WHS TRACK AND FIELD: WHS sweeps home invite

WORTHINGTON — Winning all four relay races Thursday and also finishing first in four field events and a trio of individual running events, the Worthington High School boys’ track and field team racked up 238 points to impressively claim the team title of the Trojan Invitational track and field meet at Trojan field.

Meanwhile, Worthington’s girls utilized a balanced performance — which included only one first-place performance — to also win the six-team meet, scoring 151 points.

Southwest Christian/Edgerton, which won six events, edged Windom for second, 134-132, in the girls’ standings, while Adrian was a close fourth with 125 points.

Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central (78) and Mountain Lake Christian (32) completed the girls’ standings on a nearly perfect day — weather wise — for high school track and field.

“It was awesome,” exclaimed Worthington co-head coach Ken Henkels about the meet conditions. “Ideal weather helps the events move along smoothly and it sure gives all the athletes a chance to perform their best.”

Windom was a solid second in the boys’ meet with 136 points, followed by Adrian (79), SWC/E (63), MLC (62) and W-WG/RRC (60).

Individually, Worthington’s Mitch Weg was a double winner in boys’ competition, placing first in both the high jump (5-10) and triple jump (41-3).

Windom thrower Brady Ysker-Giefer won both the shot put (42-8) and discus (132-4), by large margins, to lead the second-place Eagles.

In the girls’ meet, there were four dual individual first-place performers, as Windom’ Hannah Steele (shot put, 39-1 and discus, 125-1), SWC’s Rachel Buys (100-meter high hurdles, 18.14 and triple jump, 30-4), Adrian’s Nicole Slater (400-meter dash, 1:04.83 and long jump, 14-7) and Adrian’s Austyn Thier (800-meter run, 2:27.36 and 1,600-meter run, 5:25.35) all shared the spotlight with twin victories.

Slater was a part of four first-place finishes, as she ran on both Adrian’s winning 4x800 meter relay and on the Dragons’ first-place 4x400 team.

Buys and Thier each contributed to a third winning effort by running a leg on a first-place relay team.

Slater and Thier ran with AHS teammates Jordin Kopplow and Christina Loonan on the Dragons’ winning 4x400-meter relay team (4:23.85), while Slater ran with Kopplow and the Sauer sisters — Megan and Morgan — on Adrian’s meet-opening 4x800 (10:10.46) first-place finish.

Buys teamed with Chantel Groen, Kestrel Tinklenberg and Devin Bloemendaal to help SWC/E win the 4x100 with a time of 55.56.

Coriolan, Svalland have big days for Worthington girls

As she has done all season, Worthington junior Tara Svalland won the girls’ high jump.

Thursday, Svalland cleared a season-best 5-4 and won the event by 10 inches.

Whitney Coriolan, meanwhile, placed high in four events and scored a team-leading 27 points to contribute big-time to the Trojans’ team victory.

Coriolan, a junior who has been WHS’s leading scorer all season, finished a close second in the 100-meter high hurdles (18.16), raced to a second-place finish in the 300-meter low hurdles (50.00), finished third in the 200-meter dash (28.66) and placed fourth in the long jump (13-7) to complete a fine all-around day.

“Whitney’s been having a great season and she was super today,” praised Henkels. “Our depth really paid off for our girls’ team as we had lots of girls get key points for us by placing fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth. But, Whitney was in the top four in all four of her events, which is really a good day.”

Trojan senior Megan Juber ran two very strong races, finishing second to the powerful-running Thier in both the 800 and 1,600. Juber clocked good times of 2:30.09 and 5:29.86, respectively.

Worthington’s 4x800-meter relay team of Meredith Moore, Emma Gerber, Alicia Darling and Shelby Kingery ran a fine race, finishing second with a time of 10:52.75.

The Trojans received third-place individual field-event performances from Lexy Teerink (discus, 92-4), Achan Alwal (shot put, 26-5) and Carsen Wetzel (high jump, 4-4).

Worthington was fourth in both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, while the 4x400 team finished fifth.

Kacey Contreras, Brandi Williams, Traci Prins and Zalea Hamblin ran the 4x100 (59.72), while Hamblin. Williams, Prins and Contereras was the order for the 4x200 (2:05.18).

Sade Potter, Contreras, Elizabeth Luke and Brianna Kempema clocked a time of 5:00.97 in the meet-ending 4x400.

Muller, Groen, Van Dyke, Olson also win girls’ events

Windom’s Megan Muller won the 100-meter dash (13.63), SWC/E’s Chantel Groen won the 200 (28.47), SWC/E’s Hannah Van Dyke finished first in the 300-meter low hurdles (49.06) and Windom’s Kelcey Olson placed first in the pole vault (8-6) to complete the list of individual girls’ winners.

SWC/E (Alexis Knutson, Groen, Van Dyke and Bloemendaal) won the 4x200-meter relay by nearly six seconds, timed at 1:53.48.

Muller added a second in the pole vault (8-0), while W-WG/RRC’s Melanie Kedl sprinted to second-place finishes in both the 100 (13.83) and 200 (28.56).

Windom’s Holly Larson was second in both the shot put (29-6) and discus (105-6) and W-WG/RRC’s Hailey Osland placed second in both the long jump (14-4) and the triple jump (30-3).

Dudley, Guerra, Musa, Fissiha join Weg as first-place performers for Worthington boys

Will Dudley easily won the pole vault (12-6), Jesse Guerra paced a 1-2-3 Worthington sweep in the long jump (19-1), Mubarik Musa finished first in the 800, (2:06.55), Danny Rodriguez sprinted to victory in the 200 (24.22) and Ammanual Fissiha won the 1,600 (4:58.55), giving the Trojans five individual wins, in addition to Weg’s two.

Weg completed a fine day by placing second in the long jump (18-10) and teammate Ethan Spittle (18-8) completed the WHS sweep.

The Trojans started the meet on the right foot as the 4x800-meter relay of Nathan Landwehr, Ian Stewart, Oliver Wolyniec and Gordy Moore cruised to a 31-second victory, clocked at 9:23.79.

A 4x200 victory by the foursome of Peter Scholtes, Jeffrey Camacho, Troy Ektnitphong and Dudley (1:41.37) was WHS’s second relay win.

Rodriguez, Dudley, Guerra and Spittle ran a sizzling 47.03 to win the 4x100 and the quartet of Jon Vorwald, Guerra, Musa and Spittle finished the day by winning the 4x400 (3:41.48) to give the Trojans first in all four boys’ relays.

“That’s a good indication of our depth,” exclaimed Henkels about the relay wins. “Our guys ran well in all four races and relay wins help build team spirit, which is something we like to see.’

Landwehr finished second in the 3,200 (11:07.8), Gbrown Ochothow was second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (43.61) and Dylan Gravenhof placed second in the high jump (5-4).

Ochothow (100, 12.26), Scholtes (400, 56.15), Matt Jirele (1,600, 5:14.81), Brandon Gray (high hurdles, 18.05) and Joe Mills (pole vault, 8-0) contributed third-place individual finishes for the Trojans, who also had many fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth-place performances.

Bunting, Rivera, Harder, LaFollette, Pater win boys’ races

W-WG/RRC’s Levi Bunting clipped over the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 16.56 to win that event. He later finished third in the 300 intermediates (43.56).

Windom’s Michael Rivera sprinted to victory in the 100 (11.95) and later placed third in the 200 (24.53).

MLC’s Spencer Harder won the 400 (54.54), while Adrian’s Kody Henning (55.93) finished second.

SWC/E’s Austin LaFollette had an excellent day, winning the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (41.91) and finishing second in both the highs (16.80) and 200 (24.42).

Adrian’s Jase Pater was also a top individual scorer, winning the 3,200 (11:04.15) and finishing second in the 1,600 (5:04.22).

SWC/E’s Brett Krosschell (100, 12.19), Windom’s Clay Elness (800, 2:20.43), Windom’s Trent Bever (shot put, 39-8), Adrian’s Dillon John (discus, 116-10), Windom’s Nicholas Wolter (pole vault, 9-0) and MLC’s Caleb Bargen (triple jump, 36-10) were other athletes who scored a second-place in their respective events.

Tags: track and field, southwest christian, westbrook walnut grove, sports, prep, trojans, windom, adrian