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A true team meet is scored quite differently than a normal meet. In true team, every team can only have two participants in each event, and every participant scores from one to 20 points, depending on their placing. Each event winner gets 20 points, and so on.

Awarding team points to all 20 placers is why the team scores are so incredibly high.

The weather was, as usual, absolutely terrible. It was cold, in the 40s for the early part of the afternoon, dropping into the 30s as the evening wore on. There was also a chilling breeze.

St. Croix Lutheran won the meet with 515.5 points, with Mayer Lutheran second at 509.5. Concordia Academy was third with 488, and Paynesville was fourth at 474.5.

The Dogs were 42 points away from a berth at the state true team meet in Blaine, later in May, without two of their top performers: seniors Nic Glenz and Josh Trees, both of whom qualified individually for state a year ago.

The Dogs didn't learn that Trees wasn't going to be able to compete due to a hamstring injury until that very afternoon. Coach Darrel Carstens then had to find replace-ments for Trees in all four of his events.

Without Trees and Glenz, the Dogs used their depth to place fourth out of ten teams. The Dogs had only two individual winners and only one runner-up finish but had 17 top six finishes, placed fifth or better in all four relays, and had both of its entries place in the top ten in 11 of 14 individual events.

Senior Jesse Rien won the 1600-meter race in a thrilling sprint to the finish and took fourth in the 3,200-meter run as well.

Senior Steve Mages ran his best time of the year in the 110-meter hurdles and won the race. Mages also took fourth in the 300-meter hurdles. He was also fifth in the high jump.

In the first event of the day, the Dogs' 3,200-meter relay team got the Bulldogs off to a great start, taking second place. Members of that team were junior Riley Flanders, sophomore Chad Wyffles, junior Tom Flannigan, and senior Scott Thompson.

Other fourth-place finishers for the Bulldogs were the 800-meter relay team (senior Ryan Whitcomb, junior Milan Virant, Mages, and sophomore Lee Fuchs-Thielen) and the 1,600-meter relay (Flanders, senior Andy Jones, Flannigan, and Thompson.

Other fifth-place finishers were Flanders in the 800-meter run; senior Dan Pearson in the 1,600-meter run; the 400-meter relay team (Whitcomb, junior Josh Teicher, Schaefer, and Fuchs-Thielen); senior Jason Leyendecker in the discus; Schaefer in the shot put; and Whitcomb in the long jump and in the triple jump.

The Bulldogs' next meet will be on Thursday at Melrose, starting at 4:30 p.m.

Team Scores
1. St. Croix Lutheran 515.5
2. Mayer Lutheran 509.5
3. Concordia Academy 488
4. Paynesville 474.5
5. Holdingford 445.5
6. Maple Lake 319.5
7. Mounds Park Academy 312.5
8. Royalton 173.5
9. CHOF 139
10. Ogilvie 100.5

Individual Results
110-meter hurdles: Steve Mages, first, 16.12; Adam Schaefer, sixth, 17.49;
300-meter hurdles: Mages, fourth, 44.9; Chad Wyffels, ninth, 45.95;
100-meter dash: Schaefer, seventh 11.88; Lee Fuchs-Thielen, 10th, 12.06;
200-meter dash: Milan Virant, seventh, 253; Josh Teicher, 12th, 26.19;
400-meter dash: Virant, seventh, 56.44; Andy Jones, ninth, 57.1;
800-meter run: Riley Flanders, fifth, 2:13.7; Tom Flannigan, 13th, 2:23.4;
1,600-meter run: Jesse Rien, first, 4:40.6; Dan Pearson, fifth, 4:52;
3,200-meter run: Rien, fourth, 10:25, Pearson, eighth, 10:49;
400-meter relay: Ryan Whitcomb, Teicher, Schaefer, and Fuchs-Thielen, fifth, 48.86;
800-meter relay: Whitcomb, Virant, Mages, and Fuchs-Thielen, fourth, 1:40.94;
1,600-meter relay: Flanders, Jones, Flannigan, and Scott Thompson, fourth, 3:45.3;
3,200-meter relay: Flanders, Wyffles, Flannigan, and Thompson, second, 9:10.8;
Discus: Jason Leyendecker, fifth,123' 5"; Jonnie Schefers, 10th, 117' 9";
Shot put: Schaefer, fifth, 40' 9.5"; Rick Magedanz, 10th, 36' 2";
High jump: Mages, fifth, 5' 8"; Teicher, 13th, 5' 2";
Long jump: Whitcomb, fifth, 18' 9.5"; Jones, seventh, 18' 6";
Triple jump: Whitcomb, fifth, 39' 6"; Jones, sixth, 39' 5";
Pole vault: Aaron Bachman, ninth, 9'; Marlowe Schaumann, 10th, 7'.