Rock Ridge, Hibbing compete at True Team Meet

HIBBING—With two events left, the Rock Ridge and Cloquet High School boys track teams were separated by half a point.

When everything was said and done, the Wolverines came up 13.5 points short as the Lumberjacks came with the Section 7AA True Team championship held Tuesday at Dr. Ben Owens Stadium in Cheever Field.

Cloquet won the meet with 536.5 points, followed by the Wolverines with 523. Chisago Lakes was third with 464, and Hibbing finished fourth with 442.

Rounding out the field were Esko 438, Grand Rapids 433.5, Pine City 431, North Branch 400, Duluth Denfeld 386.5, Mora 376, Proctor 373 and Hermantown 307.5.

Rock Ridge coach Ryan Malich was well aware of what was happening, but he wasn’t sure things were going to work out well for his team.

“We were following it,” Malich said. “We knew the high jump was still going, and Cloquet had a few jumpers still competing, and our guys were out. We knew that it was going to be tough and probably not going to go in our favor.

“That’s how it worked out.”

Other than that, things did go well for Rock Ridge, which had three first-place finishes.

Jackson Kendall had two of the, winning the 1600 in 4:32.58 and the 3200 in 10:35.23.

Andrew Wilson placed first in the 100 with a time of 11.49. His teammate Leo Johnson was second in 11.58.

The Wolverines also had 13 top-10 finishes.

“It was great,” Malich said. “The kids tried hard, and that’s all we can ask. We tell them that the purpose isn’t to win meets, get first place or anything like that. It’s to do the best that we can.

“I believe that they did that. Second place on its face, we were close. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we’ll live and die with that. We’re just trying to do the best that we can. They did that, and I’m proud of the effort they put forth.”

More importantly, it was another learning experience for his team.

“This is probably the highest-quality competition that we’ve seen all year,” Malich said. “There’s great teams here and great athletes. To be in contention up until the last event, is a win in and of itself.

“Again, the effort was there, and we’re proud of our boys.”

As for the Bluejackets, Hibbing coach James Plese was happy with his teams’ fourth-place finish.

“I have to say that fourth place was a little better than expected,” Plese said. “That’s not taking anything away from our guys. We knew this meet would be tough just being True Team Meet with the caliber of competition.

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of. We make the wild card meet, which is the virtual meet they put us in, and there’s a chance we can advance to the state still. The reality is we won’t get out of the wild card, but we’re in the wild card.”

Hibbing did get two first-place finishes with Aiden Shepherd winnint the shot put with a heave of 49-feet, and Austin Valento the pole vault with a new personal best height of 12-9

“Aiden is still the No. 1 seed in our section, and Vinnie (Marchetti) had a PR,” Plese said. “That puts him at No. 2. Both of our throwers in the shot put are ranked in the section. If we could do something like that, get both to the state meet, that’s something special there.

“We’re looking forward to that.”

Overall, the Bluejackets did get 13 top-10 finishes, including Finn Eskeli, who was third in the 100 and fifth in the 400; Brady Janezich, who was sixth in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200; Adam Reckmeyer who was third in the high jump; and Valento, who was fifth in the long jump.

“Finn had a PR in the 400, which has been a long time coming for him,” Plese said. “He’s been working his way back from a knee injury. He ran a PR at the True Team Meet. It won’t be easy to get out of the section, but that’s his baby. He loves the 400.

“We had some nice performances. Our guys showed up to compete. We rose to the occasion, which is all you can really ask for. I liked the way things went. It was a good job for the boys today.”

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On the girls side, Chisago Lakes won the team title with 654 points, followed by North Branch with 605. Pine City was third with 510.5 and Hibbing placed fourth with 498.5.

Rounding out the field were Proctor 468, Esko 428, Cloquet 426, Rock Ridge 385.5, Grand Rapids 336.5, Mora 331, Hermantown 249 and Duluth Denfeld 182.

It wasn’t the outcome Bluejacket coach Serena Sullivan was looking for.

“I was disappointed,” Sullivan said. “We had some spectacular events that the kids did well in. They were strong. They looked great, but we had a handful of events where I don’t know what happened.

“A lot of that comes with that intimidation. We coaches keep trying to figure out how to tap into that to get them to realize what their capabilities are. Sometimes, it’s hard. It’s a learning process.”

Even so, Hibbing did get three firsts. Tara Hertling in the 800 (2:22.72); Mileena Sullivan in the 1600 (5:12.65); and the 4x400 team of Hertling, Gianna Figueroa, Hannah Farnsworth and Jorie Anderson (4:14.93).

Both Sullivan and Jocelyn Strukel ran in both the 1600 and 3200, which isn’t the easiest double to pull off.

Even so, Sullivan would place second in the 3200, and Strukel placed fourth in both events.

“The mile was a fast race,” Serena said. “They went out hard. They burnt up everything they had, so for them to recover in such a short amount of time, to do that two-mile and still run solid races, you can’t ask for more.

“They basically tied their PRs in that two-mile after running a spectacular mile. I was happy with that.”

Happy, but not surprised that the two of them could pull it off.

“Pain-wise, everybody dreads it, but the competition side of them and the competitiveness that it brings out in both of them, they enjoy it,” Serena said. “I think they wanted to see where they stood up next to some of these other teams that came here, especially Chisago Lakes.

“We’ll see them in sections, so it’s nice to see where they played out with them.”

Rock Ridge didn’t come away with any firsts, but the Wolverines did get a second place from Allison Fink in the triple jump.

Kayden Maturi, Addison Youngren, Fink and Lizzy Fultz were third in the 4x200; Alex Gunderson was third in the discus; and Fink was third in the long jump.

Fultz was fourth in the 200.

Other Rock Ridge results were follows:

100—2. Leo Johnson 11.58.

200—2. Wilson 23.25; 3. Johnson 23.48.

400—6. Wilson 53.50; 12. Luca Pellini 55.15.

800—3. Casey Aune 2:04.05; 12. Tyler Wudinich 2:12.36.

1600—7. Aune 4:49.95.

3200—22. Kaden Amundson 12:11.79.

110 hurdles—3. Luke Hecimovich 15.89; 15. Jake Neari 18.86.

300 hurdles—8. Hecimovich 44.64; 11. Zane Lokken 45.43.

4x100—4. Sawyer Williams, Johnson, Neari, Nolin Cope-Robinson 45.91.

4.200—4. Wilson, Johnson, Cope-Robinson, Max Williams 1:36.48.

4x400—3. NNA.

4x800—4. Pellini, Kaden Amundson, Wudinich, Tristan Peterson 9:04.43.

Shot put—8. Ethan Boe 41-8; 16. Ian Luecken 37.11.

Discus—17. Luecken 98-11; 22. Jack Stella 92-1.

High jump—15. Pier Povoledo 5-2; 18. Hecimovich 5-0.

Pole vault—12. Sawyer Williams 8-6; 18. Stella 6-6.

Long jump—13. Povoledo 17-3.25; 21. Sawyer Williams 16-3.75.

Triple jump—9. Sawyer Williams 36-11.50; 10. Povoledo 36-5.

Other Hibbing results were as follows:

100—3. Finn Eskeli 11.81; 15. Gino Gherardi 12.38.

200—10. Mason McDonald 24.78; 13. Gherardi 24.99.

400—5. Eskeli 53.18; 17. Elias Langner 56.73.

800—11. Lucas Arnhold 2:12.35; 14. Jack Bottoms 2:15.18.

1600—6. Brady Janezich 4:47.02; 11. Bottoms 4:58.45.

3200—4. Janezich 10:45.42; 8. Jake Walli 10:56.29.

110 hurdles—17. Adin Nelson 19.86; 24. Joseph Marchetti 22.28.

300 hurdles—15. Adam Reckmeyer 46.49; 24. Kaelub Burkes 52.42.

4x100—11. Nehemiah Figueroa, Isaac Hendrickson, Tyler Fosso, Christian Massich 48.82.

4x200—9. Gherardi, McDonald, Massich, Elias Langner 1:39.08.

4x400—7. McDonald, Arnhold, Bottoms, Massich 3:46.56.

4x800—7. Walli, Taite Murden, Oliver Stevens, Ethan Aune 9:16.91.

Shot put—2. Vincent Marchetti 46-11.50.

Discus—4. Shepherd 135-10; 15. Vincent Marchetti 103.10.

High jump—3. Reckmeyer 5-8; 14. Evan Bolden 5-4.

Pole vault—5. Wylie Stenson 11-0.

Long jump—5. Valento 18-11; 20. Reese Ringhofer 16-3.75.

Other first-place finishes went to Gavin Tabbert of Proctor in the 200; Simon Strand of Chisago Lakes in the 400; Andrew Shepherd of Cloquet in the 800; Cody Evers of Proctor in the 110 hurdles; Cameron Pease of Proctor in the 300 hurdles; Ryan Sturm, Dalton Spindler, Jace Stewart and Jacion Owens of Esko in the 4x100; Spencer Hipp, Spindler, Makoi Perich and Sturm of Esko in the 4x200; Jacob Randa, Sturm, Spindler and Hipp of Esko in the 4x400; Braxton Peetz, Weston Clementson, Charlie Ausmus and Eli Fromm of Pine City in the 4x800; Zak McPhee of Proctor in the discus; Ben Schmitz of Esko in the high jump; Trent Guth of Chisago Lakes in the pole vault; Perich in the long jump; and Colton Johnson of Grand Rapids in the triple jump.

Other Wolverine results were as follows:

100—20. Miia Johnson 14.49; 22. Kayden Maturi 14.57.

200—4. Lizzy Fultz 26.92; 10. Allison Fink 27.95.

400—19. Stark 1:10.39; 20. Jacinda Wilcox 1:11.67.

800—10. Stark 2:35.27; 19. Audrey Harley 2:56.34.

1600—15. Alice Johnson 6:24.40.

3200—16. Makayla Waldron 13:39.45; 20. Addy Papin 14:18.50.

100 hurdles—7. Maija Rantala 17.78; 17. Savanna Bergman 20.19.

300 hurdles—10. Shelbie Novak 54.44; 13. Rantala 54.98.

4x100—9. Lennon Hilde, Sophie Roark, Lahna Gelo, Nina Paulsen 55.05.

4x200—3. Maturi, Addison Youngren, Fink, Fultz 1:51.84.

4x400—11. Mia Stark, Nora Stark, Miia Johnson, Fultz 4:41.44.

4x800—9. Alice Johnson, Harley, Waldron, Stark 11:14.39.

Shot put—18. Madison Roen 27-4; 22. Yazmin Vazquez 25-10.

Discus—3. Alex Gunderson 89-5; 17. Malena Petersoin 66-0

Pole vault—9 Roark 7-0; 14. Paulsen 6-0.

Long jump—3. Fink 15-3; 10. Wilcox 14-3.50.

Triple jump—2. Fink 33-0; 5. Maturi 31-9.

Other Bluejacket results were as follows:

100—8. Brynn Babich 13.52; 11. Hattie Eskeli 13.81.

200—7. Babich 27.28; 11. Eskeli 27.05.

400—2. Babich 1:00.63; 10. Gianna Figueroa 1:05.21.

800—4. Jorie Anderson 2:27.67.

1600—4. Jocelyn Strukel 5:26.75.

3200—2. Sullivan 11:33.58; 4. Strukel 11:51.20.

100 hurdles—14. Addison Shay 19,20.

300 hurdles—14. Hannah Farnsworth 55.34; 16. Shay 56.35.

4x100—6. Rylee Moellering, Haley Mount, Andrea Petroske, Eskeli.

4x200—10. Moellering, Mount, Abigail Theien, Petroske 1:55.67.

4x800—2. Hertling, Avery Kukowski, Farnsworth, Anderson 9:50.01.

Shot put—12. Isabelle Walto 28-8.50; 15. Arianna Ellis 28-0.50.

Discus—9, Walto 79-10.

High jump—15. Eskeli 4-6; 16. Gianna Manning 4-6.

Pole vault—5. (tie) Alizah Langner 8-0; 12. Isabella Zike 6-6.

Long jump—8, Moellering 14-6.75; 23. Mount 11-10.

Triple jump—9. Hertling 31-2; 16. Brooklyn Cooley 28-5.50.

Other first-place finishes went to Dakota Esget of North Branch in the 100; Sophia Thorsen of North Branch in the 200 and 400; Annika Hall of Chisago Lakes in the 3200; Shaeyna Andreotti of North Branch in the 100 hurdles; Mackenzie Lynch of Cloquet in the 300 hurdles; Addyson Barrett, Kendra Warren, Addison Griffin and Bene’ Smith of Chisago Lakes in the 4x100; Warren, Chelsea Stipe, Griffin and Smith in the 4x200; Paisley Kleiman, Della Bettendorf, Lizzy Harnell and Carlie Blevins of Proctor in the 4x800; Laura Carlson of Chisago Lakes in the shot put; Maya Johnson of Esko in the discus; Ava Bringgold of Chisago Lakes in the high jump; Ella Dick of North Branch in the pole vault; Barrett in the long jump; and Parker Ennis of Mora in the triple jump.