Northwood-Kensett, Lake Mills track teams to compete at state

 

The Lake Mills and Northwood-Kensett boys’ and girls’ track teams competed in their district meets Friday night, vying for a spot at the state track and field meet.

The Vikings advanced a combined 17 events onto the state meet, while the boys’ Bulldogs team advanced 10 events and won the meet as a team. The girls’ Bulldogs team failed to qualify any events for state.

Senior Logan Benjegerdes led the way for Northwood-Kensett, qualifying in four events. Benjegerdes qualified in the 110-meter hurdles as an individual and in three relays. The team of Benjegerdes, Kyle Nichols, Logan Mix and Sam Kliment won the 4×100-meter relay; the team of Bejegerdes, Makaio Hoch, Brandon Varner and Caden Schrage qualified in the 4×400-meter relay; and the team of Benjegerdes, Schrage, Varner and Spencer Smith won the shuttle hurdles event.

The 4×200-meter relay squad of Nichols, Kliment, TJ Whitelow and Logan Mix also qualified. Schrage made it as an individual winning the 400-meter hurdles. The only field event to make it through for the Vikings was Nichols in the discus.

Freshman Wyatt Willand also qualified for state in four events: the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-meter wheelchair races.

The girls were led by senior Josie Einertson, who also earned a spot at state in four events. Einertson will compete in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs as an individual; in the 4×400 with Lindsey Davidson, Ruthie Conlin and Carly Hengesteg; and the distance medley with Hengesteg, Jaela Parks and Kayla Senne.

Davidson qualified in the 3,000-meter run and Laura Hopperstad qualified in the discus.

The Lake Mills boys’ team qualified an impressive 10 events en route to its district win. In the individual events, Logan Prescott qualified in the 100-meter dash, Mason Fritz in the 800-meter run, Carson Rygh in the 1,600-meter run and Cael Boehmer in the 110-meter hurdles.

Bennett Eaton, Garrett Hanna, Carson Eaton and Logan Prescott earned a berth in the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays. Bennett Eaton, Carson Eaton, Fritz and Tommy Kaktis qualified in the 4×400-meter relay. Caleb Albert, Rygh, Fritz and Jackson Rice made it in the 4×800-meter relay; the team of Prescott, Hanna, Fritz and Kaktis qualified in the distance medley; and Bennett Eaton, Boehmer, Tyler Helgeson and Kaktis won the shuttle hurdles relay.

The teams will participate in the state track and field meet on the campus of Drake University starting Thursday and running through Saturday. The Bulldogs will begin the 2A portion of the meet at 9 a.m., while the Vikings will start the 1A competition at roughly 3 p.m.