Holdingford, Annandale rise to top at Section 5A meet

COLLEGEVILLE Logan Smith joked that maybe there's something in the water in Holdingford.

"Chlorine," Mathew Vasilj said.

"Iron," Smith replied with a laugh.

"That's kind of ironic," teammate Brody Davidson said. "We have so many people with iron deficiency."

Water or whatever, the Holdingford track and field program is having a remarkable season.

The Huskers won the Section 5A boys title Wednesday at Clemens Stadium, edging defending champion Foley, 89 to 83.5.

Annandale's girls, meanwhile, had an even more narrow victory, slipping past Litchfield 66-64.

The top two finishers in each event and any one reaching a qualifying standard advance to the state Class A championships June 6-7 at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Holdingford is sending a large contingent in a season that has included the boys' first state true-team championship and their first Section 5A title since 2007.

"This season has been just phenomenal," said Davidson, who teamed with Zach Juaire, Smith and Vasijl to take second in the 1,600-meter relay and earn a state berth.

"Our team has come so close together just to get through these meets."

Holdingford's Kelly Kubernusz was named the Section 5A boys head coach of the year. Litchfield's Tait Christensen was named the section girls' head coach of the year. Terry Karlsgodt of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City was named section assistant coach of the year.

"It's been a whirlwind year," said Kubernusz, who was quick to praise the coaching staff, including head girls coach Mark Alcorn. "I owe (volunteer assistant and retired head coach) Chet (Blascziek) a lot of credit for that one (winning section coach).

"He's been my mentor for a lot of years."

The athletes, meanwhile, were full of praise for their coaching staff. They said they felt like they had achieved so many important goals this year.

Holdingford lost only one meet all season, taking second to Foley, which is the defending state Class A boys' champion.

"This year, the biggest reason (for their success) has been the coaches," Vasijl said.

"They toughened us up," Davidson said. "We don't win without them."

There were numerous highlights Wednesday on a picture-perfect sunny day. Temperatures reached the 80s and wind clearly wasn't a factor.

A quick look:

• Paynesville senior Kari Hoeft was a triple winner. Hoeft, who is headed to the College of St. Benedict, won the 100 hurdles (15.55 seconds), the 300 hurdles (47.07) and the triple jump (35-2.5).

"It's been a great senior year," said Hoeft, who plans a liturgical music major.

• Foley's Tyler Beehler continued his assault on all school, conference, sub-section and section records with wins in the 100 (11.05) and the 200 (21.88). He also was part of the winning 400 relay team (44.02) with senior Luke Kelvington and ninth-graders Ryan Kurth and Hunter Beehler (Tyler's brother).

The 21.88 broke the section record of 21.90 set by Dion Clare in 1984. The state Class A record is 21.62. That's next, Beehler hopes.

"That's what I want to do, hopefully set the record in the 100 and the 200," he said.

• St. Cloud Cathedral's Nick Golebiowski easily won the 1,600 (4:22.97) and the 3,200 (9:51.66). The senior, who is headed to Division I Georgetown, wasn't thrilled with either time, saying he has been training hard. He also wasn't pushed this day.

"It's hard when you're only running against the clock," he said.

His goal is the same as Beehler's, to set state records next week at Hamline. That'd be a 4:15.20 in the 1,600 and an 8:59.12 in the 3,200.

• Albany ninth-grader Emily Weiss won the 800, nearly setting a section record. Her time of 2:19.18 just missed beating the 2:19.00 set by Charlene Hubbard in 1982.

"It's awesome," said Weiss, who heads to her first state meet. She's also the anchor of the Huskies' 1,600 relay that won with a 4:09.49. It includes Allyson Wenzel, Cassandra Solis and Emma Seiler.

• The Huskies' Mitchell Kollodge also is going after winning the 300 hurdles in a school-record time of 39.48 seconds and taking second to Foley's Grant Wennerberg in the 100 hurdles.

"It's fantastic because I've been working my butt off all year to get to state," said Kollodge, who is headed to North Dakota State.

• Annandale senior Courtney Alama won the 3,200 with an 11:23.62. She and the Cardinals' 400 relay team of Madison Kasper, Emmy Whitesell, Calisha Norgren and Kamryn Dheilly are headed to state with a good number of boys' athletes.

"I'm so excited because it's my senior year," Alama said. "I broke the school record (of 11:26).

"This has been great. We have a lot of seniors on our team. ...

"There's a lot of my friends on the by 4-by-1 and the boys 4-by-2 is going, too. We're going to have a lot of people down there to run with."

Boys

Team scores – 1. Holdingford 89; 2. Foley 83.5; 3. New London-Spicer 69.5; 4. Maple Lake 60.5; 5. Rockford 46; 6. Rush City 40; 7. Albany 37; 8. Mora and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 33; 10. St. Cloud Cathedral and Pierz 26; 12. Litchfield 24; 13. Annandale 23; 14. Royalton and Community Christian 18; 16. St. Cloud Christian 14.5; 17. Milaca 13; 18. Melrose 12; 19. Hinckley-Finlayson 10; 21. Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball 9; 22. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 4; 23. St. John's Prep 3; 25. Paynesville and East Central 1.

100 meters – 1. Tyler Beehler (Foley) 11.05; 2. Demario Peterkin (Rush City) 11.36.

200 – 1. Beehler (F) 21.88; 2. Demario Peterkin (RC) 22.79.

400 – 1. Robbie Skiba (Pierz) 51.02; 2. Logan Smith (Hold) 52.56.

800 – 1. Ben Burgett (Com) 1:58.94; 2. Kevin Lamb (Alb) 1:59.43.

1,600 – 1. Nick GolebiowskI (Cath) 4:22.97; 2. Burgett (Com) 4:26.02.

3,200 – 1. Golebiowski (Cath) 9:51.66; 2. Zach Carlson (Roy) 9:55.09.

110 hurdles – 1. Grant Wennerberg (F) 15.95; 2. Mitchell Kollodge (Alb) 15.82.

300 hurdles – 1. Kollodge (Alb) 39.48; 2. Jordan O'Reilly (Rock) 40.83.

400 relay – 1. Foley (T. Beehler, Ryan Kurth, Luke Kelvington, Hunter Beehler) 44.02; 2. Rockford 44.19.

800 relay – 1. Rockford 1:33.74; 2. Annandale (Barrett Bataille, Spencer Ogden, Zach Chollett, Andrew Fort) 1:33.82.

1,600 relay – 1. Rush City 3:31.05; 2. Holdingford (Zach Suaire, Logan Smith, Mathew Vasilj, Brody Davidson) 3:31.27.

3,200 – 1. Holdingford 8:11.33; 2. Maple Lake 8:12.31.

High jump – 1. Andrew Schonnesen (ML) 6-1; 2. Shane Zylstra (NLS) 6-1.

Pole vault – 1. Luke Maher (RC) 13-2; 2. Erik Olson (Rock) 12-7.

Long jump – 1. Zylstra (NLS) 21-3; 2. Adam Essler (NLS) 20-8.25.

Triple jump – 1. Essler (NLS) 43-8.25; 2. Grant Bullert (Hold) 42-9.25.

Shot put – 1. Mitch Danner (Litch) 50-2.5; 2. Blake Klinkner (HLWW) 46-8.

Discus – 1. Nick Czech (Foley) 153-9; 2. Danner (Litch) 138.5.

Girls

Team scores – 1. Annandale 66; 2. Litchfield 64; 3. Paynesville 58; 4. Holdingford 47; 5. Maple Lake 42; 6. Foley 40; 7. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 35.5; 8. St. Cloud Cathedral 34.5; 9. Rockford and Rush City 34; 11. Albany and Milaca 33; 13. Spectrum 32; 14. Mora 25; 15. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball 20; 17. Melrose 19; 18. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 11; 19. St. Cloud Christian and New London-Spicer 8; 21. Braham 7; 22. St. John's Prep and Royalton 6; 24. Pierz 5; 25. East Central and Ogilvie 4; 27. Mille Lacs Area 3; 28. Community Christian 2; 29. Pine City 1.

100 – 1. Vanessa Brenny (Foley) 12.81; 2. Kayla Nelson (Rush City) 12.99.

200 – 1. Nelson (RC) 26.84; 2. Rycheil Gjovik (Litch) 27.34.

400 – 1. Nelson (RC) 58.33; 2. Katelyn Spanier (Paynesville) 58.72.

800 – 1. Emily Weiss (Albany) 2:19.18; 2. Kayla Zimmerman (Spectrum) 2:20.94.

1,600 – 1. Bethany Coop (Mora) 5:22.47; 2. Abigail Botten (Rockford) 5:25.26.

3,200 – 1. Courtney Alama (Annandale) 11:23.62; 2. McKenzie Holt (St. Cloud Christian) 11:36.49.

100 hurdles – 1. Kari Hoeft (Pay) 15.59; 2. Allie Terpstra (Milaca) 15.93; 3. Jordan Weeding (Rock) 16.03.

300 hurdles – 1. Hoeft (Pay) 47.07; 2. Summer Storm (Hold) 47.59.

400 relay – 1. Annandale (Madison Kasper, Emmy Whitesell, Calisha Norgren, Kamryn Dheilly) 51.39; 2. Foley (Abby Genereau, Alycia Chmielewski, Gertchen Wipper, Brenny) 51.58.

1,600 relay – 1. Holdingford 1:48.17; 2. Foley (Kerstin Strosahl, Chmielewski, Abby Generau, Brenny) 1:48.55.

1,600 relay – 1. Albany (Allyson Wenzel, Cassandra Solis, Emma Seiler, Emily Weiss) 4:09.49; 2. Holdingford 4:10.95.

3,200 relay – 1. Litchfield 9:50.97; 2. Cathedral (Rachel Eickhoff, Morgan Durbin, Paige Danielson, Katie Tomczik 9:55.99).

High jump – 1. Taylor Gregory (BBE) 5-1; 2. Loran Bechtel (Spectrum) 5-1.

Pole vault – 1. Katleyn Mrozek (Pay) 9-2; 2. Sarah Forker (Milaca) 8-11.

Long jump – 1. Kinlee Swanson (BBE) 16-7.25; 2. Gjovik (Litch) 16-2.25.

Triple jump – 1. Hoeft (Pay) 35-2.5; 2. Lydia Butkowski (Mel) 34-5.75.

Shot put – 1. Bailey Erickson (ACGC) 37-11; 2. Meghan Nelson (Litch) 37-0.5.

Discus – 1. Erickson (ACGC) 115-6; 2. Sadie Gertken-Eggert (Albany) 109-11.