Fabulous Five: 5 Performances that Stood Out Last Week


Kieran Murnan (left) inches his way towards a top-ten all-time 200m outdoor time

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Welcome to week two of the Fabulous Five!!

The Fabulous Five highlights five individuals each week of the 2023 Minnesota outdoor track and field season that stood out to us from the previous weeks' track and field meets. 

Related: Week 1 Fabulous Five

The purpose of these five performances isn't to highlight state records or only top-ten performances. It's to highlight performances from across Minnesota that stood out in recent meet results. Any kind of result/performance is applicable. 

Note: This is not a ranking of the five best performances of the week. This is a feature of five outstanding performances of our choice. There were many fantastic performances that were not highlighted in this feature. 

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Related:
2023 Outdoor Head of the Class T&F Rankings (Class A)
2023 Outdoor Head of the Class T&F Rankings (Class AA)
2023 Outdoor Head of the Class T&F Rankings (Class AAA)

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Rockford Pole Vault Duo Clears Big Heights

Going into the season Rockfords Brian Schloeder was ranked as the top returning pole vaulter in Minnesota. He owned a PR of 15' 6.25", was the Class AA state champion, and owned the #2 sophomore class best mark all-time in Minnesota. 

Schloeder is off to a strong start this season with vaults of 15' 0" and 15' 4". The difference this year is that his teammate Tristan Faber has joined him as one of the elite pole vaulters in Minnesota and the duo is among the best in recent memory in Minnesota. 

Faber at the WCC Quad in Rockford jumped 14 ' 3" for a seven-inch personal best mark. Coming into the season he had a PR of 12' 9.5" and has already drastically improved during his junior season. 

Combined, the duo has jumped 14' 3" and 15' 4" this season for a total height of 29' 7". The next best duo in Minnesota this season has been Stillwaters Jackson Tweed and Andrew Brekke with a combined height of 27' 6" (14' 6" + 13' 0"). 

Schloeder and Fabers combined height of 29' 7" is the best mark in Minnesota since Austin Schloeder and Hawkin Petron also of Rockford in 2019 with a combined height of 29' 2" (14' 8" + 14' 6"). 

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Kieran Murnan Inches Towards Top-Ten All-Time 200m Mark

Coming off a strong indoor season, Murnan went even bigger at his first outdoor meet of the season at the Tri Metro True Team meet. There Murnan set new outdoor PRs of 11.10 in the 100m and 21.37 in the 200m. Murnan a senior at the Academy of Holy Angels came into the season with solid PRs of 11.26 and 23.10 but seems to have made a big jump into the elite of Minnesota.

His time of 21.37 is now the 14th best time in state history as seen below:

Top Minnesota Boys All-Time 200m Times

RankAthleteTimeYear
1Joseph Fahnbulleh20.672019
2Jon Boyd20.922004
3Ibrahim Kabia20.962004
4Evan McClellon20.962016
5Denzel Brown20.972017
6Mark Lutz20.8*1970
7Richlu Tudee21.132022
8Maximilian Comfere21.212022
9Jerry Burch21.221998
10Michael Nicometo21.232022
11Devin Crawford-Tufts21.242010
12Robb Merritt21.272001
13Tim Whitney21.301998
14Kieran Murnan21.372023

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Clara Stevens Makes a Big Impression in First Track Season

Clara Stevens is a first-year track and field runner who is a freshman at DeLaSalle. At her first track meet ever she ran a blistering time of 11:14.03 in the 3200m at the Tri Metro True Team Meet. She finished 1st in that race, her first track race ever. 

Stevens ranks 11th overall in Minnesota this season for the 3200m and ranks 2nd in her class only behind Monticello freshman Isabel Mahoney. Nationally she ranks 56th in her class. 

This is a big improvement for Stevens from her cross country season where she ran the 2-mile race in a couple of early season meets. There she ran times of 18:25 and 17:19. She finished her cross country season with a 5k PR of 21:37. 

All-Time Freshmen Girls 3200m Times for Class AA

110:46.29
South Saint Paul High School
2016
210:49.44
Albert Lea High School
2013
310:51.35
Saint Paul Highland Park High School
2024


1611:11.90
Providence Academy
2020
1711:13.12
Blake School (The)
2014
1811:13.99
Glencoe-Silver Lake High School
2006
1911:14.03
DeLaSalle High School
2026
2011:15.56
Saint Cloud Tech High School
2018
2111:16.76
Kasson-Mantorville High School
2012

Her time of 11:14.03 ranks her #19 all-time for freshmen girls in Class AA and #3 since the creation of Class AAA and the re-shifting of classes in Minnesota. 

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Anya Schmidt Breaks Rogers School Discus Record

Anya Schmidt a sophomore at Rogers High School broke their school record with a huge throw of 128' 6" at the Rogers Tri. The previous school record was held by Amanda Chesness in 2005 with a throw of 119 feet. 

This was a big PR from Schmidt with her previous best being a mark of 115' 7" from last year's Rogers Tri. Her mark of 128' 6" currently sits #2 in Minnesota this season and is the #31 mark nationally for her class of 2025. It is also the #30 mark all-time by a Minnesota sophomore girl. 

This is the second year in a row that Rogers girl's track and field school records have been broken. Last year Cara Back broke the school 3200m record, Hannah Bruskiewicz broke the shot put record and Brianna Vilanti broke the long jump record. 

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Katie Thram PRs Big at LCWM Meet

Katie Thram a freshman at Sleepy Eye High School set a huge personal best mark in the 300m hurdles at the LCWM/Nicollet meet last week. There she won the 300m hurdles race with a time of 48.58 to beat the runner-up by about a second and a half.

Thram's previous personal best time in the 300 hurdles was 50.30 from the 2022 Sleepy Eye Invitational. She set a huge PR of 1.72 seconds in her race and was a whole 2.74 seconds better than her performance the week before.

Top Week to Week 300mH Improvements (4/9-4/15 | 4/16-4/22)

RankAthlete4/9-4/15 Time4/16-4/22 TimeImprovement
1Ava Sibert1:0253.188.82
2Claudia Weisensel56.9452.284.36
3Lila Bungarden56.6253.772.85
4Lauren Yenish56.7853.982.80
5Katie Thram51.3248.582.74

Overall, Thram ranks #3 in Sleepy Eye school history for the 300m hurdles, #14 in Minnesota overall this season, #2 in Class A, and #2 in the Class of 2026 for Minnesota girls.