When the dust settled on the Section 5A Girls and Boys Track and Field Championships on May 28, from St. John’s University, 12 EV-W/K athletes earned trips to this year’s state tournament, five of them in more than one event.
Jocelyn Zoller, Jordyn Theis, Ellie Becker, Hope Kuechle, Miley Kuechle, Cambel Hesse and Alayna Haag advanced for the girls, and Owen Mortenson, Kole Knaus, Brody Hooper, William Ballard and Henry Lemke for the boys.
As teams, EV-W/K finished as the section runner-up on the girls’ side with 81 points – behind section champion St. Cloud Cathedral, finishing with 103 points. The EV-W/K boys team finished fifth with 47 points. Pierz won the boys section championship with 115 points and Holdingford finished second with 105.5 points.
Below are the complete state advancer results.
Girls
Jocelyn Zoller advanced individually in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. Zoller finished third in the 100-meter with a time of 15.83–.62 seconds behind the runner-up finisher and .81 seconds behind the top finisher. In the 300-meter, Zoller won the event with a time of 46.26 –. 86 seconds clear of the runner-up.
Hope Kuechle advanced to state individually by winning the 400-meter dash. Kuechle earned the section title in this event with a time of 57.63 – finishing ahead of second-place runner Aubrey Lesnau, who posted the same time according to the results.
In the field events, Ellie Becker advanced to state individually in both the high jump and pole vault. She won the high jump with a height of 5-03.00. In the pole vault, she earned her state trip via a runner-up finish, posting a height of 10-02.00.
In another field event, Miley Kuechle advanced to state in the triple jump. She finished as the event runner-up with a distance of 35-07.75.
Two relay teams also earned trips to state, in the 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter teams.
The 4×200-meter team of Jordyn Theis, Cambel Hesse, Ellie Becker and Hope Kuechle finished third with a time of 1:46.45 – .21 seconds behind runner-up Maple Lake and 2.43 seconds behind the section champion St. Cloud Cathedral, who finished with a meet record.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Cambel Hesse, Alayna Haag, Jocelyn Zoller and Hope Kuechle earned a runner-up finish with a time of 4:07.21 – 4.28 seconds behind section champion Holdingford.
Boys
Henry Lemke earned state berths thanks to section titles in two long distance events – the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run.
Lemke won the 1,600-meter with a time of 4:28.65 – 2.33 ahead of the runner-up finisher. In the 3,200-meter, Lemke won the event with a time of 9:50.36 – 10.74 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher.
The 4×100-meter relay team of Owen Mortenson, Kole Knaus, Brody Hooper and William Ballard earned a state berth. The team earned a runner-up finish with a time of 44.76 –. 85 seconds behind section champion Pierz.
State
These 12 EV-W/K athletes will compete in the Class A State Track and Field Meet from St. Michael-Albertville High School on Tuesday, June 10 (preliminaries) and Wednesday, June 11 (finals). Class A action begins at 3:30 pm on both days.