Hopkins advances to state True Team as a wild-card entry

Twelve of the best girls track and field teams in Minnesota will vie for the state Class AAA True Team title, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, May 17, at Stillwater High School.

Among those 12 teams is Hopkins, which advanced to state as a wild-card entry. Hopkins placed third in the Section 7AAA Meet May 8 at Hopkins High Stadium. Coach Andrea Yesnes praised her Royals for an outstanding effort across the board.

In a True Team meet, every runner, jumper and thrower wins points for the team. It helps to have high scorers, but the most important aspect of this competition is team depth.

“We had some high scorers - Mya Burgess, Sydney Drevlow, Nyah’Symone Britt, Joelle Kurus and Praise Akinyele,” coach Yesnes said.

Burgess placed in all three sprints - 100, 200 and 400. She took fourth place in the 200 with a personal record of 26.11 seconds and was fifth in the 400 with a personal record of 1:00.38.

Drevlow, one of the best runners in Hopkins history, placed fourth in the 400 and the 1600 and was seventh in the 800.

Britt high jumped 5 feet for third place and was 11th in the long jump.

Kurus led the Royal throwers, taking fourth place in the discus and sixth in the shot put. Teammate Maya Peirce placed fifth in the discus with a personal record of 96-3.

Akinyele took second place in the 100 hurdles with a personal record of 15.72 before adding a fifth place in the 300 hurdles.

Brioni Hunter of Hopkins finished seventh in the 100-meter dash in 13.03 seconds.

Nolyn Snyders emerged as one of the best all-arounders for Hopkins, earning points in the 300 hurdles, the pole vault, the long jump and the triple jump.

Ruby Schweigert, Daphne Grobstein and Maeryn Pier led the Royals in the 3200, all placing among the top 13.

Ninth-grader Elsie Budolfson placed seventh in the 100 hurdles and took third in the triple jump with a personal record of 34 feet, 1 inch.

Hopkins senior Annabelle Speers cleared 10 feet for third place in the pole vault. Senior Lauren Hoffman gave Hopkins eighth place in the 300 hurdles.

Section 7AAA

Girls Scores

Minnetonka 999, Wayzata 917, Hopkins 853, Eden Prairie 687.5, Chanhassen 657.5, Armstrong 609, Waconia 603, Chaska 486, Cooper 69.