TROJAN RELAYS: Cardinals take AA and Raiders take A in girls’ division of Trojan Relays

WORTHINGTON — As she has been doing all spring, Fulda’s Sylvia Zanini racked up points at at a high school track and field meet Thursday, helping the Raiders claim the Class A team title at the 60th annual Trojan Relays under clear skies with lots of sunshine at Trojan Field.

Zanini, a senior foreign-exchage student from Italy, won three events and finished second in another, as she scored 38 of Fulda’s winning total of 136.

Meanwhile, in Class AA, the state-meet bound (True Team) Luverne Cardinals utilized five first-place finishes and exceptional depth throughout their diversified roster to edge Southwest Conference rival Marshall by a mere three points, 167.75 to 164.75, to repeat as team champions in the larger-school class.

“We had a good day,” declared veteran LHS head coach Craig Nelson, who was pleased with his girls’ overall effort and performances in their third meet of a busy week. “I don’t know if we were competing on adrenaline or what, but the kids sure did well on the track and in the field events, too. We had a number of PRs (personal records) today, which is exciting for the girls.”

Luverne won both the 4x200-meter relay (1:52.50) and the meet-ending 4x400-meter relay (4:21.77), while also getting individual victories by Kynzie Smedsrud in the 100-meter high hurdles (16.54), Paige Nath in the 400-meter dash (1:03.55) and Makayla Hohn in the 3,200-meter run (11:43.89).

While those five first-places accounted for 50 of Luverne’s points, the Cardinals spread 137.75 points around by getting numerous second through eighth places, proving that balance and depth lead to team success.

“Our kids really buy into the team concept,” summed up Nelson. “That’s great, as it provides opportunities to use a lot of athletes who each can contribute to help our team score.”

Pipestone Area finished third in the Class AA girls’ standings with 93 points, followed closely by Worthington (87.5), Windom (86) and Jackson County Central (84).

Adrian, led by twin victories by senior Austyn Thier in the middle-distance races, finished second in Class A with 121 points, while four-time defending champion Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin was a close third with 116.

Murray County Central (110.5) was fourth, followed by Southwest Christian/Edgerton (105), Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central (71) and Worthington’s Junior Varsity (32.5).

Zanini wins three events; Thier wins twice, anchors winning 4x400

Zanini started her day by winning the Class A 100-meter high hurdles (16.82) and later added sparkling gold-medalist performances in both the shot put (39-8) and discus (137-9), winning both of those events by large margins.

“Sylvia had another great day,” praised Fulda coach Greg Erdmann, “She’s really a gifted track and field competitor who is performing well in each of her four events in meet after meet.”

Zanini completed her day by placing second in the 300-meter low hurdles (50.92).

Fulda also picked up individual wins from Tiffany Gehl (1,600-meter run, 5:34.59), Micaela Paulzine (pole vault, 8-6) and Sariah Cheadle (triple jump, 32-3), giving the Raiders 30 more valuable points.

Sydney Cuperus placed second in both the discus (93-10) and shot put (29-4), as Fulda went 1-2 in each event.

Thier and Nicole Slater finished 1-2 for Adrian in the 400-meter dash with respective times of 1:02.25 and 1:03.19.

“We were right next to each other in lanes three and four,” said Thier, who later broke her own Trojan Relays’ record with an eight-second victory in the 800-meter run. “It (the 400) was a pretty exciting race, as I could see “Bear” (Slater) nearly the whole way. We were both happy with how it came out.”

Thier’s winning time of 2:21.06 in the 800 was a bit faster than Marshall’s Sara Buysse’s winning time of 2:21.87 in Class AA and bettered her own Class A meet record of 2:22.21, which she set three years ago as a freshman in 2009.

“The weather was about perfect,” declared Thier before she joined Slater and teammate Jordin Kopplow on a stocking-footed cool down lap around the track after the meet was over. “It was a little windy, but if the wind hadn’t been blowing, then it would have been hot. So the breeze made running nice.”

Before her relaxing cool down run without her shoes, Thier completed her competitive day by anchoring Adrian’s winning 4x400-meter relay team, which clocked a fine time of 4:16.76.

Slater, Kopplow and Christian Loonan ran strong legs ahead of Thier, giving her a nice lead for the anchor run.

Earlier in the meet, Slater and Kopplow (anchor) had teamed with Karly Kramer and Morgan Sauer to win the Class A 4x800-meter relay with a time of 10:21.99.

Kopplow finished second (to Gehl) in the 1,600 (5:38.10) and Slater placed third in the long jump (14-2.5) as both enjoyed solid all-around days for the Dragons.

ML/B-O, which won the 4x100-meter relay (53,52), received stellar performances from sprinters Mikayla Falk and Lydia Hildebrandt who exchanged places while finishing 1-2 in both dashes.

Falk (13.23) edged Hildebrandt (13.24) in the 100-meter dash before Hildebrandt (27.63) won the 200-meter dash with Falk (27.91) a close second.

Hildebrandt, Brianna Soutthivong, Falk and Carly Fast ran the legs on the Wolverines’ winning 4x100 relay.

The Sauer sisters —- Megan (12:30.02) and Morgan (12:58.96) —- gave Adrian a 1-2 finish in the 3,200-meter run as the Dragons showed a lot of depth in the long runs.

“We had a good day in the distance races,” summed up AHS head coach Doug Petersen. “That’s our strength and the girls ran well today.”

W-WG/RRC’s Melanie Kedl won the high jump (4-8) and finished third in the 200 (28.26), while teammate Chloe Arfsten placed second in the pole vault (8-0), with Falk (8-0) and Hildebrandt (7-6) placing 3-4,

MCC took the top two places in the long jump as Hannah Schmidt (15-1.75) claimed the gold medal and Kara Homandberg (14-8) earned the silver.

SWC/E’s Hannah Van Dyke won the 300-meter low hurdles (47.90) in impressive fashion and also anchored the Eagles 4x200-meter relay team (1:53.32) to victory.

Running the first three legs for SWC/E were Devin Bloemendaal, Alexis Knutson and Chantel Groen.

MCC’s Crystal Van Iperen placed second in both the high jump (4-6) and 800-meter run (2:29.63), while SWC/E’s Rachel Buys finished second in the high hurdles (18.15) and W-WG/RRC’s Hailey Osland placed second in the triple jump (30-10.75) with Buys placing third (30-8.25).

Coriolan, Juber, Svalland earn gold medals for Trojans

Worthington won three individual events in Class AA girls’ competition, as Whitney Coriolan finished first in the 300-meter low hurdles (48.93), Megan Juber claimed the gold medal with a great effort in the 1,600-meter run (5:31.16) and Tara Svalland continued to dominate the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-2.

“Tara’s been consistent in the 5-2 to 5-4 range for the past several meets,” praised WHS co-head coach Doug Brands. “Both Megan and Whitney had strong races to win their events and our 4x400 relay team ran well, too.”

Running the quarters for the second-place Trojans in the meet’s final event were Coriolan, Juber, Meredith Moore and Emma Gerber, who clocked a time of 4:25.37.

Earlier, Moore, Gerber, Alicia Darling and Olivia Ebbers earned third-place bronze medals in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 10:50.06.

Darling claimed the silver medal in the 3,200-meter run with her time of 13:11.30.

Strong third-place individual performances for the Trojans came from Lexy Teerink (discus, 99-1) and Juber (800, 2:32.45).

“Those were two nice high placings for us,” noted Brands. “Lexy’s been steadily improving in the discus and Megan ran a good 800, after running a super mile and before finishing her day with a fine effort in the 4x4.”

Steele, Olson, Femrite, JCC 4x100 win events

Windom’s Hannah Steele was a double winner in Class AA, placing first in both the discus (116-9) and shot put (39-7.5), while Eagle teammate Kelcey Olson cleared 8-6 to win the pole vault.

PA’s Claire Femrite sprinted to first place in the 200-meter dash (27.62) and JCC’s 4x100-meter relay team (Julia Schumann, Jessica Voehl, Riley Schneekloth and Sydnee Donnelli) crossed the finish line first with a time of 52.92.

In a somewhat unique combination, Marshall’s Sara Buysse won both the 100 (12.88) and 800 (2:21.87).

Marshall won three other events, as Sydney Griffin earned gold medals in both the long jump (16-3.5) and triple jump (33-11.5) and the Tigers finished first in the 4x800-meter relay (9:58,51),

Other area girls who finished second individually included Luverne’s Erin Sietsema (triple jump, 32-5), JCC’s Tracey Steffen (pole vault, 8-0), Luverne’s Allison Dohlman (shot put, 33-3.5), PA’s Tia Muller (high hurdles, 16.62), JCC’s Donnelli (100, 13.18), PA’s Femrite (400, 1:03.62) and the Luverne trio of Madi Schandelmeier (1,600, 5:37.61), Kaitlin Wohnoutka (800, 2:30.08) and Tayla Peterson (200, 28.29).

Wohnoutka, Naomi Dooyema, Jaidyn Ebbers and Peterson combined to win the 4x200. Later, Wohnoutka, Anna Tofteland, Melinda Mumme and Nath completed Luverne’s team victory by winning the 4x400.

LHS was second in the 4x800 (10:05.53) with the team of Nath, Schandelmeier, Tofteland and Hohn.

JCC finished second in the 4x200 (1:53.78) with the quartet of Schumann, Kathyrn Nasby, Schneekloth and Donnelli.

Sietsema, Dooyema, Emilie Baartman and Chelsea Curtis gave Luverne a third-place finish in the 4x100 and the PA foursome of Femrite, Brianna Rieck, Maria Spanier and Jaden Carlson finished a very close third —- right behind Worthington —— in the 4x400-meter relay (4:27.52).

Tags: track and field, jackson county central, murray county central, southwest christian, pipestone area, hills beaver creek, mountain lake butterfield odin, round lake brewster, red rock central, westbrook walnut grove, sports, prep, trojans, fulda, luverne, windom, edgerton