by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
The Thief River Falls girls track team won eight events and added four finishes of third place or better to claim its fourth consecutive True North Conference championship Friday at East Grand Forks High School.
“The girls had a fantastic showing at Conference as shown by the results,” said Co-Head Coach Katie Nelson. “They really competed hard to try and placed in almost every event. The only events we did not score points in were the 3200 and discus. That is very impressive. We had eight events earn All-Conference and four events earn honorable mention.”
Gwen Wojciechowski won both the 100- and 200-meter dash. Elory Mossestad won both the 800 and 1600. Kayla Peterson won the 400 and added fourth place finishes in the 100, 200 and triple jump. Kelsey Baltes won the high jump in a jump-off to earn All-Conference honors. The 4×200 relay of Kenzie Reynolds, Mackenzie Lee, Janaya Albers and Wojciechowski came from behind to win and earn All-Conference honors; and the 4×400 relay of Reynolds, Lee, Mossestad and Livia Harbott won a conference championship.
“We had four conference records broken – Gwen broke the 100 record, Kayla broke the 400 record, Elory broke her own record in the 1600 and the 4×4 relay broke the conference record as well,” Nelson said. “The girls had a lot of season bests and personal records performances as well.”
Livia Harbott placed second in the 400 and 800 to earn honorable mention in both; and Adrian Solheim placed third in the high jump to earn honorable mention. Madelyn David placed third in the triple jump to earn honorable mention. She also placed sixth in the long jump and eighth in the high jump.
Alyssa Foster placed fourth in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles. Reynolds placed fifth in the 400. Lila Dalager placed fifth in the shot put. Albers placed sixth in the 200. Samantha Zoller placed sixth in pole vault; and Avah Waldal placed 8th in shot put.
The 4×800 relay of Lila Dalager, Gabby Zoller, Samantha Zoller and Natalia Zoller placed fifth; and the 4×100 relay of Nora Bruggeman, Lee, Madelyn David and Dalager placed 5th.
“It was a perfect day for a meet and I can’t say how proud I am of our whole team for working hard to accomplish winning the team title for the fourth year in a row, especially after such a long and busy week,” Nelson said. “This makes me very excited for the rest of the season to see what else they can do.”
The Thief River Falls boys team finished second behind East Grand Forks for the fourth consecutive season. The Green Wave had 13 event winners and amassed an impressive 248 points.
The Prowlers were a distant second with 117 points, but finished well ahead of third place-finishing Roseau, which had 79 points.
“The boys had a great day all around at our Conference meet,” said Co-Head Coach Nathan Hruby. “This time of the year between conference and true team, it is like playing a game of chess. We had the usual guys doing their ‘bread and butter’ events, and we had guys doing something for the first time simply to get us team points overall. We have a selfless group of individuals willing to do anything to help the team, which makes things not only fun, but just an all around incredible team culture we have built.”
The Prowlers got wins from Curtis Griffin, who finished in the top spot in both the 1600 and 3200; Clayton Rudi, who won both the 100 and 200 wheelchair races; as well as the wheelchair shot put and discus events.
Everett Nelson placed sixth in the 200, fourth in the 400, and second in the high jump to earn himself All-Conference Honorable Mention honors.
Ian Hruby placed fifth in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles taking home honorable mention honors.
Also earning All-Conference honorable mention honors were the 4×100 relay team of Caleb Mauch, Carson Walseth, Jaxson Tanner, and Tallon Vorderbruggen with a third place finish; the 4×200 relay team of Briley Olsonawski, Tanner, Michael Rowe and Vorderbruggen with a third place finish; and the 4×400 relay team of Everett Nelson, Colin MacLean, Griffin, and William MacLean with a runner-up finish.
Colin MacLean placed fifth in the 400 and the 800. Olsonawski placed sixth in the 800 and eighth in the long jump. Joey Bruggeman placed fourth in the shot put. Lincoln Davis placed fifth in the pole vault. Mauch placed fifth in the triple jump. Keaton Tillett placed seventh in the triple jump. Hayden Esala placed eighth in the 3200-meter run. Rowe placed eighth in the 110 hurdles and seventh in the 300 hurdles.
“The boys competed very hard and battled right to the end,” Hruby said. “East Side has a great team right now, with a core of six to seven guys that are work horses for them. It gives us good looks into what we have to measure to in a few weeks come sections. We had seven All-Conference Honorable Mentions and six All-Conference events. I am so proud of the boys and their grit and effort they displayed on Friday, especially after a week that they already competed twice before. The weeks get a little calmer going forward, but the work ethic and demand will remain the same. I am excited to see what the coming weeks bring for our boys as we hit True Team and a few other meets down the stretch leading into Sections.”
Team Scores
• Girls – 1. Thief River Falls 158.5; 2. BGMR Freeze 127; 3. East Grand Forks 122; 4. Roseau 84.5; 5. Crookston 62; 6. Goodridge/Grygla 43; 7. Warroad 38; 8. Kittson County Central 35; 9. Red Lake County 22.
• Boys – 1. East Grand Forks 248; 2. Thief River Falls 117; 3. Roseau 79; 4. Warroad 58; 5. Goodridge/Grygla 54; 6. BGMR Freeze 53; 7. Red Lake County 47; 8. Crookston 41.
Winner/TRF Places-Girls
100 – 1. Gwen Wojciechowski, Thief River Falls, 12.67; 4. Kayla Peterson 13.15; 9. Janaya Albers 13.77.
200 – 1. Gwen Wojciechowski, Thief River Falls, 26.23; 4. Kayla Peterson 27.62; 6. Janaya Albers 28.69.
400 – 1. Kayla Peterson, Thief River Falls, 1:01.38; 2. Livia Harbott 1:04.46; 5. Kenzie Reynolds 1:07.11.
800 – 1. Elory Mossestad, Thief River Falls, 2:30.94; 2. Livia Harbott 2:32.35; 10. Lila Dalager 2:56.25.
1600 – 1. Elory Mossestad, Thief River Falls, 5:35.01; 17. Natalia Zoller 6:54.00.
3200 – 1. Linnea Harren, Warroad, 12:19.70; 9. Gabby Zoller 15:23.75; 11. Samantha Zoller 16:27.46.
100 hurdles – 1. Ashlyn Nelson, Goodridge/Grygla, 17.55; 4. Alyssa Foster 18.77; 14. Aveah Hanson 25.26.
300 hurdles – 1. Ashlyn Nelson, Goodridge/Grygla, 51.95; 5. Alyssa Foster 57.81; 11. Aveah Hanson 1:08.21.
4×100 – 1. East Grand Forks A 52.55; 5. TRF A (Nora Bruggeman, Mackenzie Lee, Madelyn David, Lila Dalager) 56.95.
4×200 – 1. TRF A (Kenzie Reynolds, Mackenzie Lee, Janaya Albers, Gwen Wojciechowski) 1:50.68.
4×400 – 1. TRF A (Kenzie Reynolds, Mackenzie Lee, Elory Mossestad, Livia Harbott) 4:22.21.
4×800 – 1. Roseau A 10:40.34; 5. TRF A (Lila Dalager, Gabby Zoller, Samantha Zoller, Natalia Zoller) 11:52.84.
High Jump – 1. Kelsey Baltes, Thief River Falls, 4-11; 3. Adrian Solheim 4-8; 8. Madelyn David 4-4.
Pole Vault – 1. Chloe Boll, Crookston, 9-0; 6. Samantha Zoller 7-0.
Long Jump – 1. Kylie Snare, BGMR/Freeze, 15-4.5; 6. Madelyn David 13-11.5; 11. Alyssa Foster 13-2; 18. Gabby Zoller 11-0.
Triple Jump – 1. Kylie Snare, BGMR/Freeze, 35-3.5; 3. Madelyn David 31-5.5; 4. Kayla Peterson 30-8.5; 12. Alyssa Foster 26-6.75.
Shot Put – 1. McKinley Folland, Kittson County Central, 39-6.5; 5. Lila Dalager 26-3; 8. Avah Waldal 25-8.75; 16. Natalia Zoller 23-3.5.
Discus – 1. Jerrett Tietz, Roseau, 100-10; 9. Kennedi Kalinowski 68-10; 15. Brianne Ellison 58-5; 19. Kennedy Bakke 53-11.
Winner/TRF Places-Boys
100 – 1. Jez Jones, East Grand Forks, 11.36; 11. Tallon Vorderbruggen 12.39; 12. Kolton Almhjeld 12.53; 19. Carson Walseth 12.97.
100 Wheelchair – 1. Clayton Rudi, Thief River Falls, 29.69.
200 – 1. Jez Jones, East Grand Forks, 23.04; 2. William MacLean 23.82; 6. Everett Nelson 24.88; 9. Jaxson Tanner 25.74.
200 Wheelchair – 1. Clayton Rudi, Thief River Falls, 1:12.15.
400 – 1. Jez Jones, East Grand Forks, 50.65; 3. William MacLean 52.35; 4. Everett Nelson 53.59; 5. Colin MacLean 55.57.
800 – 1. Weston Mahar, East Grand Forks, 2:06.54; 5. Colin MacLean 2:16.36; 6. Briley Olsonawski 2:16.71; 10. Lincoln Davis 2:26.67.
1600 – 1. Curtis Griffin, Thief River Falls, 4:51.94; 10. Wyatt Novak 5:41.86.
3200 – 1. Curtis Griffin, Thief River Falls, 10:44.93; 8. Hayden Esala 12:24.63; 12. Dylan Lane 14:00.30.
110 hurdles – 1. Matthew Rieckman, East Grand Forks, 17.63; 5. Ian Hruby 20.89; 8. Michael Rowe 23.05.
300 hurdles – 1. Matthew Rieckman, East Grand Forks, 46.19; 3. Ian Hruby 46.73; 7. Michael Rowe 49.92; 11. Caleb Mauch 53.96.
4×100 – 1. BGMR A 46.94; 3. (Caleb Mauch, Carson Walseth, Jaxson Tanner, Tallon Vorderbruggen) 49.23.
4×200 – 1. East Grand Forks A 1:38.33; 3. TRF A (Briley Olsonawski, Jaxson Tanner, Michael Rowe, Tallon Vorderbruggen) 1:40.67.
4×400 – 1. East Grand Forks A 3:38.48; 2. TRF A (Everett Nelson, Colin MacLean, Curtis Griffin, William MacLean) 3:40.74.
4×800 – 1. East Grand Forks, 8:53.56; 6. TRF A (Dylan Lane, Hayden Esala, Luke Smith, Wyatt Novak) 10:16.47.
High Jump – 1. Jake Borowicz, Roseau, 5-10; 2. Everett Nelson 5-10; 10. Colin MacLean 4-10; 12. Briley Olsonawski 4-10.
Pole Vault – 1. Eliot Afshari, East Grand Forks, 12-0; 5. Lincoln Davis 8-6; 12. Keaton Tillett 7-6.
Long Jump – 1. Dereon Dadeah, East Grand Forks, 18-3.25; 8. Briley Olsonawski 15-5.75; 11. Carson Walseth 14-10; 14. Tallon Vorderbruggen 14-5.5.
Triple Jump – 1. Jez Jones, East Grand Forks, 39-11; 6. Caleb Mauch 31-7.5; 7. Keaton Tillett 31-7.5.
Shot Put – 1. Messi Kalenda, East Grand Forks, 50-5.75; 4. Joey Bruggeman 42-11; 12. Kolton Almhjeld 32-6.75; 14. Parker Kasprowicz 32-2.25.
Shot Put Wheelchair – 1. Clayton Rudi, Thief River Falls, 8-1.5.
Discus – 1. Mavrik Martine, East Grand Forks, 162-4; 9. Parker Kasprowicz 95-10; 10. Joey Bruggeman 87-7; 13. Kolton Almhjeld 75-5.
Discus Wheelchair – 1. Clayton Rudi 17-10.