Return to Sports Archives

Senior Kendra Johnson, junior Tara Schmidt, sophomores Kacy Nehowig and Randi Schaefer, and eighth graders Kally Felling, Bri Jaeger, and Anna Kotten earned All Conference honors by placing first or second at the WCC North meet at Melrose on Thursday.

Johnson earned All Conference honors in three events, winning the 300-meter hurdles, taking second in the high jump, and running a leg on the winning 800-meter relay. Jaeger, Felling, and Schmidt also ran legs on that relay, where the girls lowered their school record from 1:48.92 (set earlier this spring) to 1:48.67.

Johnson and Schmidt earned All Conference honors for the fourth straight year. Felling and Jaeger earned All Conference honors for the first time. Jaeger also was second in the 400-meter run, earning All Conference honors in that event, too.

Nehowig won the 1,600-meter run to earn All Conference honors for the third straight year in track.

Schaefer was second in the discus - with a personal-best throw of 104' 3" - to earn All Conference honors. She also finished third in the high jump.

And Kotten led a 2-3-4 finish for the Dogs in the pole vault - which was held on Wednesday in Long Prairie since Melrose does not have pole vault pits - by clearing 7' 6". She edged sophomore teammate Tanis Beireis, who also cleared that height but had more misses and finished third. Sophomore Tina Liestman was fourth for the Dogs.

Kotten and Schaefer also earned All Conference honors in track for the first time.

Other top-five finishers for the Dogs were: Johnson (third in the 100-meter hurdles); Schmidt (fourth in the 200-meter dash and fifth in the 100-meter dash); Kaitlyn Frenchick (fourth in the 800-meter run and fifth in the triple jump); ninth grader Natalie Leadem (fourth in the discus); and the Dogs' 3,200-meter relay - ninth grader Melanie Koerner, Beireis, Frenchick, and Nehowig - placed third.

"The girls had a very solid performance at this meet," said coach Dave Randgaard. "We had defeated Cathedral earlier in the season, but they were missing two key members of their team then. We also had to adjust our lineup some because of the state true team meet being held on Saturday."

It is the 14th straight year that the Dogs have finished first or second at the conference meet, noted Randgaard.

This week, the Dogs will start individual quests for the state meet with subsections at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School on Wednesday, May 25, starting at 3 p.m.

Team Scores
1. Cathedral 157
2. Paynesville 140
3. Sauk Centre 135
4. Albany 87
5. LPGE 76
6. Melrose 72

Individual Results
100-meter hurdles: Kendra Johnson, third, 16.98; Anna Kotten, seventh, 18.45;
300-meter hurdles: Johnson, first, 47.78 (All Conference); Kotten, seventh, 53.62;
100-meter dash: Tara Schmidt, fifth, 12.9;
200-meter dash: Schmidt, fourth, 27.23; Bri Jaeger, sixth, 27.87;
400-meter dash: Jaeger, second, 1:01.83 (All Conference); Kally Felling, sixth, 1:04.71;
800-meter run: Kaitlyn Frenchick, fourth, 2:31.46;
1,600-meter run: Kacy Nehowig, first, 5:45.49 (All Conference); Tanis Beireis, fourth;
3,200-meter run: No placers;
400-meter relay: Kacie Wander, Randi Schaefer, Leah Felling, and Kirsten Miller, fifth, 55.88;
800-meter relay: Johnson, Jaeger, Kally Felling, and Schmidt, first, 1:48.67 (school record) (All Conference);
1,600-meter relay: Melanie Koerner, Leah Felling, Kotten, and Erin Guzy, sixth, 4:33.51;
3,200-meter relay: Korner, Beireis, Frenchick, and Nehowig, third, 10:21.13;
Discus: Schaefer, second, 104' 3" (All Conference) (personal best); Natalie Leadem, fourth, 93' 3";
Shot put: Leadem, seventh, 29' 4"; Schaefer, eighth, 29' 4";
High jump: Johnson, second, 4' 10" (All Conference); Schaefer, third, 4' 8";
Long jump: No placers;
Triple jump: Frenchick, fifth, 31' 8 3/4";
Pole vault: Kotten, second, 7' 6" (All Conference); Beireis, third, 7' 6"; Tina Liestman, fourth, 7'.