Albert Lea takes 2nd place in coed meet at Owatonna
Published 1:23 am Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Preston Smith of Albert Lea leaps while running the coed shuttle-hurdle relay. Smith won the 300-meter hurdles in 42.90 seconds. He also took second in the triple jump. — Lon Nelson/For the Albert Lea Tribune
The Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ track and field teams joined forces Monday at Owatonna for their first outdoor meet of the season.
The Tigers took second place out of three teams with 105.5 points. Owatonna won the meet with 204 points, and the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf took third with 44.5 points.
Statistics are in the Scoreboard: April 8 post.
Hannah Savelkoul of Albert Lea leads the pack during the 800-meter run. Savelkoul won the event. — Lon Nelson/For the Albert Lea Tribune
“It was a different meet in that we were able to run with the guys and combine our scores,” said Albert Lea girls’ coach Margo Wayne. “It’s always fun for us to do that.”
Along with combining scores, the boys’ and girls’ teams also teamed up for relay events.
“This is the only coed meet during the year where boys and girls share in the relay exchanges,” said Albert Lea boys’ coach Kevin Gentz.
Albert Lea’s Preston Smith led the boys by winning the 300-meter hurdles in 42.9 seconds and taking second in the triple jump with a leap of 36 feet, 5 inches.
Jackson Goodell led the Tigers’ distance squad with a second-place finish in the 1,600 with a time of 4:50.60.
Albert Lea’s Matt Judd tossed the discus 108-9, and Tim Christianson threw the shot put 40-2 1/4. Both Tigers finished third.
“Our throwers performed extremely well,” Gentz said.
The Albert Lea girls’ team was led by Hannah Savelkoul.
“Hannah ran a really great race in the 800 and finished first,” Wayne said.
Six other members of the Albert Lea girls’ track and field team finished in the top three.
In field events, Elisa Staat took second in the triple jump, Sydney Rehnelt finished third in the long jump and Hanna DeVries took third in the discus.
In running events, Rachel Kenis took second in the 1,600, Emma Behling finished second in the 3,200, and Carol Lein took third in the 800.
This early in the season, Gentz said the team is looking for improvement.
“In a meet like this, the score means absolutely nothing to me,” he said. “We found some strengths, identified areas of growth, and see some weaknesses we will need to attend to.”
Next, the Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ track and field teams will compete at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Austin.
