'Jacket girls first, boys second at LSC Quad Meet

HIBBING—It was a chance to do some experimenting, so both Hibbing High School boys and girls track coaches, James Plese and Serena Sullivan, respectively, took advantage of it.

The Bluejacket mentors did that at the Lake Superior Conference Quad Meet, which was held Tuesday at Cheever Field in Dr. Ben Owens Stadium.

With the Doc Savage Meet coming up Saturday and the True Team Meet next Tuesday, both Plese and Sullivan wanted to see if there were any surprises to fill events.

“I wanted to see and get an idea of where everybody was individually in their individual events,” Sullivan said. “We brought up some of the younger kids to experiment with them as well.

“That was exciting. All in all, I couldn’t be happier. We had a lot of personal records that were made today. I can’t wait to rummage through the results and see what’s in there.”

The Bluejacket girls won the meet with 96 points. Grand Rapids had 39, Hermantown 23 and Superior 11.

Hibbing won 11 of the events, with Brynn Babich taking the 100 (13.40), 200 (27.75) and 400 (59.39) titles. Tara Hertling won the 800 (2:25.18)and triple jump (31-feet-7 ½-inches); Mileena Sullivan won the 1600 (5:13.97); Alizah Langner won the pole vault (8-0); and Rylee Moellering won the long jump (15-¼).

“In each event, there were some surprises to be honest,” Sullivan said. “We want these faster runners to be able to push each other, and work as a team by pushing each other. It’s hard to do when it’s only a quad meet.

“We utilize our own team members, trying to get them better and prepare them for the future, for the end of the season. The only way to do that is to run fast.”

The 4x100 team of Moellering, Andrea Petroske, Haley Mount and Isabella Zika placed first; the 4x400 team of Hertling, Jocelyn Strukel, Jorie Anderson and Sullivan were first; and the 4x800 team of Hannah Farnsworth, Grace Bigelow, Emma Reini and Avery Kukowski were also first.

“All in all, now we get to see who ran what and what times they ran,” Sullivan said. “Next Tuesday is True Team, and our main goal right now is to figure out where we can fit everybody.

“You only get two people per event, so the pressure is kind of on. A lot of these girls want those spots. They were showing that they were fighting for those spots.”

Other Hibbing top-eight finishers were as follows:

100—2. Hattie Eskeli 13.58; 3. Rylee Moellering 13.87; 4. Haley Mount 13,.96; 6. Andrea Petroske 14.19.

200—5. Abigail Theien 30.04; 6. Petroske 30.20.

400—2. Alizah Langner 1:00.98; 3. Gianna Figueroa 1:02.25; 5. Jorie Anderson 1:03.06; 6. Hannah Farnsworth 1:04.65; 7. Abigail Theien 1:05.37; 8. Bailey Bottoms 1:05.71.

800—2. Jocelyn Strukel 2:27.12; 3. Emma Reini 2:40.04; 5. Ava Vidmar 2:43.73; 8. Morgan Schnortz 2:52.48.

1600—2. Strukel 5:14.85; 3. Hertling 5:16.14; 4. Anderson 5:30.69; 6. Avery Kukowski 5:53.70; 8. Emma Matvey 6:00.44.

100 hurdles—3. Addison Shay 19.41; 7. Hanley Ortiz 20.35.

300 hurdles—2. Shay 56.15.

4x200—2. Olivia Theien, Mount, Moellering, Langner 1:57.83.

4x400—2. Farnsworth, Abigail Theien, Kukowski, Langner 4:32.95; 5. Olivia Theien, Grace Bigelow, Mount, Reini 4:48.83.

Shot put—2. Ariana Ellis 28-0; 3. Isabelle Walto 27.10; 6. Adrionna Vittory 26-0.

Discus—3. Walto 78-2; 5. Ellis 72-2; 6. Mya Petroskey 71-3 .5; 8. Autumn Nelson 70-6.

High jump—3. (tie) Gianna Manning, Eskeli 4-6; 6. Emilia Heller 4-0.

Pole vault—3. Zika 7-0.

Long jump—2. Mount 14-4.5 6. Manning 12-0.25; 8. Vittori 11-10.25.

Triple jump—2. Brooklyn Cooley 29-10 .75; 5. Manning 27-8.5.

On the boys side, Grand Rapids won the meet with 67 points, followed by Hibbing at 54, Hermantown 35 and Superior 30.

Plese, who had to handle the timing of the meet, wasn’t able to see his athletes compete, but he did get to see some of the times they ran.

“On the performance side, from what I was able to look through, we had some nice surprises,” Plese said. “We brought some young guys up to give them a little taste. We tried kids in different events.

“Nathan Gustafson tried a 400. He thought I was crazy, but he probably ran one of the fastest 400 times for us. That’s probably his calling. He might not like that. No one ever wants to be told that. That sometimes the reality we need to face. That went well.”

The Bluejackets did get five first-place finishes from the 4x800 team of Brady Janezich, Lucas Arnhold, Jake Walli and Jack Bottoms (8:42,08); Aiden Shepherd in the shot put (50-9); Vincent Marchetti in the discus (133-1); Adam Reckmeyer in the high jump (5-6); and Austin Valento in the pole vault (11-0).

Hibbing’s top-eight finishers were as follows:

100—2. Finn Eskeli, 12.01; 6. Gino Gherardo 12.62.

200—3. Eskeli 24.37; 4. Mason McDonald 24.88.

400—3. Nathan Gustafson 54.15; 4. Elias Langner 55.01; 6. Oliver Stevens 56.47.

800—3. Jack Bottoms 2:12.14; 4. Justin Walker 2:14.59; 7. Finn Eskeli 2:18.75.

1600—2. Brady Janezich 4:50.89; 4. Jake Walli 5:06.59; 5. Connor Sullivan 5:08.52; 8. Sam Baungardner 5:16.15.

3200—4. Charlie Janezich 11:55.77; 5. Laine Murden 12:30.86.

110 hurdles—6. Adin Nelson 20.76; 8. Joseph Marchetti 21.58.

300 hurdles—4. Adam Reckmeyer 46.89.

4x100—3. Tyler Fosso, McDonald, Christian Massich, Gherardi 48.46; 4. Wylie Stenson, Nelson, Nick Raiber, Kai Strom 50.04; 5. Kaelub Burkes, Clayton Horst, Jonathan Miettunen, Landon Tokarczyk 51.38.

4x200—3. Gustafson, Ethan Eskeli, Massich, Walker 1:42.22.

4x400—2. Taite Murden, Walker, Lucas Arnhold, Massich 3:50.58; 4. Langner, Austin Valento, McDonald, Gherardo 3:56.31; 5. Bottoms, Brady Janezich, Jaiden Touchstone, Walli 3:57.19.

4x800—3. Ethan Aune, Stevens, Touchstone, Sullivan 9:26.79.

Shot put—3. Vincent Marchetti 43-10 .5; 4. Alexander Henderson 42-11.

Discus—3. Henderson 118-4 .5.

High jump—8. Gustafson 5-2.

Pole vault—4. Stenson 10-0; 5. Kai Strom 9-0; 5. Nehemiah Figueroa 9-0; 7. Evan Abate 9-0; 8. Fosso 8-6.

Long jump—7. Valento 16-1 .75; 8. Reese Ringhofer 15-11 .5.

Triple jump—3. Abate 33-11 ½; 8. Ringhofer 31-10 .75.

“Our distance guys have been progressing nicely,” Plese said. “Finn had a nice day in the short sprints. This was a chance to load up again. We don’t have a ton of unlimited entry meets, so it’s nice to do that.

“We’re entering the true competition season. Hopefully, this was the fine tuning that we needed to find the right spots for some kids.”