Jade Rypkema excelled to become the 3200m Class A Champion
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The 2022 MSHSL State Track and Field Championships returned to St. Michael-Albertville today with the start of this year's state meet. Today we started with the Class A and Class AAA preliminary track events, and the finals for the Class A and Class AAA boys and girls 3200m.
In the field events, we had the finals for the Class A and AAA boys triple jump, pole vault, and shot put; and the girl's long jump, high jump, and discus. Day 1 was filled with some all-time great performances, returning state champions, and many memorable moments.
So without further ado, here are the top performances from Day 1 of the 2022 MSHSL State Track and Field Championships.
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1st 2022 State Champions Crowned
The first champions of the 2022 MSHSL State Track and Field Championships were crowned in the following events:
Class A:
Girls 3200m - Jade Rypkema
Boys 3200m - Finn McCormick
Girls Long Jump - Brielle Kuechle
Boys Triple Jump - Joshua Finseth
Boys Pole Vault - Jarod White
Girls High Jump - Annaka Forsberg
Boys Shot Put - Tony Nelson
Boys Shot Put WC - Toby Hagen
Girls Discus - Nora Wilhelm
Class AAA:
Girls 3200m - Abbey Nechanicky
Bosy 3200m - Noah Breker
Girls Long Jump - Maddie Dahlien
Boys Triple Jump - Hakeem Ford
Boys Pole Vault - Travis Reighard
Girls High Jump - Niamya Holloway
Boys Shot Put - Andrew Albright
Boys Shot Put WC - Michael Allen
Girls Discus - Jordan Hecht
Zinter and Kuechle Break 26 Year Old State Meet Record
Even before the gun has started for the 100m hurdles girls final for Class A, records have already been shattered. Shaina Zinter and Brielle Kuechle both broke the 26-year-old record Class A state meet record of 14.80 in the girl's 100m hurdles with times of 14.31 (Zinter) and 14.77 (Kuechle) in the prelims.
For Zinter, her time of 14.31 is just off her personal best time of 14.29. For Kuechle her time of 14.77 is a new PR, besting her previous best time of 15.30 from last week's section meet.
The previous record had been held by Dassel-Cokato's Kara Hedin who ran her time of 14.80 at the 1996 State Meet.
Abbey Nechanicky Runs Historic 3200m
Nechanicky has had one heck of a comeback season after being injured for almost all of this past fall cross country season. Today, she completed the comeback at the state meet, culminating in her first state title in a historic fashion.
After running an all-time great time of 10:22 in the 3200m last week at sections, Nechanicky hit another level for a time of 10:09.50. This is a 12.50 personal best for Nechanicky and beat out runner-up Isabella Roemer by 15 seconds.
Her time is the 2nd fastest 3200m all-time by a Minnesota girl (excluding 2-mile converted times), only behind Emily Covert's time of 10:06.19. With converted 2-mile times, she comes in ranking 4th all-time by a Minnesota only behind Covert, Bria Wetsch, and Elizabeth Yetzer.
Pine Island senior Jarod White, who set an all-time pole vault state record of 16-2 last week, clears 16-0 to set a state meet record. The bar is moving up to 16-5. https://t.co/SW1UkBUTwZ pic.twitter.com/5im2nzphzJ
-- John Millea (@MSHSLjohn) June 10, 2022
Jarod White Breaks Another Record
After breaking the Minnesota state boy's pole vault record last week, Jarod White broke another record in his last state meet. Last year, White set the boy's state meet pole vault record with a vault of 15' 9". This year he soared even higher with a jump of 16' 0".
White is now the only Minnesota boy in state meet history to jump 16 feet in the pole vault. He now also has 3 vaults 16 feet or higher, the only Minnesota boy to do it more than once.
Shaina Zinter Breaks Another State Meet Record
After already breaking a 26-year-old state meet record, Zinter came back later in the day to break a 35-year-old Class A state meet record in the 300m hurdles. Zinter tied her personal best time of 42.38 to break Roseau's Liesa Bratengs time of 42.62 from 1987.
Zinter has now run 42.38 in back-to-back weeks in the 300m hurdles. This puts her third on the all-time Minnesota girls list for the 300m hurdles, only behind Natalie Windels (42.21) and Meleah Biermaier (41.35).
Maximilian Comfere Makes History
Most people might not have heard of Maximilian Comfere before today, that is because he has taken the state by storm this year as a first-year track and field athlete after being an all-state soccer player. Comfere qualified for the state meet in the 100m and 200m with times of 22.00 and 10.99 at last week's Section 1AA meet.
Today, Comfere competed in the 100m prelims where he qualified for the finals with a 10.87 PR, but the 200m is where he made some real noise. Comfere came in as the #6 qualifier in the field (based on sections times) but came away with a huge 21.32 for 1st place a huge personal best time.
His time of 21.32 is a state-best time this season by a huge margin of 0.3 seconds and comes in ranked as the #11 performance all-time by a Minnesota boy. His time is the fastest since Joseph Fahnbullehs state record time back in 2019.