PREP TRACK AND FIELD: JCC, ML/B-O win team titles

WINDOM — Winning all four relay races and also taking the top spot in several individual events Thursday afternoon, the Jackson County Central boys claimed the Sub-Section 9 high school track and field team championship in impressive fashion after racking up 226 points.

Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin, which was a distant second on the boys’ side with 141 points, won the girls’ team title with 160.5 points — edging JCC’s runner-up total of 150.

Westbrook-Walnut Grove/Red Rock Central (103), Windom (79), Mountain Lake Christian (63) and Springfield/Cedar Mountain/Comfrey (58) rounded out the six-team boys’ standings.

Windom (128), S/CM/C (106), W-WG/RRC (85.5) and MLC (39) completed the six-team girls’ standings.

The top-three finishers in each event from all four sub-sections (9, 10, 11 and 12) earned automatic qualification to the Section 3A meet, which will be held in Pipestone next Thursday (May 31). The final four places are determined from the next best performances of all four of the sub-section meets combined — giving each event 16 participants at the section meet.

JCC wins all eight relay races, Donnelli among individual winners

JCC effectively loaded up its relay teams, as the Huskies took home gold medals in all eight of the relays — four apiece by the boys and girls in the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800.

Christina Henning, Annika Lilleberg, Faith Hansen and Samantha Swift won the meet-opening girls’ 4x800-meter relay (11:00.12), while John Isaacson, Matthew Strom, Tanner Post and Benjamin Kocak combined to win the boys’ 4x800 (9:15.04).

Julia Schumann, Kathryn Nasby, Riley Schneekloth and Sydnee Donnelli won the girls’ 4x200 (1:53.38), while Warren Darling, Darnell Taylor-Breck, Matthew Schmit and Jason Vongsavanh teamed up to win the boys’ 4x200 (1:35.66).

The Huskies kept it going in the 4x100, with Schumann, Schneekloth, Donnelli and Jessica Voehl winning on the girls’ side (52.43), and Darling, Taylor-Breck, Patrick Hanson and Izaac Lucht sprinting to first on the boys’ side (46.26).

JCC made it a banner day by going wire-to-wire in the relays, capping the meet with consecutive wins in the 4x400. Nasby, Hansen, Jessica Jandera and Kayla O’Connor won for the girls (4:31.59), while Isaacson, Kocak, Vongsavanh and Taylor Freeman took the top spot for the boys (3:39.44).

“Our relay teams did a nice job today,” JCC head coach Rafiel York said. “That is quite a feat to win every relay race at the same meet, so give our kids a lot of credit.”

Donnelli was a dual winner individually for the Huskies’ girls, claiming a gold medal in both the long jump (16-4) and 100-meter dash (13.08). Voehl advanced to the section meet by placing second in the high jump (4-7).

Lilleberg won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:40.01 for the Huskies, while Hansen (1:06.90) and O’Connor (1:07.71) went 3-4 in the 400-meter dash for JCC. Corri Vander Woude placed third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 53.74 seconds.

Kocak was one of four JCC boys to win an event, running a season-best time of 5:00.58 to win the 1,600-meter run.

“It was a solid day, as the conditions were pretty good for running,” Kocak said. “I have been steadily dropping my times in the 1,600 and also contributed to a pair of winning relay teams, so it was a productive day for me and my teammates.”

Hanson won the 100 (11.79), Nolan Hohenstein won the shot put (43-2.5) and Austin Bell-Pixler won the discus (118-3) for the Huskies. Alex Tewes advanced in both the discus (second, 117-1) and shot put (third, 41-10).

JCC’s Nicholas Carroll cleared 10 feet to place second in the pole vault, while teammates Mitchell Lucht and Austin Lucht tied for third by going 9-0. Ryan Salzwedel moved on in the high jump (5-7, tied for second with ML/B-O’s Britton Pankratz).

Taylor-Breck (second, triple jump, 38-4), Schmit (second, 110-meter hurdles, 16.89), Vongsavanh (second, 400, 51.80), Isaacson (second, 800, 2:07.34), Darling (third, long jump, 19-1) and Izaac Lucht (third, 200, 23.85) were the other Huskies to earn automatic bids to the section meet.

Wolverines turn in steady results

In addition to Pankratz, ML/B-O had several athletes place in the top three for both the boys and girls. Tyler Friesen won the boys’ pole vault by clearing the bar at 12 feet, while Jose Gonzales advanced in three individual events — winning the 200 (23.52) and 400 (51.36) plus placing second in the long jump (19-1).

The Wolverines’ Kyle Blomgren and Nathan Dukes went 1-3 in the 3,200, clocking times of 10:57.56 and 11:16.20, respectively. Dukes also took third in the 1,600 (5:07.82), while Stuart Blomgren was third in both the 110 hurdles (18.09) and 300 hurdles (46.87), and Kyle Thiessen was third in the 800 (2:19.42) for the well-balanced ML/B-O boys.

Jessica Sawatzky won the girls’ triple jump (29-11) and took second in the 800 (2:45.06) for the Wolverines, while Brianna Soutthivong was second in the long jump (14-9) and third in the 200 (27.71) — right behind teammate Lydia Hildebrandt (second, 27.53).

Hildebrandt (third, 100, 13.47), Hannah Stoesz (second, shot put, 32-7), Laura Romsdahl (third, discus, 81-9), Lounnee Soutthivong (second, 100 hurdles, 18.23), Carly Paulson (third, 100 hurdles, 18.40) and Stacey Harder (third, 1,600, 6:07.62; third, 3,200, 13:28.46) also punched their tickets to the section meet next week.

“We had a good day and have lots of kids moving on to the section meet,” ML/B-O head coach Paul Metcalf said. “That’s what this meet is about, giving kids opportunities to advance and seek further success.”

DeCock wins all three jumping events

W-WG/RRC’s Jeff DeCock, a four-sport athlete who participates in football, basketball and baseball, took part in his fourth track and field meet of the spring Thursday and had a standout day with a trio of winning jumps.

DeCock won the high jump (5-11), long jump (20-5) and triple jump (41-10) to pace the Charger boys to a third-place team finish.

“Baseball is my first sport in the spring, but I like to jump and found that I can be successful at it,” DeCock said. “I just focus on the three jumping events for track and try to practice whenever I can. It’s been fun so far.”

Levi Bunting won both the 110 hurdles (16.42) and 300 hurdles (44.00) for W-WG/RRC. Tyson Berg placed second in the 1,600 (5:03.72) for the Chargers’ boys.

Maddie Frank (first, 100 hurdles, 18.09), Juliana Pederson (second, 1,600, 6:03.71), Hailey Osland (second, triple jump, 29-10), Chloe Arfsten (second, pole vault, 8-6) and Melanie Kedl (third, high jump, 4-7) led the W-WG/RRC girls with section-meet bids.

Steele, Klassen win two events apiece

Windom’s Hannah Steele was a double-event winner, taking home the girls’ discus (112-7) and shot put (40-5) gold medals. Teammate Holly Larson was second in the discus (100-8) and third in the shot put (29-0).

Megan Muller (8-6) and Kelcey Olson (8-6) went 1-3 in the pole vault for the Eagles. Olson (51.62) and Danyel Post (52.45) went 1-2 in the 300 hurdles, and Post added a third-place finish in the triple jump (29-4) for Windom’s girls.

MLC’s Whitney Klassen (first, 12:19.63) and Windom’s Meredith Hentges (second, 12:26.08) ran stride-for-stride during much of the girls’ 3,200-meter run, with Klassen pulling away late to win the race — after earlier winning the 1,600 with a time of 5:46.57.

“The 1,600 was a good warm-up race for the 3,200,” Klassen said. “It was also nice to have Meredith to run with, as she helped push me and I was able to run a really good time today.”

MLC’s Spencer Harder won the boys’ 800 with a time of 2:06.97, while teammates Slade Harder (second, 3,200, 11:04.63), Cody Klassen (second, 300 hurdles, 44.31) and Caleb Bargen (third, triple jump, 38-2) also performed well.

Windom’s Trent Bever (second, shot put, 42-9), Brady Ysker-Giefer (third, discus, 114-7) and Michael Rivera (third, 100, 12.03) rounded out the area athletes who earned automatic advancement to Pipestone with top-three finishes.

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