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The subsection meet was scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, but due to the weather it was held on Thursday, May 26. The top two relays and top four individual placers advanced to sections this week at St. John's University.

The Dogs had seven individual placers, led by junior Aaron Bachman, who was fifth in the pole vault. Bachman cleared 11' 6", good enough to tie for third, but he fell to fifth due to misses at lower heights.

Sophomore Travis Flannigan took sixth in the high jump. He cleared the same height as the fifth-place finisher (two inches behind fourth place) but fell to sixth on a tiebreaker.

Sophomore Dugan Flanders finished sixth in the 3,200-meter run, 17 seconds behind fourth.

Coach Todd Spanier was pleased with the team's performance at the meet and noted that three seniors completed their varsity track careers: Josh Binsfeld, Erin Hansen, and Matt Mehr. The team will miss all three, added Spanier.

Hansen, said Spanier, has had a "spectacular" year, coming back to track after not participating since his freshman year. Hansen made the finals in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash (finishing eighth in each) and ran a leg on the Dogs' 400-meter relay that finished sixth, just three hundreths of a second behind ACGC in fifth.

Binsfeld finished eighth in the shot put at subsections and was one of a number of Dogs to just miss the finals, taking ninth in the discus with a personal best of 115'. "Josh has been a good influence for our younger throwers and a good guy on the team," said Spanier.

Mehr, who has battled injuries this spring, ran in the 3,200-meter run but was not able to finish.

Other individual placers for the Dogs at subsections were sophomore Curt Forster (eighth in the 300-meter hurdles) and eighth grader Nathan Friederichs (eighth in the 800-meter run).

Six Dogs finished ninth in their events, and two more finished tenth, just miss placing. Sophomore Bryce Fischbach was ninth in the 100-meter dash (just missing the finals); ninth grader Alex Svejkovsky was ninth in the 200-meter dash (just missing the finals); eighth grader Jamison Wall was ninth in the 3,200-meter run; Flannigan was ninth in the 110-meter hurdles; Binsfeld was ninth in the discus; and Friederichs was ninth in the pole vault. (Sophomore Alex Jewell was tenth in the 400-meter dash, and eighth grader Kody Nehowig was tenth in the 1,600-meter run.)

Friederichs broke the eighth-grade record in the pole vault, clearing 10' 6". He cleared the same height as sixth, but finished ninth due to previous misses.

This was the fifth junior high record to be broken by the track team this spring, noted Spanier. (Seventh grader Kohl Nehowig recently broke the 100-meter dash mark, too.)

"It has been a good season for us," said Spanier. "We had many people finish the year with positive performances, which is what you would want. Along with junior Aaron Bachman, we have a solid core of sophomores on down coming back."

Team Scores
1. Annandale 185
2. Maple Lake 147
3. New London-Spicer 122
4. ACGC 101
5. BBE 64
6. EV-W/Kimball 43
7. Paynesville 30

Individual Results
110-meter hurdles: No placers;
300-meter hurdles: Curt Forster, eighth, 46.80;
100-meter dash: Eric Hansen, eighth, 13.01;
200-meter dash: Hansen, eighth, 26.66;
400-meter dash: No placers;
800-meter run: Nathan Friederichs, eighth, 2:24.15;
1,600-meter run: No placers;
3,200-meter run: Dugan Flanders, sixth, 11:24.21;
400-meter relay: Alex Jewell, Bryce Fischbach, Forster, and Hansen, sixth, 48.18;
800-meter relay: Fischbach, Forster, Jewell, and Alex Svejkovsky, fifth, 1:42.83;
1,600-meter relay: Svejkovsky, Kohl Nehowig, Travis Jimenez, and Kody Nehowig, seventh, 4:27.62;
3,200-meter relay: Flanders, Friederichs, Jamison Wall, and Kody Nehowig, fourth, 9:47.06;
Discus: No placers;
Shot put: Josh Binsfeld, eighth, 37' 11 1/2";
High jump: Travis Flannigan, sixth, 5' 4";
Long jump: No placers;
Triple jump: No placers;
Pole vault: Aaron Bachman, fifth, 11' 6".