For the Tribune

MANKATO – The United South Central boys’ track and field team was impressive while winning a four-team meet at Minnesota State-Mankato Thursday.

Saturday, March 30, 2002

MANKATO – The United South Central boys’ track and field team was impressive while winning a four-team meet at Minnesota State-Mankato Thursday.

The Rebels won 10 of 15 events to win the Shakopee Invitational with 92 points. Finishing second was Shakopee with 66.5 points, followed by Marshall with 56, and Jackson County Central with 13.5.

Casey Christenson and Brandon Alphs led the Rebels, with Christenson taking four firsts: the 55, 200, and 400-meter dashes, as well as the triple jump. Alphs chipped in firsts in the long jump and pole vault, a third in the 55 and a strong leg in the winning 4×200 relay team. Joining Alphs in the were freshmen Shea Kaiser and Callan Pitcher and sophomore Jon Voigt.

Also winning their events were Justin Youngblom, Eric Langsev, and the 4×400 team of Kaiser, Pitcher, Youngblom, and Langsev.

&uot;We looked better as a team than we did last week,&uot; said coach Kent Viesselman. &uot;We had a little first-place punch. I was pleased with our 1-2 finishes in the 400 (Christenson, Schmitz), long Jump (Alphs, Kaiser), and triple jump (Christenson , Rollenhagen) and 1-3 finishes in the pole vault (Alphs, Voigt), and the 55 dash (Christenson, Alphs). It also looked like our high jumpers (Rollenhagen and Niebuhr) are in the process of plugging a hole there.&uot;