Lakeville South girls 2nd at True Team track finals

Rosemount fifth in Class 3A boys meet

Lakeville South’s second-place finish at the state Class 3A girls True Team track and field meet not only was the Cougars’ best in eight years, it exceeded coach Andrew Hilliard’s expectations.

Hilliard let the athletes know what those expectations were, and that might have inspired them at the True Team finals May 17 at Stillwater High School.

“After putting a spreadsheet together and scoring out the meet based on section performances, I let our girls know early (last) week that they were seeded to place fifth,” Hilliard said. “Based on stats, I thought we’d land somewhere between third and seventh based on how the meet shook out.”

Instead, the Cougars came in with 1,044.5 points for second place, 17.5 ahead of third-place St. Michael-Albertville. Minnetonka repeated as Class 3A True Team champion with 1,169.5 points.

Eagan (764 points) and Rosemount (704) finished 10th and 11 among the 12 qualifiers for the girls Class 3A finals. Rosemount was fifth in the boys Class 3A meet won by Mounds View. The Irish had the top finish of three South Suburban Conference boys teams, with Prior Lake and Shakopee taking 10th and 12th.

The South girls’ performance was their best since winning the school’s fourth Class 3A True Team championship in 2016. The Cougars won one event (senior Alexa Drew went 17 feet, 9 inches to take first in the long jump), and in keeping with True Team tradition piled up points with numerous top-10 finishes. Lakeville South scored the most points of any team in the long jump with three finishers in the top 14, and Hilliard said they anywhere from second to eighth in team points in all the other events.

They also proved to be among the best at handling the changeable conditions. The meet started in sunny, warm weather but things later deteriorated to pouring rain – hard enough to cause a delay in the meet.

Drew also placed fifth in the 100-meter dash in 12.70 seconds and eighth in the 200 in 26.36. Sophomore Eva Welsch was runner-up in the 100 hurdles in 15.22, and junior Avery Sandmann placed ninth in 16.09.

Also earning top-10 individual finishes for the Cougars were Claire Vukovics in the 1,600 (sixth, 5 minutes, 18.19 seconds) and 3,200 (seventh, 11:28.67), Sandmann in the 300 hurdles (fourth, 46.66) and long jump (fourth, 16-7.75), Josie Hudson in the 800 (ninth, 2:24.10), Amaya Pahl in the shot put (fifth, 36-8.75) and discus (seventh, 109-11), and Kate Flicek in the shot put (seventh, 35-5.25) and discus (third, 119-8).

Lakeville South’s top relay finish was fourth, in two races – the 4x800 (9:45.27) and 4x400 (4:07.15).

Among the Eagan girls’ top finishers were junior Ava Ligtenberg, who was fourth in the 400 in 57.99, and junior Lilah Bartels, third in the 3,200 in 11:03.93. Aadra Peterson, also a junior, had a shot put throw of 36-8.75 to place sixth. Senior Ella Bailey (eighth, 16-4) and junior Josie Seehafer (ninth, 16-2.5) placed in the top 10 in the long jump.

Junior Geneva Rasmussen and senior Hannah Gelineau tied for second in the high jump, with each clearing 5-0. Eagan also had a second place in the 4x400 relay, finishing runner-up to Minnetonka in 4:02.74.

Rosemount ninth-grader Kendall Grate placed sixth in the girls 100 in 12.81. Sophomore Sarah Labarere was 10th in the 300 hurdles in 48.91. Juniors Maisy Bach (107-1) and Olivia Bills (106-6) were ninth and 10th in the discus and ninth-grader Abby Essler was sixth in the long jump (16-5.75).

Senior Summer Davis turned in the Irish girls’ best individual finish, a third place in the pole vault. She cleared 11-0. Top relay finish for Rosemount was second place in the 4x100 in 48.53.

Rosemount senior Maki Whelan picked off victories in the boys 110 hurdles (14.79) and 300 hurdles (39.41). Noah Rodenwald, also a senior, was the only pole vaulter to clear 13-9. The second- and third-place vaulters each cleared 13-6.

Rosemount’s fourth victory of the boys True Team finals came in the 4x100 relay, where the Irish’s time of 42.10 was almost four-tenths of a second better than second-place Blaine.

Also placing in the top 10 individually for the Irish boys at the True Team finals were Kwabena Yawson in the 100 (third, 10.96) and 200 (fifth, 22.53), Riddik Collier in the 100 (fifth, 11.04), Andrew Schultz in the 1,600 (sixth, 4:20.97), Jackson Ganser in the 400 (fifth, 50.39), William Riddel in the shot put (eighth, 49-0.5) and discus (sixth, 145-3), Adam Hanson in the shot put (10th, 48-11.75), Jayvon Maternowski in the long jump (eighth, 21-1.5), and Carter Kringen in the long jump (ninth, 21-0.5) and triple jump (seventh, 42-9.25).