By Brenda Erdahl
Sports Editor
The Maple Lake girls and boys track teams came close to qualifying for True Team State after top five performances at True Team Sections on Tuesday, May 7 at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School.
The girls were fourth and the boys fifth out of 18 teams which qualified both for the wildcard paper meet. Unique to track and field, the four top teams, based on a meet which compares performances in a virtual competition, qualify for state.
The girls were sixth and the boys 26th on paper.
To get to that point though, the athletes had to outperform many other talented athletes on the track and field.
The girls had some “great performances,” Head Coach Ben Youngs said, including double-winner Alex Kiebel in the long and high jumps. The 4×200 team of Reese Hartkopf, Avery Lee, Sydney Breimon, and Avery Rowe finished second and there were many other personal bests.
The boys had one winner in Carter Courtright in the shot put and discus events with throws of 44 feet and 132 feet 9 inches, respectively.
“There were many other excellent performances, and the team performed well in the big meet, which is a good sign for the conference and sub-section meets coming up,” Youngs said.
Up next
On Tuesday, May 14, the Irish traveled to Atwater’s Kingery Field for the girls and boys Central Minnesota Conference meet. Results were not available at press time.
On Tuesday, May 21, the Irish host the sub-section meet. Events start at 3 p.m.
Results (top 5)
Girls: 4×200 relay – 2. Maple Lake 1:51.39; 4×100 relay – 5. Maple Lake 53.69; 4×400 relay – 3. Maple Lake 4:21.05; long jump – 1. Alex Kiebel 16 feet, 2 inches; high jump – 1. Alex Kiebel 5 feet, 2 inches; pole vault – 5. Abby Torblaa 7 feet, 6 inches;
Boys: 100-meter dash – 5. Kingsley Okoro 11.26; 1600 meter run – 3. Nick Lind 4:50.22; 4×100 relay – 5. Maple Lake 47.13; 400-meter dash – 3. Nick Lind 53.87; 300-meter hurdles – 4. Alan Haglin 44.14; 3200-meter run – 2. Nick Lind 10:24.10; long jump – 3. Kingsley Okoro 20 feet, 6.5 inches; shot put – 1. Carter Courtright 44 feet; discus – 1. Carter Courtright 132 feet, 9 inches.