- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 548,388
- Reaction score
- 47
Jun. 6—ST. MICHAEL — Lauren Eilers kept tabs on the competition.
The senior distance runner on the Willmar girls track and field team wanted to know how she stacked up against Class AA's best after breaking the five-minute mark in the 1,600-meter run. Already the school's record-holder in the 1,600, Lauren ran a career-best 4:56.25 at the Section 8AA championship.
As it turned out, Lauren stood alone at the top of the state qualifiers.
Lauren is the top seed in the Class AA girls' 1,600. And she'll look to finish off her prep career as a state champion at the Minnesota State High School League Track and Field Championships next week at St. Michael-Albertville High School. The Class AA prelims start at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The championships are at 9 a.m. Thursday.
"I thought maybe someone would get under five as well," Lauren said, "but that didn't happen."
The 1,600 finals run on Thursday. After her last race, Lauren's confidence is riding high.
"It builds up confidence knowing that I'm the only girl that has broken five," Lauren said. "But also, everyone's going to be running faster and it's more competitive because it's state.
"I just have to go run my own race."
The No. 2 seed in the 1,600 is a familiar foe for Lauren. That's Alexandria senior Kasey Soderholm. Her state qualifying time was 5:01.64. The other top seeds are St. Peter's Keira Friedrich (5:02.57), Chisago Lakes' Annika Hall (5:03.27) and Monticello's Isabel Mahoney (5:03.37).
"I also ran against her in cross-country," Lauren said of Soderholm. "Having her there and knowing that she's going to push me no matter what, whether I'm having a bad day or a good day, she's going to be there to push me and all the other girls, too."
Lauren finished fifth in the 1,600 last season, running a time of 5:03.41. This is Lauren's fifth straight season qualifying for state track.
This state meet will also be Lauren's busiest. She's also the fifth seed in the 800 (2:16.15) and is the anchor in the 10th-seeded 4x400 relay (4:03.43). Mallory Beier, Erin Eilers and Sophie Negen also run in the 4x400.
A cross-country and girls hockey standout, state track is Lauren's finale as a Willmar High School athlete. She'll resume her running career in college at Division I Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.
"It feels sad but also it's good because these are the best times I've been hitting all my career," Lauren said. "So it's good to see the improvement over the years. I've been getting better and putting the work in and it's paying off."
Since they came onto the varsity team as seventh-graders, Erin Eilers and her twin sister Lauren were near each other as distance runners.
But last season as a junior, Erin went from distance running to the hurdles. It was something she had wanted to try. Kody Fossum and Brady Krupa, then assistant coaches and now co-head coaches of the track team, decided to take Erin up on that once she was ready to take the leap, so to speak.
"They were like, 'If you want to do it, we'll help you but if you actually want to be good at it and you take it seriously, we'll take it seriously, too,'" Erin said. "So we made that deal last year and we've just been working from there."
Now, Erin's getting her chance at state to compete in the girls' 300 hurdles. She's the sixth seed after winning the section title with a school record of 45.44. This is her fourth state trip overall.
"It was really emotional, honestly," Erin said of setting the record. "I've been working on trying to break the school record since last year but I only had four races last year. Coming into this season, I told the coaches my goal is to break the school record."
A little sibling rivalry flared up in Erin.
"Like, Lauren's got two (in the 1,600 and 3,200), so I have to have one, you know," Erin said. "It was my goal to get that. From there, I just want to keep pushing myself."
The top seed in the 300 hurdles is Providence Academy's Maddyn Greenway at 43.98. Behind her are Winona's Alexis Urbick (44.62), Cloquet's Makenzie Lynch (44.62), Mankato West's Grace Jacobson (45.11) and DeLaSalle's Laila Moses (45.33).
"I'm just going to run my race and just try to stay confident and push myself," Erin said. "I know there's going to be girls that are faster than me so they can pull me with them and I can get to the finish line at a good time.
"I feel like it'll be a good race."
Erin will also resume her track career at Division II Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She plans on running the 400 hurdles and the heptathlon.
"It's kind of surreal," Erin said about her final high-school meet. "We've just had all this time. And the younger girls, I'm gonna miss seeing them every single day."
Making his fourth and final trip to state is Willmar boys distance runner Sully Anez.
The senior and future South Dakota State University runner qualified for both the 1,600 and 3,200. He's the fifth seed in both with a time of 4:18.64 in the 1,600 and 9:29.95 in the 3,200.
The top seed in the 1,600 is Totino-Grace's Matthew Lindgren at 4:15.30. Owen Chapman of Orono is the top seed in the 3,200 at 9:19.61.
When looking at the improvements Anez has made through the years, Fossum keyed in on Anez's discipline.
"There's a large discipline with distance running that not a lot of people consider," Fossum said. "So to me, his mental determination to continue to fight through every lap, every milestone, every mark, is what sets him apart from his sophomore year that I first saw him to his junior year to this year."
Anez ran in both events last season, placing fifth in the 3,200 at 9:19.26 and sixth in the 1,600 at 4:18.92.
Willmar is bringing three field athletes to state.
Sophomore Maddison Molacek is the fifth seed in the girls' discus with a qualifying toss of 125 feet, 4 inches. Stewartville's Ella Theobald leads the pack with a qualifying throw of 145-10. Junior Mallory Beier is the 10th seed in the girls' long jump at 17-1.75. Simley's Ayisat Adebayo is the top seed at 17-11.5. Sophomore Briar Schuett is in the boys' long jump as the 29th seed at 20-9.75. Becker's Carter Reckelberg has the top seed at 24-8.75.
New London-Spicer junior Danica Pederson is tied for the two seed in the girls' high jump. Her qualifying mark of 5-5 ties her with DeLaSalle's Laila Moses. Mankato West's Leila Pratt is the top seed at 5-5.25.
Kyla Vick also made state for NLS. She's the 16th seed in the girls' 3,200 at 11:27.07. Chisago Lakes' Annika Hall is the top seed at 10:48.57.
The Class A championships kick off with prelims at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and the championships at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. A total of 26 area athletes in individual events and 11 relays will compete over two days.
Three defending state champions are back from last season.
Minnewaska has a pair of returning champions in senior Owen Meulebroeck and junior Jayda Kolstoe. Meulebroeck won the 300 hurdles last season at 39.86. He's the fifth seed this time at 40.46. The top seed is Osakis' Andrew Jones at 37.62. Meulebroeck is also the 16th seed in the boys' 110 hurdles (15.84). United South Central's Brant Blosser is the number one seed at 14.62. Kolstoe won the girls' shot put at 43-9.25 last season as a sophomore. She comes into state this time as the 10th seed at 36-8. The top seed is La Crescent-Hokah's Brooklyn Mitchell at 42-7.25. Kolstoe is also in the girls' discus as the two seed (126-0). The top seed is Litchfield junior Chloe Kowalczyk at 129-5.
The other returning champ is Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd's Brayson Boike. He won the boys' triple jump last season at 45.3.25. He is the seventh seed ths time around at 43-2. Windom's Job Ogeka is the top seed at 45-4. Boike is also tied for the third seed in the high jump (6-4) and the fourth seed in the long jump (21-11).
Other notes in Class A:
* The girls' hurdles is be chock-full of area contenders. The 100 hurdles has Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City's Kenlie Blom (fourth, 15.21), Minnewaska's Lauryn Ankeny (sixth, 15.32), Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's Ava Noble (eighth, 15.37) and Central Minnesota Christian's Sophia Vogel (14th, 15.69). Noble (fourth, 44.79), Ankeny (fifth, 44.83) and Vogel (44.92) are also in the 300 hurdles.
* The girls' discus also features four area athletes with Kowalczyk (first, 129-5), Kolstoe (second, 126-0), Montevideo's Elizabeth O'Malley (11th, 119-0) and MACCRAY/Renville County West's Emma Thein (16th, 114-6).
* Minnewaska has both of the top-seeded relays from the area. The Laker boys' 4x100 with Tristan O'Neil, Kaiden Harvey, Carter Meyer and Asante Adams is seeded third (43.54). The girls' 4x800 with Ella Larson, Maia Larson, Nori Song and Olivia Danielson is also a three seed (9:42.85).
Continue reading...
The senior distance runner on the Willmar girls track and field team wanted to know how she stacked up against Class AA's best after breaking the five-minute mark in the 1,600-meter run. Already the school's record-holder in the 1,600, Lauren ran a career-best 4:56.25 at the Section 8AA championship.
As it turned out, Lauren stood alone at the top of the state qualifiers.
Lauren is the top seed in the Class AA girls' 1,600. And she'll look to finish off her prep career as a state champion at the Minnesota State High School League Track and Field Championships next week at St. Michael-Albertville High School. The Class AA prelims start at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The championships are at 9 a.m. Thursday.
"I thought maybe someone would get under five as well," Lauren said, "but that didn't happen."
The 1,600 finals run on Thursday. After her last race, Lauren's confidence is riding high.
"It builds up confidence knowing that I'm the only girl that has broken five," Lauren said. "But also, everyone's going to be running faster and it's more competitive because it's state.
"I just have to go run my own race."
The No. 2 seed in the 1,600 is a familiar foe for Lauren. That's Alexandria senior Kasey Soderholm. Her state qualifying time was 5:01.64. The other top seeds are St. Peter's Keira Friedrich (5:02.57), Chisago Lakes' Annika Hall (5:03.27) and Monticello's Isabel Mahoney (5:03.37).
"I also ran against her in cross-country," Lauren said of Soderholm. "Having her there and knowing that she's going to push me no matter what, whether I'm having a bad day or a good day, she's going to be there to push me and all the other girls, too."
Lauren finished fifth in the 1,600 last season, running a time of 5:03.41. This is Lauren's fifth straight season qualifying for state track.
This state meet will also be Lauren's busiest. She's also the fifth seed in the 800 (2:16.15) and is the anchor in the 10th-seeded 4x400 relay (4:03.43). Mallory Beier, Erin Eilers and Sophie Negen also run in the 4x400.
A cross-country and girls hockey standout, state track is Lauren's finale as a Willmar High School athlete. She'll resume her running career in college at Division I Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.
"It feels sad but also it's good because these are the best times I've been hitting all my career," Lauren said. "So it's good to see the improvement over the years. I've been getting better and putting the work in and it's paying off."
Since they came onto the varsity team as seventh-graders, Erin Eilers and her twin sister Lauren were near each other as distance runners.
But last season as a junior, Erin went from distance running to the hurdles. It was something she had wanted to try. Kody Fossum and Brady Krupa, then assistant coaches and now co-head coaches of the track team, decided to take Erin up on that once she was ready to take the leap, so to speak.
"They were like, 'If you want to do it, we'll help you but if you actually want to be good at it and you take it seriously, we'll take it seriously, too,'" Erin said. "So we made that deal last year and we've just been working from there."
Now, Erin's getting her chance at state to compete in the girls' 300 hurdles. She's the sixth seed after winning the section title with a school record of 45.44. This is her fourth state trip overall.
"It was really emotional, honestly," Erin said of setting the record. "I've been working on trying to break the school record since last year but I only had four races last year. Coming into this season, I told the coaches my goal is to break the school record."
A little sibling rivalry flared up in Erin.
"Like, Lauren's got two (in the 1,600 and 3,200), so I have to have one, you know," Erin said. "It was my goal to get that. From there, I just want to keep pushing myself."
The top seed in the 300 hurdles is Providence Academy's Maddyn Greenway at 43.98. Behind her are Winona's Alexis Urbick (44.62), Cloquet's Makenzie Lynch (44.62), Mankato West's Grace Jacobson (45.11) and DeLaSalle's Laila Moses (45.33).
"I'm just going to run my race and just try to stay confident and push myself," Erin said. "I know there's going to be girls that are faster than me so they can pull me with them and I can get to the finish line at a good time.
"I feel like it'll be a good race."
Erin will also resume her track career at Division II Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She plans on running the 400 hurdles and the heptathlon.
"It's kind of surreal," Erin said about her final high-school meet. "We've just had all this time. And the younger girls, I'm gonna miss seeing them every single day."
Making his fourth and final trip to state is Willmar boys distance runner Sully Anez.
The senior and future South Dakota State University runner qualified for both the 1,600 and 3,200. He's the fifth seed in both with a time of 4:18.64 in the 1,600 and 9:29.95 in the 3,200.
The top seed in the 1,600 is Totino-Grace's Matthew Lindgren at 4:15.30. Owen Chapman of Orono is the top seed in the 3,200 at 9:19.61.
When looking at the improvements Anez has made through the years, Fossum keyed in on Anez's discipline.
"There's a large discipline with distance running that not a lot of people consider," Fossum said. "So to me, his mental determination to continue to fight through every lap, every milestone, every mark, is what sets him apart from his sophomore year that I first saw him to his junior year to this year."
Anez ran in both events last season, placing fifth in the 3,200 at 9:19.26 and sixth in the 1,600 at 4:18.92.
Willmar is bringing three field athletes to state.
Sophomore Maddison Molacek is the fifth seed in the girls' discus with a qualifying toss of 125 feet, 4 inches. Stewartville's Ella Theobald leads the pack with a qualifying throw of 145-10. Junior Mallory Beier is the 10th seed in the girls' long jump at 17-1.75. Simley's Ayisat Adebayo is the top seed at 17-11.5. Sophomore Briar Schuett is in the boys' long jump as the 29th seed at 20-9.75. Becker's Carter Reckelberg has the top seed at 24-8.75.
New London-Spicer junior Danica Pederson is tied for the two seed in the girls' high jump. Her qualifying mark of 5-5 ties her with DeLaSalle's Laila Moses. Mankato West's Leila Pratt is the top seed at 5-5.25.
Kyla Vick also made state for NLS. She's the 16th seed in the girls' 3,200 at 11:27.07. Chisago Lakes' Annika Hall is the top seed at 10:48.57.
The Class A championships kick off with prelims at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and the championships at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. A total of 26 area athletes in individual events and 11 relays will compete over two days.
Three defending state champions are back from last season.
Minnewaska has a pair of returning champions in senior Owen Meulebroeck and junior Jayda Kolstoe. Meulebroeck won the 300 hurdles last season at 39.86. He's the fifth seed this time at 40.46. The top seed is Osakis' Andrew Jones at 37.62. Meulebroeck is also the 16th seed in the boys' 110 hurdles (15.84). United South Central's Brant Blosser is the number one seed at 14.62. Kolstoe won the girls' shot put at 43-9.25 last season as a sophomore. She comes into state this time as the 10th seed at 36-8. The top seed is La Crescent-Hokah's Brooklyn Mitchell at 42-7.25. Kolstoe is also in the girls' discus as the two seed (126-0). The top seed is Litchfield junior Chloe Kowalczyk at 129-5.
The other returning champ is Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd's Brayson Boike. He won the boys' triple jump last season at 45.3.25. He is the seventh seed ths time around at 43-2. Windom's Job Ogeka is the top seed at 45-4. Boike is also tied for the third seed in the high jump (6-4) and the fourth seed in the long jump (21-11).
Other notes in Class A:
* The girls' hurdles is be chock-full of area contenders. The 100 hurdles has Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City's Kenlie Blom (fourth, 15.21), Minnewaska's Lauryn Ankeny (sixth, 15.32), Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's Ava Noble (eighth, 15.37) and Central Minnesota Christian's Sophia Vogel (14th, 15.69). Noble (fourth, 44.79), Ankeny (fifth, 44.83) and Vogel (44.92) are also in the 300 hurdles.
* The girls' discus also features four area athletes with Kowalczyk (first, 129-5), Kolstoe (second, 126-0), Montevideo's Elizabeth O'Malley (11th, 119-0) and MACCRAY/Renville County West's Emma Thein (16th, 114-6).
* Minnewaska has both of the top-seeded relays from the area. The Laker boys' 4x100 with Tristan O'Neil, Kaiden Harvey, Carter Meyer and Asante Adams is seeded third (43.54). The girls' 4x800 with Ella Larson, Maia Larson, Nori Song and Olivia Danielson is also a three seed (9:42.85).
Continue reading...
