And they’re off...: Worthington’s 60th annual Trojan Relays begin at 4 p.m. today at Trojan Field

WORTHINGTON — Once again, as the calendar turns to the second week of May, Worthington is hosting the annual high school track and field extravaganza known as the Trojan Relays.

The two-class meet begins at 4 p.m. today at Trojan Field with various field events and the running of the girls’ 4x800-meter relay.

All the events of a traditional track and field meet will follow, with the boys’ 4x400-meter relay scheduled for an 8:40 p.m. gun time.

“It should be a great day for a track meet,” declared veteran Worthington High School co-head coach Ken Henkels, who has seen his share of varying weather conditions at the popular annual event. “We are anticipating good weather and outstanding competition. Our workers are ready for the events to start.”

Founded by the late Floyd “Baldy” Nelson back in the spring of 1953, the Trojan Relays have endured snow, sleet, heavy rain, light rain, freezing cold, high winds, light winds, overcast conditions, partial sunshine, complete sunshine, warm temperatures, hot days — and sometimes, like in 1965, absolutely perfect weather.

But through it all, the Trojan Relays have survived and thrived.

Today marks the 60th annual running of the event and — as usual — will be split, by school enrollment, into two classes, A and AA.

Seven teams, both girls and boys, will participate in each class.

Adrian, Fulda, Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin, Murray County Central, Southwest Christian, Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central and Worthington’s Junior Varsity will make up the seven-team Class A field.

Five Southwest Conference teams — Jackson County Central, Luverne, Marshall, Pipestone Area and Worthington — will be joined by Montevideo and New Ulm in the seven-school Class AA meet.

“There’s always good team competition and several tremendous individual performances,” said Henkels about what to expect as the meet unfolds. “We have lots of long-time records, but quite a few new marks have been set in recent years.”

Five new girls’ records were set last year

While no new Trojan Relays’ boys’ records were established last year, five existing meet records were set by girl athletes in 2011.

Adrian, which has enjoyed amazing distance-running success —- in both cross country and track —- over the past eight years, started out last year’s Trojan Relays by setting a new record in the Class A girls’ 4x800-meter relay, clipping the grueling eight-lap race in nine minutes, 51.53 seconds.

Three members of that record-setting team —- Nicole Slater, Jordin Kopplow and Austyn Thier —- return, while the fourth member, Hailee Heitkamp, graduated and is now running at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, competing well in the 400-meter low hurdles and the 4x800-meter relay (NAIA national-meet qualifier in both events).

“When you set a meet record at the Trojan Relays, you’re accomplishing something big,” noted Adrian head coach Doug Petersen. “There are a lot of outstanding records, which have lasted a long time.

“Setting a Trojan Relays’ record, usually puts a competitor up among the elite performers, who have a chance to place later at the state meet.”

Petersen plans to run Kopplow and Slater on the Dragons’ 4x8 team today, but will run Thier in both the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run before she anchors the AHS 4x400-meter relay.

The ever-versatile Thier holds the Trojan Relays’ Class A girls’ 800-meter record, running a time of 2:22.21 as a freshman in 2009.

“We really like coming to the Trojans Relays,” concluded Petersen, who guided Adrian to four straight Class A girls’ state cross country team championships from 2005-2008. “Worthington has a first-class facility and does an absolutely great job of running off this meet.”

ML/B-O senior Jennie Romsdahl set a new Class A record in the 100-meter high hurdles, clocking a time of 15.65, in 2011.

Three existing Trojan Relays were broken last year in Class AA girls’ competition, as PA senior Trisha Sumption whirled the discus 125 feet, three inches; Luverne senior Katlyn Sawtelle cleared the pole vault bar at 10-6; and Redwood Valley’s Kayla Huhnerkoch clocked a time of 2:21.21 in the 800-meter run.

Romsdahl, who also won the 100-meter dash, helped ML/B-O win a fourth consecutive Trojan Relays’ Class A girls’ team championship in 2011.

MCC won last year’s Class A boys’ team title, while Worthington racked up a day’s high 181.5 points to win the Class AA boys’ meet —- far ahead of Marshall’s second-place total of 119.

Sawtelle’s three first-place finishes (100-meter high hurdles and 200-meter dash, in addition to the pole vault) led perennial power Luverne to a repeat Class AA girls’ team title with 127 points.

Musa, Zanini, Bofferding among top performers

Worthington senior Mubarik Musa, Fulda senior foreign-exchange student (Italy) Sylvia Zanini and Marshall senior Beau Bofferding are certainly among the premier individual performers who will be competing today.

Musa, who recently ran a 4:24 mile at the Minnesota Elite Meet at Hamline University in St. Paul, returns as the defending Class AA champion in the boys’ 1,600-meter run.

“Mubarik has been under 4:30 a couple of times and is shooting to go under 4:20 soon,” said Henkels about the Trojans’ distance-running ace, who claimed a Class A state championship in the mile as a sophomore in 2010.

The boys’ 1,600-meter run is scheduled to start at 5:55 p.m.

“We will follow a rolling schedule, with one event following the other,” noted Henkels. “The time schedule is just approximate. Races could begin sooner or later than what the schedule reads.”

Zanini, who is also a fine hurdler, has had an exceptional spring so far in both the shot put and discus, winning many meets with impressive distances.

She will need to set personal records, however, to approach the existing Class A girls’ records in those events —- which are both held by former Fulda athletes.

Nancy Overman holds the discus mark of 141-11, set in 1994 and Jenna Wendorff’s distance of 42-6, set in 2002, is the all-time best in the girls’ shot put at the Trojan Relays.

Bofferding, a sensational running back in football, won both the 100 (11.59) and 400 (52.02) in the Class AA boys’ division at the 2011 Trojan Relays.

He may also run the 200 this year, making the Tiger sprinter a contender for a trio of first-place finishes.

The meet will be scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight places in each of the 18 events and the top four finishers in each event —- including the relays —- will receive Trojan Relays’ medals.

A concession stand will be operating throughout the day and meet results will be available soon after the final event on the athletic.net website.

Five new girls’ records were set last year

While no new Trojan Relays’ boys’ records were established last year, five existing meet records were set by girl athletes in 2011.

Adrian, which has enjoyed amazing distance-running success — in both cross country and track — over the past eight years, started out last year’s Trojan Relays by setting a new record in the Class A girls’ 4x800-meter relay, clipping the grueling eight-lap race in nine minutes, 51.53 seconds.

Three members of that record-setting team — Nicole Slater, Jordin Kopplow and Austyn Thier — return, while the fourth member, Hailee Heitkamp, graduated and is now running at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, competing well in the 400-meter low hurdles and the 4x800-meter relay (NAIA national-meet qualifier in both events).

“When you set a meet record at the Trojan Relays, you’re accomplishing something big,” noted Adrian head coach Doug Petersen. “There are a lot of outstanding records, which have lasted a long time.

“Setting a Trojan Relays’ record, usually puts a competitor up among the elite performers, who have a chance to place later at the state meet.”

Petersen plans to run Kopplow and Slater on the Dragons’ 4x8 team today, but will run Thier in both the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run before she anchors the AHS 4x400-meter relay.

The ever-versatile Thier holds the Trojan Relays’ Class A girls’ 800-meter record, running a time of 2:22.21 as a freshman in 2009.

“We really like coming to the Trojans Relays,” concluded Petersen, who guided Adrian to four straight Class A girls’ state cross country team championships from 2005-2008. “Worthington has a first-class facility and does an absolutely great job of running off this meet.”

ML/B-O senior Jennie Romsdahl set a new Class A record in the 100-meter high hurdles, clocking a time of 15.65, in 2011.

Three existing Trojan Relays were broken last year in Class AA girls’ competition, as PA senior Trisha Sumption whirled the discus 125 feet, three inches; Luverne senior Katlyn Sawtelle cleared the pole vault bar at 10-6; and Redwood Valley’s Kayla Huhnerkoch clocked a time of 2:21.21 in the 800-meter run.

Romsdahl, who also won the 100-meter dash, helped ML/B-O win a fourth consecutive Trojan Relays’ Class A girls’ team championship in 2011.

MCC won last year’s Class A boys’ team title, while Worthington racked up a day’s high 181.5 points to win the Class AA boys’ meet — far ahead of Marshall’s second-place total of 119.

Sawtelle’s three first-place finishes (100-meter high hurdles and 200-meter dash, in addition to the pole vault) led perennial power Luverne to a repeat Class AA girls’ team title with 127 points.

Musa, Zanini, Bofferding among top performers

Worthington senior Mubarik Musa, Fulda senior foreign-exchange student (Italy) Sylvia Zanini and Marshall senior Beau Bofferding are certainly among the premier individual performers who will be competing today.

Musa, who recently ran a 4:24 mile at the Minnesota Elite Meet at Hamline University in St. Paul, returns as the defending Class AA champion in the boys’ 1,600-meter run.

“Mubarik has been under 4:30 a couple of times and is shooting to go under 4:20 soon,” said Henkels about the Trojans’ distance-running ace, who claimed a Class A state championship in the mile as a sophomore in 2010.

The boys’ 1,600-meter run is scheduled to start at 5:55 p.m.

“We will follow a rolling schedule, with one event following the other,” noted Henkels. “The time schedule is just approximate. Races could begin sooner or later than what the schedule reads.”

Zanini, who is also a fine hurdler, has had an exceptional spring so far in both the shot put and discus, winning many meets with impressive distances.

She will need to set personal records, however, to approach the existing Class A girls’ records in those events — which are both held by former Fulda athletes.

Nancy Overman holds the discus mark of 141-11, set in 1994 and Jenna Wendorff’s distance of 42-6, set in 2002, is the all-time best in the girls’ shot put at the Trojan Relays.

Bofferding, a sensational running back in football, won both the 100 (11.59) and 400 (52.02) in the Class AA boys’ division at the 2011 Trojan Relays.

He may also run the 200 this year, making the Tiger sprinter a contender for a trio of first-place finishes.

The meet will be scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight places in each of the 18 events and the top four finishers in each event — including the relays — will receive Trojan Relays’ medals.

A concession stand will be operating throughout the day and meet results will be available soon after the final event on the athletic.net website.

Tags: track and field, murray county central, jackson county central, pipestone area, mountain lake butterfield odin, westbrook walnut grove, red rock central, sports, prep, trojans, adrian, luverne, fulda