Cody Koenen will be representing the USC/AC Rebels at the state track meet June 11-12 at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Koenen finished first in his specialty at the section track meet Saturday this past weekend, held at Mankato West High School with a leap of 6 feet 2 inches. Cody had the second best jump coming into the competition, but was a clear winner.

“Cody actually had three real close misses at 6 feet 4 inches,” head coach Kent Viesselman said. “We’re excited to see how it goes at Hamline.”

The Class A High Jump will be held at 3:00 Saturday.

Another bright spot for the Rebels was the performance of the Girls 4 X 800-meter team, setting a new USC/AC record of 10 minutes 05.64 seconds, breaking the old record of 10:08.24 set in 1997.

Although they finished second and will not advance to state, it was a high point for Taylor Allis, Amber Erickson, Abby Trio and Hannah Goemann.

“I’m happy for the girls, especially the two seniors, Amber and Taylor,” Viesselman said. They’ve been chasing that record for two years.”

Riley Niebuhr, seeded ninth in the pole vault, also had a good day, returning to early-season form with a jump of 12 feet 3 inches to finish third in that event, narrowly missing a trip to the state.

“He’s been frustrated the last few weeks, so I was glad to see him finish the season on a positive note,” Viesselman said. “Another really positive outcome of the competition was the improved consistency of our top throwers, Tony Willette and Amanda Allis. Tony placed in both the discus and the shot put, and Amanda placed in the shot put, with performances right at their best for the season. That was really good to see.”

There were two major disappointments in the meet. Seth Treptow, who has made huge improvement in the 300-meter hurdles the last two weeks, was leading that race when he hit the third hurdle and fell taking him out of the battle for a top spot.

The other involved both the girls and boys 4 X 400-meter teams. The competition for a state berth was strong in both, with several teams in both races expected to better the state qualifying standard, including USC/AC. Only the first place relay team automatically advances, plus any other teams that make it under the standard.

Approximately an hour before the 4 X 400-meter, heavy rain started, effectively dampening the Rebels hopes of hitting the time standard.

“Those kinds of things are part of the sport, and we’ll move ahead,” Viesselman said. “Both were disappointing.”

The meet ended the high school track and field careers of 11 Rebel seniors. Brianna Gormley, Breanna Wegner, Amber Erickson, Kelsey Munson, Taylor Allis, Tom Allis, Aaron Goemann, Travis Marth, Trae Swehla, Dylan Thisius, and Matt Wood.

“Whatever success we’ve had this season have been a direct result of their leadership,” Viesselman said.