twice, eight other Trojan boys win

Omot Okello was a double-event winner for the Trojan boys, clocking times of 16.7 and 42.81 to win the 110 and 300 hurdles, respectively. Teammate Jordan Balster was third in both hurdle races (110, 17.67; 300, 47.04).

Worthington’s O.J. Ojullu led a 1-3 finish in the 400, as he won with a time of 53.42. Teammate Ethan Spittle took third with a time of 55.04.

Mubarik Musa and Omot Othowo did the same in the 800, as Musa won with a time of 2:02.08, and Othowo was third with a time of 2:06.91.

Junior Nguyen topped a 1-2-3 performance for the Trojans in the pole vault, soaring over the bar at 12-6 to win the event. Will Dudley (11-6) and Marcus Potter (10-0) were second and third, respectively.

Mitch Weg cleared six feet to win the high jump, Nathan Landwehr clocked a time of 11:23.94 to win the 3,200, and Nathan Mejia bounded 39-8 to claim the top spot in the triple jump for Worthington.

Jalen Voss won the discus (137-7 1/2) and was second in the shot put (40-8 1/4) for the Trojans.

“I haven’t been throwing very well lately, but today was a little better,” Voss said. “When everything comes together with your technique and release, it’s normally a very good throw in the discus.”

Jordon Bents, who scratched three times and did not place in the discus, won the shot put with a season-best distance of 50-2 for Worthington.

“I have been progressing well in the shot put, and it was a big relief to crack 50 feet again,” Bents said. “Jalen and I just have to keep working hard and improving the rest of the season.”

Other top-five finishes for Worthington came from Weg (second, triple jump, 38-10 1/2), Balster (fourth, triple jump, 35-7 1/2), Jessie Guerra (fourth, long jump, 17-11 1/2), Thomas Burns (fourth, 3,200, 13:41.6), Randy Traylor (fourth, shot put, 38-6 1/2), Rudy Ramirez (fifth, 100, 12.36) and Tyler Hunt (fourth, 110 hurdles, 18.01; fifth, 300 hurdles, 50.42).

The Trojans also won a trio of relay races. Guerra, Ramirez, Will Collin and Jeremy Clark combined to win the 4x200 (1:36.28), Ramirez, Spittle, Collin and Clark won the 4x100 (46.49) and the team of Collin, Ojullu, Othowo and Clark won the 4x400 (3:33.81).

Holmen, Curley, Krosschell and Vander Woude each win an event

MLC’s Jordan Holmen won the 100 with a time of 12.06, placed second in the long jump with a leap of 19-3 and was third in the triple jump with a distance of 38-0 1/2. Teammate Spencer Harder was second in two events (400, 54.36; 200, 25.2), and Taylor Klassen was second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:57.25 for the Bears.

Windom’s John Curley clocked a time of 4:55.52 to win the 1,600 and later finished with a 2:05.58 to place second in the 800. The Eagles’ Ryan Helmoski was second in the 3,200 (11:47.42), Brady Ysker-Giefer was second in the discus (107-11) and third in the shot put (40-7 3/4), and Douglas Taab placed third in the 200 (25.36).

SWC’s Travis Vander Woude (long jump, 19-8 1/2) and Brett Krosschell (200, 25.06) each won an event. They also finished 3-4 in the 100 with times of 12.23 and 12.33, respectively.

The Eagles won the 4x800-meter relay, as Cody Tinklenberg, Ryan Stroeh, Klint Knutson and Tim Van Bockel combined to run a time of 9:02.89.

W-WG/RRC’s Blake Stevens was second in both the 110 hurdles (17.2) and the 300 hurdles (43.27). Adrian’s Austin Lyons placed second in the 100 with a time of 12.21 and fourth in the 200 with a time of 25.42.

SWU’s Marty Schmitz collected a second-place finish in the high jump (5-10) and a third-place performance in the long jump (19-0 1/2), while T-M-B’s Eric Donner (high jump, 5-8) and Andrew Martinez (discus, 102-7) were each third.

Tags: track and field, southwest christian, tracy-milroy-balaton, mountain lake christian, westbrook-walnut grove, red rock central, southwestern united, southwest star concept, round lake-brewster, sports, prep, trojans, windom, adrian