Going into Saturday's Section 8A meet, Corey Hill expected the Park Rapids girls track and field team to repeat as champions and qualify for the state Class A meet in nine events.
Mission accomplished.
The Panthers easily lived up to those expectations by running away with the team title with 123 points and advancing 10 individuals in nine events to state.
Entering the section meet, seniors Summer Ellefson (in the 400-meter dash), Shelby Pierce (in the 800 run) and Lydia Lutz (in the 3,200 run) were favored to qualify for state in their individual events. Those three joined eighth grader Heidi Lageson on the 4 x 800 relay team that went in as the top seed. Junior Grace Bateman was expected to return to state in the 300 hurdles while freshman Megan Grimes was expected to qualify in the high jump. The 4 x 200 relay team of eighth grader Sarah Harshman, Grimes, Bateman and Vaudrin went in with the best time as did the 4 x 100 relay team of Harshman, senior Jenna Polley, freshman Hannah Gorder and Vaudrin. The 4 x 400 relay team of Bateman, Grimes, Pierce and Ellefson also was favored to win that race.
The Panthers delivered in all nine events with seven winning performances and two runner-up finishes. The top two finishers in each event qualified for state.
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Lutz, Lageson, Ellefson and Pierce opened the meet by winning the 4 x 800 relay in 9:34.55 and Grimes followed by winning the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 3 inches.
Harshman, Grimes, Bateman and Vaudrin won the 4 x 200 relay in 1:48.81 and Harshman, Polley, Gorder and Vaudrin took first in the 4 x 100 relay in 52.27.
Ellefson returned to state with a runner-up 1:01.49 in the 400, Bateman returned to state by winning the 300 hurdles in 46.66 and Pierce returned to state with a runner-up 2:24.18 in the 800.
After Lutz won the 3,200 in 11:40.19 to earn another state berth, Bateman, Grimes, Pierce and Ellefson capped off the meet by winning the 4 x 400 relay in 4:06.53.
"I was very impressed with the level of performances by the girls. They've learned how to compete and to see them accomplish their goals is rewarding," said Hill. "I knew we'd defend our title, but it was rewarding to have all four relays go and to qualify in five other events. It was amazing to have so much fan support there. The coaches and athletes would like to thank the fans for their support all season."
In addition to that group, the Panthers received contributions from several other performers.
Park Rapids just missed having three more state qualifiers as Vaudrin clocked a 12.90 for third place in the 100, Megan Olson had a time of 11:48.69 for third place in the 3,200 and Bateman took third in the pole vault by clearing 9 feet.
Lageson took fourth in the 1,600 in 5:35.84, Grimes placed fifth in the 100 hurdles in 16.86 and Emily Klingenberg took fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 31-6.25.
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Harshman was seventh in the 200 in 28.11, Tori Lauderbaugh was seventh in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, Bailee Hofford was eighth in the 100 hurdles in 18.13 and Tayah Otterness took eighth in the 800 in 2:32.52.
Nevis scored 4 points with Riley Hanson's sixth-place 1:03.56 in the 400 dash leading the way.
The Panthers will attempt to bring home a team trophy when the state Class A meet begins Friday afternoon at Hamline University in St. Paul. The finals of the 3,200 and high jump will be held Friday with preliminaries in the other events being held Friday. The top nine finishers during preliminaries advance to Saturday's finals.
"There are a lot of good teams down there, but I feel we're definitely one of the top three going in," said Hill. "If we perform to the best of our ability, which I expect us to do, we could be in for a surprise when the meet is over."
Team scores: Park Rapids 123, Warroad 69, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 59, Ada-Borup 51, Badger/Greenbush/Middle River 46, East Grand Forks 44, Crookston 42, Park Christian 37, Roseau 37, Hawley/Ulen-Hitterdal 36, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 33, West Marshall 32, Bagley/Fosston 32, Lake Park-Audubon 11, Mahnomen/Waubun 7, Lake of the Woods 7, Northome/Kelliher/Blackduck 6, Fisher-Climax 6, Clearbrook-Gonvick 5, Fertile-Beltrami 5, Trek North 5, Red Lake County 5, Nevis 4.
Individual results
4 x 800 relay: 1, Park Rapids (Lutz, Lageson, Ellefson, Pierce), 9:34.55. 2, EGF, 9:42.03. 3, Warroad, 10:05.56. 4, Ada-Borup, 10:22.23. 5, Roseau, 10:22.32. 6, LP-A, 10:23.81. 7, NKB, 10:33.70. 8, West Marshall, 10:54.12.
100 hurdles: 1, Olson, HUH, 15.81. 2, Krohn, BGMR, 16.59. 3, Kuznia, BGMR, 16.78. 4, Larson, PC, 16.79. 5, Grimes, PR, 16.86. 6, Jagol, FB, 17.40. 7, Vedbraaten, BGMR, 17.80. 8, Hofford, PR, 18.13.
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100 dash: 1, Hahn, W, 12.62. 2, Nepstad, PC, 12.89. 3, Vaudrin, PR, 12.90. 4, Hebel, R, 13.05. 5, Santl, R, 13.09. 6, Nelson, DGF, 13.10. 7, Altepeter, FC, 13.25. 8, Lahmann, FB, 13.76.
4 x 200 relay: 1, Park Rapids (Sar. Harshman, Grimes, Bateman, Vaudrin), 1:48.81. 2, Roseau, 1:49.46. 3, Bagley, 1:50.66. 4, W-H-A, 1:51.12. 5, EGF, 1:51.65. 6, Ada-Borup, 1:53.63. 7, Warroad, 1:54.57. 8, Nevis (Anderson, Lucas, Walters, Hanson), 1:55.93.
1,600 run: 1, Geist, C, 5:21.34. 2, Carlson, BF, 5:23.96. 3, Fast, W, 5:32.96. 4, Lageson, PR, 5:35.84. 5, Mills, NKB, 5:38.12. 6, Brunelle, W, 5:38.52. 7, Hamrin, TN, 5:41.79. 8, Haugen, WM, 5:44.36.
4 x 100 relay: 1, Park Rapids (Sar. Harshman, Polley, Gorder, Vaudrin), 52.27. 2, D-G-F, 52.78. 3, Bagley, 52.98. 4, EGF, 53.02. 5, Warroad, 53.82. 6, BGMR, 54.03. 7, LP-A, 55.47. 8, Clearbrook, 55.50.
400 dash: 1, Nepstad, PC, 1:00.31. 2, Ellefson, PR, 1:01.49. 3, Kennedy, WHA, 1:02.15. 4, Krause, LOW, 1:02.85. 5, Highness, DGF, 1:03.26. 6, Hanson, N, 1:03.56. 7, Bly, MW, 1:03.78. 8, Eades, EGF, 1:04.16.
300 hurdles: 1, Bateman, PR, 46.66. 2, Olson, HUH, 46.89. 3, Larson, PC, 47.97. 4, Kuznia, BGMR, 48.77. 5, Altepeter, FC, 48.97. 6, Anderson, WHA, 50.80. 7, Eggen, AB, 51.17. 8, Vedbraaten, BGMR, 51.18.
800 run: 1, Galstad, EGF, 2:22.15. 2, Pierce, PR, 2:24.18. 3, Heppner, W, 2:26.98. 4, Geist, C, 2:30.89. 5, Crummy, WM, 2:31.22. 6, Hogie, LPA, 2:31.69. 7, Krause, LOW, 2:32.18. 8, Otterness, PR, 2:32.52.
200 dash: 1, Hahn, W, 26.10. 2, Nepstad, PC, 26.30. 3, Nelson, DGF, 27.11. 4, Bly, MW, 27.78. 5, Olson, BF, 27.79. 6, Carlson, LPA, 27.96. 7, Sar. Harshman, PR, 28.11. 8, Wollman, RLC, 28.21.
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3,200 run: 1, Lutz, PR, 11:40.19. 2, Huglen, R, 11:46.06. 3, Olson, PR, 11:48.69. 4, Kirkeide, BGMR, 12:23.67. 5, Breid, DGF, 13:10.20. 6, Hamrin, TN, 13:10.67. 7, Brunelle, W, 13:11.33. 8, Davidson, C, 13:30.25.
4 x 400 relay: 1, Park Rapids (Bateman, Grimes, Pierce, Ellefson), 4:06.53. 2, EGF, 4:10.32. 3, W-H-A, 4:16.21. 4, Roseau, 4:20.60. 5, D-G-F, 4:22.31. 6, Ada-Borup, 4:24.23. 7, Warroad, 4:28.08. 8, Bagley, 4:28.90.
Triple jump: 1, Olson, HUH, 34-7.50. 2, Boike, C, 32-6. 3, Bentow, DGF, 31-9. 4, Nelson, DGF, 31-8. 5, Klingenberg, PR, 31-6.25. 6, Bruns, WHA, 31-2.25. 7, Stanger, AB, 30-9. 8, Nelson, BGMR, 30-7.
Discus: 1, Kujava, AB, 117-3. 2, Solheim, C, 107-8. 3, Znajda, WM, 105-0. 4, Kazmierczak, WM, 97-1. 5, Olson, RLC, 95-11. 6, Burgess, CG, 95-9. 7, Iverson, EGF, 95-4. 8, Senske, DGF, 94-7.
Pole vault: 1, Knight, WHA, 10-0. 2, Mercil, DGF, 9-6. 3, Bateman, PR, 9-0. 4, Balstad, BF, 9-0. 5, Haugen, WM, 8-6. 6, Nelson, BGMR, 8-6. 7, Kotts, WM, 8-0. 8, Vedbraaten, BGMR, 8-0.
Long jump: 1, Hahn, W, 16-8.75. 2, Olson, HUH, 16-6.75. 3, Stanger, AB, 15-0. 4, Geiser, DGF, 14-10.50. 5, Nelson, BGMR, 14-9.75. 6, Gracza, R, 14-8.50. 7, Cosca, BF, 14-6.25. 8, Krohn, BGMR, 14-5.75.
Shot put: 1, Solheim, C, 39-3. 2, Kujava, AB, 36-0. 3, Nelson, EGF, 35-9. 4, Mercil, DGF, 34-10. 5, Znajda, WM, 34-0. 6, Durand, WM, 32-11. 7, Kazmierczak, WM, 31-2. 8, Spray, CG, 30-8.
High jump: 1, Grimes, PR, 5-3. 2, Hahn, W, 5-2. 3, Krohn, BGMR, 5-2. 4, Lee, AB, 5-0. 5, Rockstad, AB, 5-0. 6, Kolness, AB, 5-0. 7, Lauderbaugh, PR, 5-0. 8, Engelstad, FB, 4-10.
