FARIBAULT &045; United South Central/Alden-Conger head track and field coach Kent Viesselman always wants his athletes to face the best possible competition.

But this time was a little tougher than usual.

The USC/AC girls finished fourth and the boys sixth among seven teams in Tuesday’s Faribault Invitational.

“To say the competition was tough would be an understatement,” said Viesselman. “Mankato West, Burnsville and Red Wing are all powerhouses among the AA teams in the state. Waseca has their best girls’ team in years. Our better athletes got a taste of strong competition.”

Burnsville won the girls’ division with 152 points, followed by Red Wing with 92, Waseca 88, USC/AC 76, Faribault 70, Mankato West 37 and WEM 32.

The Rebel girls won three events. Jamie Klein finished first in the 800 meters with a personal-best 2:31. Becca Bryson won the 3200 with her best time of the season, 12:32. Also winning was the 4×400 team of Megan Jensen, Lindsey Rauenhorst, Kallie Rollenhagen, and Amy Christensen in 4:20.

“We lost our two best sprinters, Ashlie and Alesha Satre, after they finished well in the 100-meter dash,” said Viesselman. “Hopefully they’ll be ready to go again in a couple of weeks.”

The boys’ division was won by defending state champion West with 146 points. The Rebels had 40.

Jon Voigt led the boys with a second-place finish in the 200, a third in the pole vault and a leg on the 4×100 team that finished third. Other members of that relay were Brad Tomschin, Jake Stenzel and Bob Schmitz. Schmitz also posted a third in the 400 with a season-best 53.67.

“It was probably a little tougher meet than what we really needed,” said Viesselman. “At the same time,

between the girls’ and boys’ teams, the kids turned in approximately 80 season-best performances, so it was good in that regard.”