The LCWM Knight-Raiders advanced to state in two relays and two individual events at Saturday’s Section 2A Track and Field meet held at Mankato West High School. The running event finals had not yet started when Katelin Flack threw the discus 116’3” on her third preliminary throw. That throw would hold up through the finals and be the winning discus mark. Several of the state’s top throwers were well off their best marks at sections which resulted in Flack being seeded fourth in Thursday’s State Class A Discus Competition. The first finals event on the track was the 4 x 800 meter relay where the Knight-Raiders ran 8:14.47 setting a new school record by nearly four seconds. The squad of Lucas Pietan, Charlie Gengler, Jacob Cooper and Christian Fells replaces the 8:18.14 relay from 2003 consisting of Justin Bull, Matt Hoehn, Tony Krzmarzick and Jamie Wagner on the record board. Their finish was second to Mountain Lake Area’s 8:07.37. The time of 8:14.47 would have finished third in last year’s state meet but the competition has improved dramatically this year. The team is seeded 12th at state and will run in the first of two heats at state on Friday.
Our team focuses on team success for indoor conference, outdoor conference and true team. After those meets, we start to look at our best chances of qualifying for state. It was clear Logan Sandmeyer was doing everything he could for the team, leading off the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 as well as long jumping and high jumping (and playing golf for the Knight-Raiders). After an unexpected need in our lineup arose we entered Sandmeyer in the 100 meter dash for the first time all season at the outdoor conference championships; and he won. Sandmeyer then asked if he could run the open 100 and open 200 at the TCU meet. He won the 100 again. He dropped the high jump and entered the 100 at subsection where Sandmeyer finished second to JCC’s Gabe Wolff, who would go on to win the section meet. Five athletes from the north subsection were better than Sandmeyer’s 11.97 at subsection. No matter, Sandmeyer was second in heat one at Saturday’s section meet in 11.67, three hundredths better than the north’s Liam West of LSH at 11.70. Now, Sandmeyer has to prove it in the finals. Often the top runners will hold back a bit just making sure to qualify for finals. According to coach Tom Murphy, Sandmeyer did not have a strong start in the final and looked to be in about sixth early before hitting top speed and cruising through the finish line in 11.47 to West’s 11.50, good for second to Wolff’s 11.27. Sandmeyer will run at State Thursday in the first of three heats where he will be in lane 7. The 4 x 400 is the last event on the track and the Knight-Raider girls had high hopes. They were well aware of the hot humid weather and were careful to do things to stay cool and fresh for the final race. Chloe Sargent was replaced in the 4 x 800, and after being treated briefly after the 4 x 400 for overheating, it appears it was a wise decision to save everything for the 4 x 400. A big thank you goes out to our 4 x 800 relay, none of whom ran at subsection. Jayden Hopkins, Emma Sodeman, Evie Jones and Ellie Bergemann(her first 800 ever) all ran splits under 3 minutes for a very respectable showing and a huge contribution to the team’s success later in the meet. Their efforts also kept Jaci Jordan fresh for her 800 meter open where she dominated her heat with a furious final 170 meters and ended up medaling. Back to the 4 x 400 where Savannah Klockziem led off and was first to exchange, just ahead of JWP. Sargent went out fast and increased the lead a bit before passing to Flack, where the lead increased another second. JWP’s ultra-fast anchor was unable to chase down Maggie Graupman as Graupman ran a steady fast anchor leg. The time of 4:12.35 is the second fastest in school history.
Michael Matteson had two strong performances, placing fourth in the triple jump at 42’6.25” and fourth in high jump at 5’8”. Matteson is third all-time on the team’s honor roll in triple jump. Levi Lantz finished 6th in pole vault at 11’11”, 10th on the school honor roll. Freshman Drew Turgeon, competing against a sophomore, six juniors and eight seniors, finished fourth in the discus with a PR of 134’10”. Fells was third in the 800 where he finishes his career second on the school honor roll. Other placers were Graupman, 6th in triple jump at 31’11.75”; Klockziem third in the 300 low hurdles with a PR of 48.86 and Jordan 6th in the 800 at 2:35.17. Choose LCWM on the Valley Conference website to access the school’s activity calendar state track links. No cash accepted at St. Michael so be sure to plan ahead. There is a ticket icon, separate ticket for each day and a spectator guide link.
