Chrissy Monson places 3rd at state in 3200-meter

Published 10:44 am Friday, June 11, 2010

After running an 11 minute, 8 second 3200-meter at the section meet last week, Chrissy Monson said her goal was to break 11 minutes before she graduates. She didn’t have to wait long as she placed third at the state meet Friday morning and shattered the school record by running a 10:49.61.

Monson led for the first two laps, was in third for much of the race, and then fell to fourth as Kaila Urick of Chaska passed her.

Monson kicked it into high gear down the last 200-meters and caught Urick, taking third by .17 of a second.

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“Like always, Chrissy found another gear passing into third,” head coach Margo Wayne said. “It was an unexplainable feat.”

Perhaps the only person who can explain it is Monson, who dropped nearly 18 seconds off her previous best 3200-meter, a mark she set just one week ago.

“I knew it was my last two-mile of the year and I wanted to leave it all out on the track and I felt that was one of the ways to do that,” Monson said.

Maria Hauger, a freshman from Shakopee, won the race with a 10:41.87 and Jamie Piepenburg, a sophomore from Alexandria took second with a 10:48.17.

“One of my big goals is to win it some day,” Monson said. “Maria won it this year, so that will be a battle I have to look forward year after year after year and Jamie won it last year. They’re both very respectable competitors and I find them easy to talk to.”

Monson took seventh at state last year in the 3200 and she will run in the 1600-meter run Saturday at Hamline.

— Reporter Rocky Hulne contributed to this report.