CAMDEN CONFERENCE TRACK & FIELD
Eleven personal records set under frigid and windy conditions
Other than some random athletes stretching and warming up sporadically, the football field at Lakeview High School was mostly vacant during last Thursday’s Camden Conference Track & Field Meet. Ironic considering the weather that day made it feel like a Friday night under the lights in late October.
With gale force winds fiercely cutting through the stadium and “feels like” temps falling into the 30s, track and field competitors did all they could to stay loose and warm between their events. By the end of more than four hours of cold competition, Panther athletes left Cottonwood with a number of first-place finishes.
“Thursday’s conference meet was a cold and windy one,” TMB coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said. “I’m so proud of how tough these kids are. We run in more wind out here on the prairie than teams from up north or in the metro. I think this makes us tougher. Despite the weather, our athletes competed hard. Even in the extreme wind there were 11 personal records. That’s not easy to do this late in the season and in those conditions.”
The following athletes recorded PRs Thursday: Linaye Odom with 29.79 in the open 200m Marin Knott with a 13:24.65 in the two mile Kaylie Danielson with a shot put throw of 22’2” Avery Anderson with a long jump of 13’11.5” Linaye Odom with a triple jump of 31’11.25” Weston Marten with a 2:23.82 in the open 800m Talon Brinkley with a 19.75 in the 110m hurdles Jonathan Reyes with a 35’5” in the shot put Ismael Reyes with a 31’11” in the shot put Ty Yackley with a 17’1” in the long jump Emery Xiong with a 36’0.25” in the triple jump Team-wise, the TMB boys finished in fourth place, while the girls took sixth.
“That may not sound really impressive, but in fact it is,” Kamrud-Rice said. “About half of our varsity for both girls and boys is 8-9 graders. But these are some dedicated and competitive kids. I absolutely love how our senior high kids lead this team and embrace all of its members. When we only have four coaches plus two volunteers for about 60 athletes, it’s really important to have leaders on the team that will lead by example, hold their teammates and themselves accountable, and praise the progress made by our younger athletes.”
In the conference meet, places 1-6 score points for the team. The events TMB placed in the top 6 were: 100m open: Aidan Swenhaugen (2nd) 200m open: Swenhaugen (1st) 400m open: Tyler Arnold (5th) 800m open: Weston Marten (6th) 1600m opem: Marin Knott (4th) 3200m open: Knott (5th) 110m hurdles: Cade Swenhaugen (1st) and Talon Brinkley (3rd) 100m hurdles: RaeLynn Schreier (3rd) and Teagan Viessman (4th) 300m hurdles: C. Swenhaugen (1st), Raelynn Schreier (4th), and Linaye Odom (5th) 4x 100 relay: Boys took 4th (Moua, Xiong, Yackley, and Ostgaard) Girls took 6th (Viessman, E. Carter, Johns, and Munson) 4x200 relay: Boys took 1st (C. Swenhaugen, Arnold, Morgan, and A.Swenhaugen) 4x400 relay: Boys took 4th (Ortiz, Marten, Schneider, and E.Lightfoot); girls took 6th: (Anderson, Hicks, Knott, and Knakmuhs) High Jump: A. Swenhaugen took 2nd Pole Vault: Damion Crooks took 6th Triple Jump: Linaye Odom took 3rd, Eli Lightfoot was 4th and Emery Xiong took 6th.
“We weren’t at full strength that day actually,” said Kamrud-Rice. “We had a couple of kids whose legs needed a break that day. It’s that time of the season where some of these athletes are starting to feel all of this hard work and competition in their legs. We took a big hit early in the season when Hunter Ostgaard pulled both of his hamstrings and it was great to see him run the 4x100 without any pain. We also took a big hit on the girls side when Kyli Carter had surgery on her ankle. That one hurts my heart. Kyli is a senior this year and she was primed to get under 1:03 for her 400. She was ready mentally and physically to do whatever it took to get there. I personally believe she would have gotten below 1:03 by now. Unfortunately, as hard as she tried, her ankle wouldn’t let her.”
TMB is now looking to ahead to subsections Thursday in Luverne. The teams competing there are: Adrian/Ellsworth, RTR, SW Minnesota Christian, Luverne, Pipestone, MCC, and HBC. Kamrud-Rice said advancing to sections and then state this year will be no easy feat.
“It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “On the boys side, there is someone from our section ranked in the top three in the state in over half of the running events,” she said. “It’s pretty similar on the girls’ side, but also the top three sprinters in the section are in our sub-section, including Brynn Baken who was second in state last year. So, our post season competition is pretty fierce, but we’re ready to get after it.”
The top four competitors at sub-sections plus four wild cards will advance to sections. At sections, an athlete has to get first or second to get to state. Otherwise, there are qualifying marks. At sections if they run/throw/jump this standard, they automatically advance.
“Each year ,the standards change a little,” Kamrud-Rice said. “They have a formula using the top eight times in the state from previous years to establish the qualifying standards. We’ve had a couple of events hit that standard already, but they have to run that time at sections to qualify.”
