Windy and chilly conditions met Minnesota's top talents Friday night at the Hamline Elite Meet. With the extended winter, the fields were largely composed of runners using marks and times from the 2017 season, and perhaps limited the opportunity for those who improved drastically over the winter to qualify as fast/good marks have been hard to come by this season. Nevertheless, records were broken, claims were staked, and the picture of how all of the top athletes stack up became a little clearer! This week I'll analyze some (but not all!) of the results, and give some of my personal insights on what to expect as the season goes on!
Sprints:
Keylan Jackson of Saint Paul Johnson took the 100 meter title after finishing second a year ago. Hopkins junior, Joe Fahnbulleh set an incredible new PR of 21.68 to take the win in the 200 meters by almost a second. On the boys side, one of the most notable performances of the night came from Hopkins junior, Joe Fahnbulleh. Fahnbulleh not only set a PR of 21.68 to win the open 200, but he also aided the Hopkins sprint team in setting a new meet record of 1:27.19 in the 4x200. After narrowly missing out to East Ridge for the State title last year, Hopkins appears to be the team to beat in the relay after this outstanding performance.
In his first Hamline appearance, sophomore Jonathan Mann of Rosemount ran an impressive PR of 14.77 to take the 110 meter hurdles victory. His early season form implies that he is ready to improve upon his ninth place finish at State last year, and he could likely be the greatest hurdler from Minnesota since RJ Alowonle and the great Jon Tollefson.
Another notable performance was Cal Wright of Mora, with his win in the 400 meter dash. I have a soft spot for single-A athletes, and Wright was on fire, running nearly a 2-second PR to beat out a strong field including 100-meter champion, Keylan Jackson of Saint Paul Johnson who looked very strong as well! What is even more remarkable is that this is only Wright's second year competing in track!
Pre-race favorite, T'nia Riley of Minneapolis North was upset by Shaliciah Jones of North St. Paul in the 100 meters. Kendra Kelley of Cloquet took the 200 meters title after finishing as the runner-up a year ago, and she looks to be in excellent shape to make a run for her first State title come June. Kelly finished 3rd in the 200 and 100 at State last year.
In one of the closest races of the night, Natalie Windels of Eagan held off White Bear Lake's Erika Townley by 3/100ths of a second for the title in the 300-meter hurdles after a very late charge. Remarkably, Windels is undefeated in every 300-meter hurdles she has run for the last year except at State True Team state, and is a heavy favorite to defend her State title in the event.
Field Events:
In the pole vault, to nobody's surprise, Mounds View star Calvin Ciganik won the event by over a foot! Ciganik appears to be in a league of his own, and is definitely the favorite for a State title. The women's pole vault saw another dominant performance by another Mounds View athlete, Julia Fixsen. Fixsen won the event by over a foot as well and will look to win her second state championship in the event in June.
In the jumps, Allyson Weiss successfully defended her triple jump championship, while Robbie Grace and Madison Schmidt pulled off upsets to earn their Hamline titles in the long and high jump events. For the boys, Xavier Thurman endured much drama in earning his high jump win in a jump-off, while Perham's Martin LaFond won the competitive long jump event. But maybe the biggest field event upset was Ian Fosdick, who only this spring has become a force in the triple jump after not even making State as a sophomore.
In the throws, Mitchell Weber stood out with his dominant performance in the discus, winning by about 12 feet over the closest competitor. Weber, of Saint Clair, doubled in the shot put where he finished fourth. Samuel Moore of Bertha-Hewitt took the title in the shot put, and established himself as a favorite to defend his State title in the event. Of course, every throw was made the strong wind at their backs (which reduces lift caused by a disc's tilt), keeping the discus throws artificially short. We can expect far more impressive results under more favorable future conditions. For the girls, pre-meet favorite Cayle Hovland earned the title in the discus, and Fairmont's Allison Lardy upset Emma Gilbert in the shot.
Middle-Distance/Distance:
Now we enter into my area of expertise, where I would like to believe my opinions may be a little more well-informed!
Starting out with the boys 800 meters, we saw a close contest between Chaska's John Starkey and Wayzata's Patrick Leonard, with the former taking the win about ½ of a second. Whoever will take the title at State is unclear at the moment, as the field is very tightly bunched, and there were some athletes not competing who could pose a threat as well, including Wayzata's Anders Sonnesyn. Jebediah Merkle of Southwest Christian was the sole class A runner in the field and coming off a strong 1600 meter run, he recovered well with little rest to finish 8th. The 800 seems to be the race that is often discarded for many top athletes, as the State meet schedule makes it very difficult to double it with a 1600, so we may very well see potential 800-meter champions elect to not even run the event! Currently Addison Stansbury has the fastest 800-meter time in the state so it will be interesting to see who chooses which events later on!
Speaking of Stansbury, the Stillwater junior has enjoyed a very strong start to his season, and running in tough conditions, he dominated the 1600 with a gutsy display. Taking the lead from the gun, and running alone, Stansbury held off a late charge from Mounds View's Austin Streit to take the 1600 meters victory. Stansbury could well contend for a spot on top of the podium with likely favorite, Khalid Hussein, come June if he continues his strong early season form.
Another performance of note is Minnehaha's Maxwell Gifford, who ran an impressive 4:25 PR, and has made remarkable improvements and defeated challenging obstacles since last year to insert himself into a list of contenders for a medal spot in class A.
Max Manley of Edina has begun his track season similar to his cross country season. Manley was the top Minnesota runner at the Roy Griak meet last fall, and he took down a strong field in the 3200 meters on Friday to stake a claim as the top Minnesota distance runner. Manley ran a smart race, outkicking an impressive effort from Washburn's Joseph Minor and All-American, Khalid Hussein.
Isaac Basten of Buffalo ran a very impressive PR to finish fourth, followed by Henry Sibley's Myles Fleming, and Wayzata duo Andrew Brandt and Blake Buysse. I found myself finishing in a rather disappointing 8th place, perhaps due to kidney stone surgery I recently had.
Although perhaps not the result that was expected, it is likely that Hussein remains the favorite to win the double in the 1600 and 3200 meters at State. Hussein proved that early season results mean very little compared to championship races last fall, and in the big races it is unwise to bet against the future Golden Gopher. Similarly, we would expect Acer Iverson of Roseville, and Luke Labatte of Rosemount to improve as the season progresses as both ran remarkably well in the fall.
While on the subject of boys distance runners, I do have to give a shoutout to one of my main competitors, La Crescent's Matt Steiger. Steiger didn't make the trip all the way to the cities for Hamline, but he has quietly been churning out very impressive solo performances all season! He ran a 9:30 in a meet where the next fastest time was 11+ minutes, and he likely would have been a competitor for some of the top spots at Hamline had he been there!
The girls' distance events are always among the most competitive and exciting to watch, with many of the top girls in the nation competing against each other. Emily Kompelien had an impressive night, taking the victory in the 1600 and 800 meters. The future Brown Bear took down a stacked field, including Farmington's Lauren Peterson, Cotter's Grace Ping, and Math and Science's Tierney Wolfgram to win by about two seconds in the 1600. A quick turnaround didn't stop her from demonstrating her outstanding speed, outkicking Danielle Bellino of Lakeville North in the 800! Kompelien faces a tough double at State if she elects for the 800 and 1600, but proved that she has the fitness to compete with anybody on Friday night!
The girls 3200 was perhaps the race of the night, with 5+ national caliber runners in the field. Emily Covert dominated the field, setting a new meet-record in 10:17. Covert is coming off of a winter where she led the nation in the indoor 3200, and at the moment she appears to be a level above an incredibly talented field. It was rather remarkable to watch how seemingly effortless it was for her to shut the door on such a talented field. Seventh grader Lauren Ping continued to turn heads, as she finished second in an insanely fast 10:25! For reference, I couldn't run that fast until about 9th grade! Tierney Wolfgram came back for a very difficult double (1600 and 3200), and ran well to take third. To make a prediction for State would be nearly impossible, as both class A and AA are stacked, so for now we can just look ahead eagerly to see where these incredibly talented young women will be come June.
A big congratulations to all competitors in Friday's meet, and expect other names to emerge as contenders in the month to come what with it not being snowy and 30 degrees anymore!
Happy running!
Questions, comments, concerns?
Fellow running junkie to talk to?
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