BLAINE &045; Casey Christenson of United South Central finished a stellar high school track career Saturday at the state meet, finishing eighth in the 400-meter dash.

Christenson, hampered the last half of the season with a high hamstring strain, failed to qualify for the finals in the 200, where he finished fourth last year. He clocked 51.38 seconds in the 400 final.

“This was a year of ups and downs for us,” said head coach Kent Viesselman. “We were cruising along pretty good, having won all three of our indoor meets, the Blue Earth Invitational, the USC Invitational, the Lions Invitational, the Sentinel Relays, the Section 2A True Team, and the South Central Conference Meet.&uot;

At The SCC Meet, Christenson was awarded the Vern Walden Award for the second year in a row as the leading scorer in the SCC meet, after winning the 100, 400, 200 dashes and placing third in the triple jump.

Then the Rebel fortunes took a turn for the worse. At the State True Team Meet, Christenson’s nagging injury surfaced for real.

“I expected Casey to finish in the top three in all four of his events, but he just couldn’t accelerate at all,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;He finished way back in both the triple jump and the 100 . At that point, we pulled him out of the 400 and 200.” As a result, the Rebels finished a disappointing sixth.

“With Casey healthy, I think we may have finished as high as second,” commented Viesselman.

After a low-key meet at Waseca, the Rebels came back to run up an impressive win in the sub-section meet, scoring 213 points and advancing 15 athletes to section. The Rebels were represented at section in every event.

“Casey got through to the section in all four of his events, but it was obvious that he still wasn’t at 100 percent,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;We were hoping that he would be ready for sections.”

Then, on the eve of

the Section Meet, the Rebels’ other high-scoring senior, Brandon Alphs broke a pole and his thumb and injured his ribs in his final tune-up for the Section Meet. Alphs at that point was rated second in the state in the pole vault.

“Alphy was able to participate in the long jump and 100 in the section meet,

and placed in both, but was noticeably below par. I’m amazed he was able to compete at all,” said Viesselman.

Christenson, who qualified for state in four events a year ago, managed to qualify for the state in the 400 and 200.

“It was very obvious that Casey was not at 100 percent,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;As a coach, it wasn’t much fun watching two fine track men like Alphy and Casey finish their senior years like this.

They are both exceptional track men and team leaders, and I wanted to see them finish out with the recognition they both deserve. They are both class people and are handling the disappointments better than their coach.”