Return to Sports Archives

"Going into this meet, I thought the best we could do was fifth, and we could fall to seventh or eighth, so I was very pleased to finish in the sixth spot," said coach Todd Spanier.

In true team, each school enters two competitors in individual events and one relay. Unlike normal track meets, where only the top six or eight finishers earn team points, in true team all the competitors are ranked and scored. In the ten-team section meet last week, this meant that the 20 competitors were ranked from first to 20th, earning 20 points for first, 19 for second, down to one point for 20th. Relays were given 30 points for first, 27 for second, down to three points for tenth.

This format, said Spanier, rewards the Dogs' depth. The Dogs had ten finishes from ninth to 12th, places that would not score points in a normal meet with a top eight. "At NL-S last week, we lost to Morris by 30 points, and now we beat them by 50," said Spanier. "That shows the depth I have been talking about all year long."

Yellow Medicine East won the section title with 527 points.

The Dogs, who averaged 19 points per event, finished with 337.5 points to take sixth.

The Dogs' best event was pole vault, won by senior Aaron Bachman by clearing 12 feet. With ninth grader Nathan Frederichs taking seventh, the Dogs scored 34 points in this event.

Other events where the Dogs scored at least 25 points were: the 3,200-meter run (with junior Dugan Flanders taking fourth and junior Peder Thompson finishing tenth), 28 points; the high jump (with Frederichs tying for fifth and junior Aaron Burris taking ninth), 26.5 points; the 110-meter hurdles (with ninth grader Travis Jimenez taking seventh and ninth grader Mitch Marlow taking tenth), 25 points; and the 300-meter hurdles (with junior Curt Forster taking seventh and Burris taking tenth), 25 points.

Junior Matt Hansen - who was third in the 100-meter dash and ninth in both the 200-meter dash and the long jump and ran a leg on the fifth-place 800-meter relay - probably had the best overall individual performance for the Dogs, said Spanier.

Flanders ran a personal best for the Dogs in the 3,200-meter run (11:00) with his goal to break the 11-minute mark. He also ran a personal best in the 1,600-meter run (4:55), where he finished seventh.

Other personal bests for the Dogs were: Forster in the 300-meter hurdles (46.04); eighth grader Kohl Nehowig in the 100-meter dash (12.77); and sophomore Alex Svejkovsky in the discus (108' 3").

This week, the Dogs will compete in the West Central Conference North meet at New London-Spicer on Thursday at 3 p.m. The Dogs will battle for All Conference honors (given to the top two individuals in an event) in one of the toughest conferences in the state, said Spanier.

Next week, the Dogs will host their subsection meet at PAHS on Wednesday, May 24, at 3 p.m.

Team Scores
1. Yellow Medicine East 527.0
2. MACCRAY 451.5
3. Holdingford 439.5
4. Sauk Centre 430.5
5. ACGC 415.5
6. Paynesville 337.5
7. Morris 284.5
8. Osakis 248.5
9. St. John's Prep 224.5
10. Ortonville 161.0

Individual Results
110-meter hurdles: Travis Jimenez, seventh, 18.00; Mitch Marlow, tenth, 19.54; 25 points;
300-meter hurdles: Curt Forster, seventh, 46.04 (personal best); Aaron Burris, tenth, 47.38; 25 points;
100-meter dash: Matt Hansen, third, 12.0; Kohl Nehowig, 15th, 12.77 (personal best); 24 points;
200-meter dash: Hansen, ninth, 25.02; Alex Svejkovsky, 12th, 25.40; 21 points;
400-meter dash: Bryce Fischbach, 16th, 58.7; Tom Stoneburner, disqualified; 5 points;
800-meter run: Jamison Wall, tenth, 2:20.43; Nathan Friederichs, 11th, 2:21.53; 21 points;
1,600-meter run: Dugan Flanders, seventh, 4:55 (personal best); Tanner Wendroth, 15th, 5:27; 20 points;
3,200-meter run: Flanders, fourth, 11:00 (personal best); Peder Thompson, tenth, 11:47; 28 points;
400-meter relay: Forster, Nehowig, Jordan Spaeth, and Jimenez, seventh, 49.64; 12 points;
800-meter relay: Burris, Fischbach, Svejkovsky, and Hansen, fifth, 1:39.03; 18 points;
1,600-meter relay: Marlow, Fischbach, Stoneburner, Forster, eighth; 9 points;
3,200-meter relay: Frederichs, Wendroth, Kody Nehowig, and Wall, eighth, 9:45.67; 9 points;
Discus: Svejkovsky, 11th, 108' 3" (personal best); Matt Schmiesing, 13th, 103' 2"; 18 points;
Shot put: Schmiesing, 17th, 35' 7"; Svejkovsky, 18th, 35' 3"; 7 points;
High jump: Frederichs, fifth (tie), 5' 4"; Burris, ninth, 5' 4"; 26.5 points;
Long jump: Hansen, ninth, 17' 4"; Fischbach, 17th, 15' 1/2"; 16 points;
Triple jump: Burris, eighth, 35' 10"; Kohl Nehowig, 15th, 30' 4 1/2"; 19 points;
Pole vault: Aaron Bachman, first, 12'; Frederichs, seventh, 10' 6"; 34 points.