By AJ Reisetter
The Northfield Raiders Boy’s Track and Field team competed in the Section 1AAA Meet on Saturday, June 3rd in Lakeville South and walked away with multiple state qualifiers as well as two school records. The team finished fifth overall with 85 points while Owatonna took home the section title after scoring 176.5 points. Rochester Mayo took second with 162 points and Lakeville South took third with 130 points.
Thursday Prelims
On Thursday, June 1st the Raiders kicked off the section Meet with multiple podium performances. Haden Kelly and Joey Schulz took sixth and seventh place respectively in the shot put event. Malcolm Poole set a personal record in the triple jump with a jump of 37′ 4.5″ to earn a spot in the finals on Saturday, where he finished in 10th. Stephen Feig finished in fifth place in the pole vault event with a vault of 12′ 6″. Seniors Ben Anderson and Landon Nissen also podiumed tying for seventh place with vaults of 11′ 6″.
On the track, the Raiders qualified four individuals for finals. Brayden Brakke won his heat of the 100m dash, Johannes Schroeer qualified in the 300m hurdles event, and Sam Folland and Nathan Amundson each qualified in the 800m. Soren Murphy-Pearson finished Thursday’s events with an eight-place podium finish in the 3200m.
Saturday Record Breakers
“Entering the second day of Sections our coaching staff was optimistic that we could possibly sneak a relay and an individual or two into the State Meet if we had a good day,” said boys head coach Tyler Balow. “We were thrilled with the performances that the team was able to put together. Nearly everything that could go right did in the end.”
The day started with the 4×800 relay school record falling. The relay of Brecken Riley, Sam Folland, Isaac Schleif, and Nathan Amundson ran an 8:04.36 to break the record by 1.5 seconds. The effort earned them fourth place in the meet, but missing the state meet. Amundson was on the 4×800 relay team that went to state the previous two years, Folland was on the team that went two years ago, and Riley was on the team last year that went to state.
The 4×100 relay of Jackson Jerdee, Simon Lipert, Bryaden Brakke, and Kamarain Gant also broke a school record. The team finished in second place and with a time of 43.28, four-tenths of a second faster than the previous record. The Raiders had a little help when qualifying for the State Meet from the Rochester John Marshall 4×100 team, which was disqualified for a lane violation. This propelled Northfield from third to second and into the State Meet.
Historic Finish
Brayden Brakke continued his historic with a second-place finish in the 100m dash. His time of 11.17 was good enough to send him to that State Meet. It will be Brakke’s first appearance at state.
Gant, just before the 4×100 relay, also set a personal record in the high jump with a leap of 6′ 3″ to hit the automatic state qualifying mark. It will be Gant’s first state appearance since joining the team last year.
Toby Grawe finished off the day with a career-best throw in the discus event of 151′ 9″ earning him second place and a trip to the State Meet. His teammate Joey Schulz finished the event in fourth place and joined Grawe on the podium.
Other Raiders to hop on the podium on day two were Soren Murphy-Pearson who took ninth in the 1600m event, Johannes Schroeer set a personal record in the 300m hurdles event to earn him fifth place, and Sam Folland, and Nathan Amundson took sixth and seventh place respectively in the 800m.
Complete results from the meet are here.
What’s Next?
The Raiders will compete at the state meet this Thursday, June 8th, and Saturday, June 10th at St. Micahel-Albertville High School. Stay up to date with all Northfield activities by heading over to NorthfieldLive.com and following us on social media @northfieldlive.