Panthers complete mission

Corey Hill wasn't shocked when the Park Rapids girls track and field team qualified six individuals in four events for the state Class A meet.

The Park Rapids head coach expected a solid performance at Saturday's Section 8A meet at Warren. The Panthers delivered by placing third in the team standings with 79 points and qualifying for state in the 4 x 800-meter relay, pole vault, 100 dash and 300 hurdles.

A year ago, the Panthers advanced to state in the 4 x 800 relay. Having freshman Lydia Lutz, junior Hannah Wolff, sophomore Sophie Shogren and junior Victoria Lutz back from that state relay unit made Park Rapids the favorite to qualify for state in that event.

That group lived up to its top seed by winning the event with a season-best time of 9:54.29.

Senior Rachel Thelen qualified for state for the first time in two events, winning the pole vault by clearing 9 feet, 7 inches and taking second in the 100 dash with a personal-best time of 13.14 seconds.

Eighth grader Grace Bateman also earned her first trip to state by finishing second in the 300 hurdles with a personal-best time of 48.98.

In addition to those four performances, the Panthers placed in nine other events.

Park Rapids had season-best times in two of the other three relay races. Mady Vaudrin, Bateman, Shannon Taylor and Thelen took third in the 4 x 100 relay with a season-best time of 52.17 and finished third in the 4 x 200 relay with a time of 1:51.27. Victoria Lutz, Mandy Schirmers, Shelby Pierce and Wolff finished fourth in the 4 x 400 relay with a season-best time of 4:19.85.

Lydia Lutz took third in the 3,200 run in 11:51.55 while Morgan Olson finished fifth in 12:50.09. Victoria Lutz was fourth in the 800 run in 2:26.73 and Shogren placed eighth in 2:33.56. Tori Lauderbaugh took fifth in the high jump by clearing 4-8. Heather Goodwater finished sixth in the 100 hurdles in 17.74. Vaudrin placed seventh in the 200 dash in 28.79. Nikki Knott placed eighth in the shot put with a distance of 30-4.50.

Also competing at the section meet for the Panthers were Pierce and Schirmers in the 400 dash, Tiffany Deitchler and Katherine Erickson in the 1,600 run, Kaylee Hilmanowski in the 3,200 run, Shannon Thielen and Lexy Zunich-Andersen in the 100 hurdles, Lauderbaugh in the 300 hurdles, Shogren in the pole vault, and Knott in the discus.

"All the girls did an awesome job," said Hill. "A lot of the girls had their best performances of the season and you can't ask for more than that. I thought things went really well all the way through."

The Panthers will attempt to place in all four events when the state Class A meet begins Friday at Hamline University in St. Paul. The preliminaries in the pole vault begin at 3 p.m. Friday with the 100 dash starting at 3:18 and the 300 hurdles beginning at 4:42. On Saturday, the pole vault and 4 x 800 relay finals start at 3 with the 100 dash finals at 3:50 and the 300 hurdles finals at 5:33.

"I'm pretty excited about getting six girls through. I think we have a good chance to finish in the top five in the 4 x 800 relay. Nobody has pushed us there all year and I think we still have our best race left. I'm excited to see how we're going to run," said Hill. "Making it to state is a great accomplishment for Rachel and Grace. Rachel could win a medal in the pole vault. It's going to be tough for them to medal in their races, but I wouldn't put anything past them. They could sneak their way into the finals. I'm excited to see how we're going to do."

Girls team scores: East Grand Forks 125, Bagley/Fosston 83.50, Park Rapids 79, Crookston 65, Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal 52, Nevis 39, Warroad 34.50, Roseau 33, Lake of the Woods 29, Red Lake County 26, Ada-Borup 26, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 17, Cass Lake-Bena 16, Thief River Falls 16, Badger/Greenbush/Middle River 15, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 13, West Marshall 13, Mahnomen/Waubun 7, Northome-Blackduck 6, Fertile-Beltrami 4, Lake Park-Audubon 3.

Individual results

100 dash: 1, Ashley Tingelstad, EGF, 12.42. 2, Rachel Thelen, PR, 13.14. 9, Jessica Schunk, Nevis, 13.73.

200 dash: 1, Analisa Huschle, BF, 25.28. 2, Ashley Tingelstad, EGF, 25.93. 7, Mady Vaudrin, PR, 28.79. 8, Paige Walters, Nevis, 28.80.

400 dash: 1, Ashley Tingelstad, EGF, 58.93. 2, Saragh Fraser, LOW, 1:00.31. 5, Megan Stambaugh, Nevis, 1:03.83. 10, Shelby Pierce, PR, 1:06.40. 13, Mandy Schirmers, PR, 1:07.72.

800 run: 1, Faith Kruchowski, RLC, 2:20.70. 2, Jaclyn Scanlan, EGF, 2:21.45. 4, Victoria Lutz, PR, 2:26.73. 8, Sophie Shogren, PR, 2:33.56.

1,600 run: 1, Faith Kruchowski, RLC, 5:17.10. 2, Jaclyn Scanlan, EGF, 5:18.97. 13, Tiffany Deitchler, PR, 6:02.45. 14, Katherine Erickson, PR, 6:14.30.

3,200 run: 1, Marina Galstad, EGF, 11:38.61. 2, Courtney Kirkeide, BGMR, 11:40.45. 3, Lydia Lutz, PR, 11:51.55. 5, Morgan Olson, PR, 12:50.09. 9, Kaylee Hilmanowski, PR, 13:10.59.

100 hurdles: 1, Leann Wagner, C, 16.41. 2, Danielle Larson, C, 16.49. 6, Heather Goodwater, PR, 17.74.

300 hurdles: 1, Laure Olson, HUH, 48.94. 2, Grace Bateman, PR, 48.98. 14, Tori Lauderbaugh, PR, 58.80.

4 x 100 relay: 1, East Grand Forks, 51.48. 3, Park Rapids (Mady Vaudrin, Grace Bateman, Shannon Taylor, Rachel Thelen), 52.17. 4, Nevis (Annessa Feder, Riley Hanson, Maggie Lindow, Jessica Schunk), 52.38.

4 x 200 relay: 1, Bagley/Fosston, 1:46.00. 3, Park Rapids (Shannon Taylor, Grace Bateman, Mady Vaudrin, Rachel Thelen), 1:51.27. 4, Nevis (Annessa Feder, Maggie Lindow, Paige Walters, Riley Hanson), 1:52.52.

4 x 400 relay: 1, East Grand Forks, 4:08.19. 2, Nevis (Riley Hanson, Paige Walters, Annessa Feder, Megan Stambaugh), 4:13.99. 4, Park Rapids (Victoria Lutz, Mandy Schirmers, Shelby Pierce, Hannah Wolff), 4:19.85.

4 x 800 relay: 1, Park Rapids (Lydia Lutz, Hannah Wolff, Sophie Shogren, Victoria Lutz), 9:54.29.

High jump: 1, Annessa Feder, Nevis, 4-10. 2, Rachel Bennett, B/F, 4-10. 5, Tori Lauderbaugh, PR, 4-8.

Pole vault: 1, Rachel Thelen, PR, 9-7. 2, Kristen Mlodzik, R, 9-7. 12 (tie), Sophie Shogren, PR, 7-1.

Long jump: 1, Analisa Huschle, BF, 18-3.25. 2, Mariah Berg, BF, 17-5.75. 6, Maggie Lindow, Nevis, 15-5.50.

Triple jump: 1, Analisa Huschle, BF, 38-6.25. 2, Laure Olson, HUH, 35-1.50.

Shot put: 1, Ashley Ritter, HUH, 35-4. 2, Alex Hedlund, EGF, 34-11. 8, Nikki Knott, PR, 30-4.50.

Discus: 1, Shelby Folkers, C, 115-2. 2, Ashley Ritter, HUH, 111-3. 6, Kjera Gustafson, Nevis, 89-8. 14, Nikki Knott, PR, 70-9.