Track and Field: A host of Warriors ready for state – Brainerd Dispatch

ST. MICHAEL — An army of Warriors will represent Brainerd in the Class 3A State Track and Field meet Tuesday, June 10, at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Twenty-one athletes qualified for state, including four relay teams.

Senior Ty Nelson looks to defend his state title in the triple jump. He posted a new Section 8-3A record of 48-foot-11.5, which is also held at STMA.

Nelson won with a 47-7.5 at state last year.

“He’s got a mindset of shooting for 50 feet,” Brainerd head coach Casey Miller said. “If he jumps anywhere near that, there’s not anyone else that has the potential to do that.”

Joe Smith returns to state in the pole vault. Smith cleared 13-6 to place 15th at state last year. He won the section by clearing 13-8.

“He’s cleared over 15 feet in practice; he just hasn’t done it in a meet,” Miller said. “I fully expect him to put it together at the state meet.”

Kyle Peterson is back in the 110-meter hurdles. He did not make it out of the prelims last year at state with a 15.32. He won sections with a personal-best 14.77.

Peterson joined Jordan Davis, Austin Asher and Travis Albrecht to qualify the 4×100 relay team with a first-place 42.69.

Asher will compete in the 100 dash as he qualified with a time of 10.97. Preston Miller qualified in the 300 hurdles with a second-place 40.03.

“We didn’t have Austin and Jordan on the 4×100 team earlier and we were one second off the state standard,” Miller said. “Coach (Mikkey) White put them through some serious exchange work and they missed the school record by five hundredths of a second. Asher is starting to break 11 seconds in the 100 consistently now and his starts are coming around. Kyle continues to look awesome. His main race is the 110 and he could make the finals. I think Preston is going to break 40 seconds at state.”

Ava Loney highlights the Warrior girls by qualifying for three events. She ran a state-qualifying time of 12.33 in the 100 dash at sections.

Along with Macy Castle, Avery Duerr and Kenadie Paulson, Loney helped the 4×100 and 4×200 relays qualify, too.

“There’s still a ton of improvement for the relays,” Miller said. “It’s a fast team and they look great. They look better every time they run. They just missed the school record in the 4×100 again, but I’m hoping for a finals berth in both relays. Ava is just getting faster and faster and hopefully she can figure out a way to get in the finals.”

Natalie Smith is back at state, but in a different hurdles event. Last year, she finished 14th in the 300 hurdles. This year, she qualified for the 100 hurdles with a 15.72.

Kelly Humphrey

“We were hoping to get her in the 300 hurdles, but she didn’t quite get there,” Miller said. “The 100 hurdles has been her best event all year. She is going to have to work for it, but it’s not impossible to make it to the next round.”

Isabelle Ploof placed second to qualify in the discus with a toss of 118-6.

“She missed the state standard by one foot, but she’s been out to 127 back in April,” Miller said. “She’s been working through some things and hopefully it all can come together and she can get back to the 125-130 mark.”

Brainerd’s 4×800 relay teams of Brooke Wenz, Sophia Blanck, Madi Miller and Annelise Baird and John Cowell, Ben Stadum, Mullen Bratney and Carter Mielke qualified.

The boys’ team raced a second-place time of 8:07.94 while the girls ran a state-qualifying time of 9:30.49.

“I think this is the fourth year in a row that we’ve taken the girls’ team,” Miller said. “We will be the fastest team in the slowest heat and we are hoping to come out of that heat and sneak into a podium spot. On the boys’ side, I’m not sure if you told me at the beginning of the season that we had a team that could do it. We have great senior leaders in Ben and Carter who pulled the team together. We are trying to find a way to drop four or five seconds.”

It’s believed that 21 state entrants is a school record for the Warriors.

“Everything we had put in to hopefully make it was hitting,” Miller said. “We almost added another three kids with some other relays. (Assistant coaches) Dave (Herath) and Robb Kolodziej and some of those guys who have been around a long time have mentioned that this is a record number of athletes.”

CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.

When: June 10-12
Where: St. Michael-Albertville High School
Times: 9 a.m. June 10 Class 3A prelims, 3:30 p.m. June 10 Class 1A prelims; 9 a.m. June 11 Class 2A prelims, 3:30 p.m. June 11 Class 1A Finals; 9 a.m. June 12 Class 2A Finals, 3:30 p.m. June 12 Class 3A Finals