FAIRMONT &045; The United South Central/Alden-Conger track and field teams faced by far their toughest competition of the season in the Sentinel Relays at Fairmont Friday.

“The level of competition was definitely up a notch,&uot; said coach Kent Viesselman. “I felt the quality of the times and distances turned in was amazing in view of the wind that was blowing. The good competition was responsible.”

USC/A-C’s girls’ squad finished second in the eight-team Class AA division to always-tough Fairmont, with Cambridge-Isanti third.

“We had the choice of A or AA,” said Viesselman, “We chose to go AA because of the quality of the competition.”

Amy Christenson struck gold in the high hurdles, adding a second in the 300 lows and a third in the 200-meter dash. All three were season-best times.

Becca Bryson went 35-5 in the triple jump for the Rebels’ other first.

Lindsey Rauenhorst and Jamie Klein chipped in a pair of seconds in the high jump and 3200. Klein added a third in the 1600.

The top relay team for the girls’ was a second in the 4×800 by Rebecca Leland, Holly Theede, Katie Schultz and Megan Jensen.

“In view of the conditions when the 4×800 was run, I felt the girls ran pretty good splits,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;Fairmont was the state AA champion in this event last June, so we were in some pretty good company.&uot;

Jon Voigt picked up the only first for the boys, who were seventh among eight teams. Voigt won the pole vault with a personal best 13-0. “Jon’s had a little trouble getting it going, so it was nice to see him jump well again, said Viesselman.

The top relay team for the boys was the 4×400 team of Voigt, Bob Schmitz, Simon Christensen and Jake Stenzel, which finished fourth.

“Our boys’ team is very young,” said Viesselman.” For the most part, they handled the toughness of the competition pretty well.”