Nevis' Schuldt earns first trip, UNC's Hrdlicka will return to state track meet

Bryon Schuldt not only made history at his school, he may have made history in the state.

Schuldt became the first member of the Nevis boys track team to qualify for state with a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter run at Saturday's Section 8A meet at Ada. When Schuldt crossed the finish line with a personal-best time of 10:18.49, he may have become the first seventh grader in Minnesota history to qualify for the state boys track meet in that event.

"I already made a lot of accomplishments this year so wherever I placed (at the section meet) would be great," said Schuldt, who entered the section meet with the best qualifying time of 10:30.36. "I just wanted to go and run my own race. Going to state is awesome."

Schuldt showed his potential when he clocked a 10:55 in his first varsity race earlier this season. Despite running only 10 to 15 miles a week, Schuldt developed into one of the top distance runners in the section and entered the section meet as the subsection champion.

In his section debut, Schuldt was in sixth place after the first lap and was in fourth place at the halfway mark. That's when Schuldt made his move and took the lead with three laps to go. Crookston freshman Mariano Portillo caught Schuldt down the stretch to win the race with a 10:11.38. Schuldt secured the other state berth with a runner-up 10:18.49 while Pequot Lakes freshman Kellen Braren was a distant third in 10:32.77.

"I figured a 10:20 would make it and Bryon ran at that pace," said Nevis coach Tom Stambaugh. "Bryon is a special talent. He has the potential to be a very good runner and a state champion in the future."

"I didn't want to go out too fast. I was confident people would come back," said Schuldt, who accounted for all of Nevis' 8 points. "I just wanted to sit back and run my race. After the fourth lap I started to pass everyone. He (Portillo) caught me at the end."

Schuldt will enter the state meet with the slowest qualifying time of the 18 state qualifiers. That doesn't matter to the first seventh grade boy to qualify for state in the 3,200 run.

"Bryon went beyond my expectations to get there," said Stambaugh. "Just getting to state as a seventh grader is a great accomplishment. A nice goal for him would be to finish in the top 10."

"I'm going to go out and take it as a learning experience," said Schuldt, who will make his state debut Friday at Hamline Univer-sity in St. Paul. "Hopefully I can improve on my personal-best time."

Hrdlicka returns to state

Charlie Hrdlicka was expected to return to the state meet.

The United North Central sprinter fulfilled those expectations by qualifying for state in both the 100 dash and 200 dash.

Last year, Hrdlicka won the section title in the 100 dash and finished 13th in his second appearance at the state meet.

This year, the Menahga junior entered the Section 8A meet with the fastest qualifying time of 11.42 in the 100 dash. Hrdlicka also had the fastest qualifying time in the 200 dash with a 23.32.

Hrdlicka lived up to his top ranking in the 100 dash by winning that race with a state-qualifying time of 11.14. That edged the state-qualifying time of 11.35 by Fisher senior Andrew Beiswenger.

Beiswenger avenged that loss in the 200 dash by clocking a winning time of 23.31. Hrdlicka, who clocked a 23.51 during preliminaries, secured the other state berth with a 23.82 in the finals.

Hrdlicka will enter Friday's state preliminaries as the No. 4 seed out of 25 qualifiers in the 100 dash and the No. 16 seed out of the 16 qualifiers in the 200 dash.

Those two efforts led United North Central to 31.50 points for 12th place in the team standings. Don Hanninen just missed qualifying for state with third-place finishes in the 110 hurdles (in 16.61) and 300 hurdles (in 42.54). Hanninen also tied for eighth in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 8 inches. The Warriors' 4 x 800 relay team of Jared Pohlman, Luke Hanson, Chris Hendrickson and Billy Paulson also placed eighth in 9:24.71.

Relays clock best times

Two relay teams clocked season-best times to lead the Panthers at the section meet.

Nate Mack, Caleb Brown, Sean Hayes and David McAllister clocked a 46.93 to place fifth in the 4 x 100 relay and clocked a 3:37.72 to finish fifth in the 4 x 400 relay as the Panthers compiled 8 points.

Boys team totals: Warroad 85, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 61, Crookston 52, Roseau 52, Norman County 49, Mahnomen-Waubun 48, Pequot Lakes 43, Fertile-Beltrami 39, Clearbrook-Gonvick 39, East Grand Forks 34, Bagley/Fosston 32, United North Central 31.50, Lake of the Woods 28, Stephen-Argyle 25.50, Fisher-Climax 25, Badger-Greenbush-Middle River 17, Park Rapids 8, Nevis 8, Warren 6, Pine River-Backus 6, Northome-Kelliher/Blackduck 4, Red Lake County 4, Grygla 1.

Individual results

100 dash: 1, Charlie Hrdlicka, UNC, 11.14. 2, Andrew Beiswenger, Fisher, 11.35.

200 dash: 1, Andrew Beiswenger, Fisher, 23.31. Charlie Hrdlicka, UNC, 23.82.

400 dash: 1, Josiah Head, Warroad, 51.44. 2, Payton Kujava, NC, 51.61.

800 run: 1, Moses Heppner, Warroad, 1:58.27. 2, Tyler Leverington, Roseau, 1:58.79.

1,600 run: 1, Tyler Leverington, Roseau, 4:26.11. 2, Clayton Foster, PL, 4:30.22.

3,200 run: 1, Mariano Portillo, Crookston, 10:11.38. 2, Bryon Schuldt, Nevis, 10:18.49.

110 hurdles: 1, Tyson McArthur, M-W, 15.30. 2, Michael Schoeneberger, Crookston, 15.81. 3, Don Hanninen, UNC, 16.61.

300 hurdles: 1, David Borland, WHA, 41.43. 2, Tyson McArthur, MW, 41.56. 3, Don Hanninen, UNC, 42.54.

4 x 100 relay: 1, Bagley/Fosston, 45.32. 5, Park Rapids (Nate Mack, Caleb Brown, Sean Hayes, David McAllister), 46.93.

4 x 200 relay: 1, Lake of the Woods, 1:33.98.

4 x 400 relay: 1, W-H-A, 3:29.81. 5, Park Rapids (Nate Mack, Caleb Brown, Sean Hayes, David McAllister), 3:37.72.

4 x 800 relay: 1, Warroad, 8:16.16. 8, United North Central (Jared Pohlman, Luke Hanson, Chris Hendrickson, Billy Paulson), 9:24.71.

High jump: 1, Jake Bahnmiller, Warroad, 6-2. 2, Marcus Denis, WHA, 6-2. 8 (tie), Don Hanninen, UNC, 5-8.

Pole vault: 1, Nolan Berg, BGMR, 13-2. 2, Taylor Knight, WHA, 12-2.

Long jump: 1, Jake Bahnmiller, Warroad, 20-0.50. 2, Josh Thomas, Crookston, 18-8.25.

Triple jump: 1, Jake Bahnmiller, Warroad, 42-2.25. 2, Erik Aakre, SA, 48-8.

Shot put: 1, Mark Mitteness, NC, 44-9.25. 2, Anthony LaVoy, MW, 44-5.75.

Discus: 1, Joey Hanson, EGF, 140-4.25. 2, Justin Olson, Warroad, 130.4.75.