by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
The Thief River Falls girls track and field team had 14 section place winners and the team qualified for state in four events at the two-day Section 8AA meet held Wednesday, May 27 at the Multi-Events Center in Thief River Falls and Saturday at Rocori High School in Cold Spring.
“I am beyond proud of how the girls competed,” said Co-Head Coach Katie Nelson. “We had 21 personal bests throughout both days of competition along with a few season bests as well. We had four events qualify for the state track meet next week. Gwen [Wojciechowski] in the 100 and 200 and Davdine [King] in the high jump for individual events. Our girls 4×200 relay of Kenzie [Reynolds], Kayla [Peterson], Janaya [Albers] and Gwen placed first by nearly three full seconds to qualify for the state meet. In addition to that, they also broke our school record by nearly 1 second that was previously held by Kendal Rantanen, Dru Harbott, Stephanie Dagg and Kendra Mehrkens in 2023.”
“Handoffs were nearly perfect and everyone ran their legs of the race extremely well,” Nelson added. “Gwen ran season bests in both the 100 and 200 to place second and qualify for the state meet for the second year in a row.”
Albers placed seventh in the 100 and fifth in the 200.
“Janaya Albers had a great showing qualifying for finals in the 100 and 200,” Nelson said. “Her 100 time was consistently in the low 13s and she had a huge PR in finals in the 200.”
Peterson, a state qualifier in the 400 in 2025, narrowly missed state in both the 200 and 400 this year, with a pair of fourth place finishes.
“Kayla Peterson ran well in her 400-meter and 200-meter dashes,” Nelson said.
“Unfortunately she was just shy of state qualifying in the 400 by 0.2s, but she still ran her season best time. Kayla also ran well in the 200 placing fourth overall with a second best time for her this season.”
Elory Mossestad and Livia Harbott both qualified for the section finals in the 800.
“Elory Mossestad and Livia Harbott each ran PRs in prelims and bettered those PRs in finals to place fourth and eighth, respectively,” Nelson said. “They have come so far in the last few weeks and had such a great showing. They were also both a part of the seventh place 4×400 relay along with Kenzie Reynolds and Mackenzie Lee. We were in the slower heat for the 4×4, so they knew they had to win the heat and have a good time to be able to place. They all ran some of their best split times of the season to place seventh overall with a PR of 4 seconds. I am so proud of them ending the day with that performance.”
King was the first Prowler to punch her ticket to state, placing second in the high jump on Wednesday.
“Davdine King went into sections seeded number one and has jumped the state qualifying standard numerous times this season, so I had high hopes she would qualify by placing or by standard and she did both,” Nelson said. “Looking at the state entries, she has a fantastic chance of medaling in high jump if she can do what she has been doing all year and can jump her 5-4 PR or better.”
Lila Dalager reached the medal stand in both the shot put and discus, finishing ninth in the discus on Wednesday and seventh in the shot put on Saturday.
“Lila Dalager threw well in discus and shot put to be able to get on the podium in both,” Nelson said. “She also bettered her PR in shot put by eight inches.”
The Prowlers were close to getting one more state qualifier, with Madelyn David finishing third – six inches short of runner-up Audriana Schlieman of Rocori.
“Maddie David was flying in triple jump and placed third overall, just missing the state qualifying standard by 4.5 inches,” Nelson said. “She most likely got it on her final jump but unfortunately fouled her jump by mere millimeters. I expect big things from her next year with how much she has improved this year. She will also be attending the Down Under track meet hosted in Australia this summer, so I expect to see some big jumps come from her at that meet.”
Team Scores
• Girls – 1. Fergus Falls 102.5; 2. Perham 100; 3. Rocori 89; 4. Willmar 88.5; 5. Thief River Falls 66; 6. Detroit Lakes 63; 7. East Grand Forks 53; 7. Pequot Lakes 53; 9. Albany 36; 10. Little Falls 34; 11. Melrose Area 17.
State Qualifiers/TRF Places-Girls
100 Meters Finals – 1. Jasmine Perez Garcia, Rocori, 12.34; 2. Gwen Wojciechowski, Thief River Falls, 12.58; 7. Janaya Albers 13.24.
100 Meters Prelims – 3. Gwen Wojciechowski 12.87; 7. Janaya Albers 13.23; 10. Bella Dicken 13.46.
200 Meters Finals – 1. Jasmine Perez Garcia, Rocori, 25.54; 2. Gwen Wojciechowski 25.77; 4. Kayla Peterson 26.44; 5. Janaya Albers 26.93.
200 Meters Prelims – 2. Gwen Wojciechowski 25.87; 3. Kayla Peterson 26.00; 6. Janaya Albers 27.27.
400 Meters Finals – 1. Keira Bye, East Grand Forks, 58.84; Mallory Beier, Willmar, 59.12; 4. Kayla Peterson 59.84;
400 Meters Prelims – 4. Kayla Peterson 1:00.09; 11. Livia Harbott 1:03.04; 12. Mackenzie Lee 1:03.82.
800 Meters Finals – 4. Elory Mossestad 2:22.35; 8. Livia Harbott 2:27.11.
800 Meters Prelims – 1. Estee Versteeg, Fergus Falls, 2:20.29; 2. Hannah Barberg, Detroit Lakes, 2:21.00; 3. Elory Mossestad 2:23.01; 8. Livia Harbott 2:28.39.
1600 Meters Finals – 1. Estee Versteeg, Fergus Falls, 5:12.90; 2. Tilly Mathies, Perham, 5:18.95; 12. Evelyn Griffin 5:40.91;
3200 Meters Finals – 1. Carsyn Lill, Fergus Falls, 11:31.64; 2. Allison Mages, Willmar, 11:39.21; 14. Evelyn Griffin 12:53.16.
100m Hurdles Varsity Finals – 1. Kennedy Detloff, Perham, 15.61; 2. Brooklin Hansen, Pequot Lakes, 15.86.
100m Hurdles Varsity Prelims – 12. Alyssa Foster 18.26; 17. Mia Carriere 19.44; 23. Rhianna Smith 21.37.
300m Hurdles Varsity Finals – 1. Brooklin Hansen, Pequot Lakes, 46.99; 2. Chelsea Willenbring, Rocori, 47.08.
300m Hurdles Varsity Prelims – 17. Mia Carriere 54.89; 20. Alyssa Foster 56.66.
4×100 Relay Finals – 1. Willmar A 49.35; 2. Fergus Falls A 49.52; 9. TRF A (Kenzie Reynolds, Bella Dicken, Jordyn Skjerven, Davdine King) 52.33.
4×200 Relay Finals – 1. TRF A (1 Kenzie Reynolds, Kayla Peterson, Janaya Albers, Gwen Wojciechowski) 1:43.81; 2. Perham A 1:46.74.
4×400 Relay Finals – 1. Perham A 4:02.92; 2. East Grand Forks A 4:03.34; 7. TRF A (Kenzie Reynolds, Elory Mossestad, Livia Harbott, Mackenzie Lee) 4:17.40.
4×800 Relay Finals – 1. Perham A 9:33.23; 2. Rocori A 9:36.13.
Shot Put – 1. Kaitlyn Carrier, Detroit Lakes, 40-02; 2. Brook Zierden, Fergus Falls, 37-11; 7. Lila Dalager 33-07.75; 20. Natalia Zoller 26-07.75; 24. Bella Dicken 24-11.25.
Discus – 1. Maddison Molacek, Willmar, 137-09; 2. Brook Zierden, Fergu Falls, 126-04; 9. Lila Dalager 89-08; 15. Bella Dicken 76-08; 16. Kennedi Kalinowski 75-09.
High Jump Finals – 1. Layla Wenderski, Albany, 5-02.00; 2. Davdine King, Thief River Falls, 5-02.00; Rhianna Smith NH; Nora Bruggeman NH.
Pole Vault Varsity Finals – 1. Gracie Morris, Perham, 11-02; 2. Josie Eveslage, Melrose Area, 10-02.
Long Jump Finals – 1. Mallory Beier, Willmar, 17-11.50; 2. Kinsley Beleand, East Grand Forks, 17-04; 22. Madelyn David 14-07.75; 32. Alyssa Foster 13-06.25; 33. Autumn Defreece 11-09.00.
Triple Jump Finals – 1. Natalie Spindler, Detroit Lakes, 36-02.25; 2. Audriana Schlieman, Rocori, 35-07.50; 3. Madelyn David 35-01.50; 25. Alyssa Foster 29-00.75.