In spite of some off-and-on showers, the St. Clair/Immanuel track teams were able to put up some steady performances at the April 30 meet at LCWM. The meet seemed pretty pedal to the medal with its pacing as one race quickly followed another in order to beat out the impending weather. The Girls’ team took second place after a series of top-five finishes and two victories in two relay races; the boys took fourth place.
The Boys posted a large number of entries in many of the field events, such as High Jump where six of the 14 competitors were Cyclones; Wyatt Lien proved to be the top dog amongst his teammates as he finished in fourth place with a leap of 5-02.00. Lien also had a successful day on the track as he set a personal record and took third place in the 1600 Meters; Peter Dumdei took fifth. Several events during the meet would see multiple Cyclones finishing in the top five as the 100 Meters had three runners finish side-by-side with Oliver Schull, Jacob Olmanson, and Alex Kruse taking fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively; Olmanson gave an incredible effort in the Triple Jump as he took second and set a season record with a jump of 36-03.00. Levi Thompson continued his dominance as a hurler with another first-place finish in Shot Put with a throw of 44-02.50 and a third-place finish in Discus. Lastly, the Boys relay teams dug deep to gain some ground in the final leg of each race as the 4×200 team of Andrew Clobes, Archer Richter, Kaden Hainlen, and Huntly Lentz took third while the 4×800 squad of Eli Bailey, Jackson Bilitz, Rollie Matjcek, and Dumdei fell just short of first place by two seconds. The St. Clair/Immanuel Boys track team finished in fourth place with 28 points.
The Girls track team showed some real grit and determination with their own relay teams as the 4×100 and 4×200 had Cyclone runners cross its finish line first. The 4×100 team of Brooke Hagen, Ashley Mills, Janessa Carstensen, and Brooklin Hinze squeaked out a close finish in the final leg to take first place with a time of 55.13; the very same team made much easier work of the competition in the 4×200 as they won by three seconds with a time of 1:54.95. Mills also had some success on the track by herself as she placed fifth in the 100 Meters. Valerie Quast returned to competition after nursing a knee injury and fared well in the 1600 with a seventh place finish–she even set a season record with a time of 6:40.88. The field events showcased some consistency for the Cyclones as Morgan Roemhildt and Bergan Loeffler took fifth and sixth place in Shot Put, respectively; Roemhildt would also finish in third place in Discus with Rebeka Busch taking fifth. Lastly, Kate Daly took fifth place in Pole Vault. The Girls’ team finished in second place with 39 points.
Coach Swanson took several key points from the meet. “The kids did really well at this meet despite the weather; as we head into this last part of the season, their endurance and the hard work they’ve put into the season is starting to pay off.”
Swanson also had glowing remarks for the continued success of her relay teams and Thompson. “Levi’s success comes from his consistency at practice and training extremely hard outside of practice in the weight room. I can see him reaching State this year, and it’s going to be tough to fill his spot next year. As far as the relays, the girls have worked hard to really master the handoffs, which is a big part of the race; Hinze and Hagen have been crucial for the relay team to follow through in practice and the results speak for themselves.”
The Cyclones also competed at the Fairmont Sentinel Relays on May 3 to great success as the boys’ team finished fourth and the girls’ team took first place as a team with 144 points. Notable finishes: Hagen placed third in 200 Meters; Hagen, Mills, Carstensen, and Hinze took first place in both 4×100 & 4×200 relays; P & K Daly, L. Quast, and Jordyn Mariner took second in 4×400 relay; Carstensen, Hinze, L. Quast, and Abigail Ward took first in the SMR 1600m; Bergan Loeffler took second in Shot Put; Carter Bilitz took second in Discus; K. Daly took second in high jump and first in Pole Vault; P. Daly finished third in PV; Hinze took first in Long Jump with a PR of 15’ 10.25; Olmanson took second in Triple Jump.
A fantastic week of athleticism is in the books for the St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran Cyclones as the upcoming week will only heighten expectations as True Team competitions will be held on May 7 at USC and another meet at Tri-City United on May 9.
