Seventeen individual event champions and representatives from 11 relay teams that won gold medals last year have qualified to defend those titles this Friday and Saturday, June 11 and 12, when high school athletes gather at Hamline University in St. Paul for the 2010 State Track and Field Meet.

 

Preliminaries in track events for both classes will be conducted on Friday. All of the 3,200-meter run events will be finals only on Friday, as will be some field events. Friday's schedule begins at 9:00 a.m. with the Class AA competition. The Class A events will begin at 3:00 p.m., but possibly later depending on the pace of the Class AA meet. The same schedule will be followed on Saturday.

 

 

Champions return in six individual events and all four relays. Analisa Huschle, a junior at Bagley/Fosston, is looking to repeat her titles in three events. In 2009, Huschle won the 200-meter dash, the long jump, and the triple jump and also set the State Meet Class A Record in the triple jump. She is the top qualifier in all three events this year.

 

Bree Woelber, a Pipestone Area junior, will defend her 100-meter high hurdle title. Her time of 15.60 is just more than three-tenths behind the top qualifying time of 15.27. That time is owned by Sarah Burk, a ninth-grader at Minnesota Valley Lutheran, New Ulm.

 

In the 3200-meter run, Perham senior Maddie McClellan will race for a second-consecutive title. Her time of 11:19.06 is ranked second behind Fairmont sophomore Lauren Friese’s time of 11:14.45.

 

Junior Becci Osterdyk, of Mora, will defend her shot put championship. She holds the fifth-furthest qualifying put. Ashby/Brandon/Evansville senior Megan Strese qualified with the furthest put, 41-06.75.

 

Holy Family Catholic, Victoria returns to defend its 4x100 title. The team has the second-fastest qualifying time of 49.94. Belle Plaine/Holy Family Academy has the fastest time with 49.71.

 

In the 4x200, Providence Academy looks to earn its third consecutive title. The squad qualified with a time of 1:47.37, behind top qualifier Waseca, 1:45.34.

 

Osakis returns in the 4x400 with a time of 4:05.58. Belle Plaine/Holy Family Academy’s time of 4:04.43 is the fastest.

 

Rounding out the relays, Kasson-Mantorville will race to defend its 4x800 title, having qualified with a time of 9:38.18. Sauk Centre owns the best qualifying time, 9:29.84.

 

 

Three individuals – all in field events - and representatives of two relay teams are returning to defend titles.

 

Eveleth-Gilbert senior Shawn Johnson will defend his discus title and also owns the best qualifying throw of 175-10.

 

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley senior Austin Dennis returns to defend his high jump championship. He also has the top qualifying jump of 6-7.

 

Tim Halvorson, a Concordia Academy-Roseville senior, will attempt to win his second long jump title. He has the top incoming jump with a 21-07.

 

The 4x200 team from Glencoe-Silver Lake will attempt to win its fourth consecutive 4x200 title, but must get past Caledonia/Spring Grove which has a qualifying time of 1:30.96, nearly one second faster than Glencoe-Silver Lake’s time of 1:31.90.

 

Stewartville’s 4x800 team returns for more gold. Its qualifying time of 8:21.41 is nearly ten seconds slower than the top qualifying time of 8:11.95, belonging to Minnehaha Academy, Minneapolis.

 

 

The AA Girls field is well represented with previous title holders. Defending champions in seven individual events return and representatives from three teams that won relay events last year will be competing.

 

Robbinsdale Cooper senior Colleena Coleman will defend her 100-meter high hurdles title. In addition, the 2008 title-holder, Mounds View senior Kayla Sawtell is also back in search of another championship. Both will need to get past Richfield ninth-grader Jessica January, who holds the fastest qualifying time, 14.44. January, Sawtell, and Blaine senior Maggie Blair all exceeded the State Meet All-Time Record of 14.54 in their section competition, so this will clearly be a premier event.

 

In the 100-meter dash, Robbinsdale Armstrong junior Sid’Reshia Floyd will defend her title with the third-fastest qualifying time. Park Center junior Sasha Davis qualified with the fastest time, 11.92.

 

St. Paul Highland Park sophomore Erica Dombro will attempt to win another 400-meter dash title. Her time of 56.83 is just off the top time of 56.44, which belongs to Hopkins junior Bridget Sweeney.

 

Another sophomore, the 800-meter run title-holder, is also back to defend a title. Haylie Zenner of Fergus Falls will attempt to get past the fastest qualifier, junior Lauren Domski of Woodbury.

 

Alexandria sophomore Jamie Piepenburg will be back to run the 3200 with the fastest qualifying time of 10:41.29.

 

Eastview, Apple Valley will look to repeat its 4x100 title. It has the second-fastest qualifying time behind Hopkins’ time of 48.13.

 

Mounds View will look to claim its third consecutive title in the 4x200. The team has the seventh-fastest time. The top time belongs to Hopkins. Its time of 1:40.08 is nearly seven tenths faster than the State Meet All-Time Record.

 

The third relay to have a defending title-holder is the 4x400. Mounds View, with a time of 3:58.85, is returning to defend its title, and must get past Hopkins, which has the top time of 3:56.27.

 

Sartell-St. Stephen senior Andrea Whitney qualified to defend her high jump title, and is two inches off the best height of 5-6, which belongs to Rochester John Marshall senior Gretchen Folkerts and Lakeville South eighth-grader Morgan Pieri.

 

Red Wing senior Kim Hovey will defend her shot put title. Her qualifying put of 41-1.50 is two inches behind the top qualifying put belonging to St. Francis ninth-grader Maggie Ewen.

 

Also worth noting, the top qualifier in both the long jump and triple jump, Eastview junior Amanda Beckman, exceeded the State Meet Class AA Record in the triple jump in the section competitor. The record is 18-10.75. Beckman will hope to repeat her qualifying jump of 19-01 in State competition for the record.

 

 

Many new champions will be crowned, with only two relays and one individual qualifying to defend 2009 titles.

 

Senior Blayne Dulian of Coon Rapids will defend his 1600-meter run title. He has the second-fastest qualifying time, 4:18.10, behind senior Jacob Sandry of Bloomington Jefferson, 4:16.76.

 

The 4x200 relay team from White Bear Lake also will defend its title. Its time of 1:28.53 ranks second, just one-tenth of a second behind the fastest qualifier, Hopkins.

 

Wayzata returns in search of a second consecutive gold medal in the 4x800. The team qualified with a time of 8:00.72, four seconds behind top qualifier Blaine, which recorded a 7:56.56 to qualify.

 

Other noteworthy qualifiers include juniors Michael Sandle of Eden Prairie and Trevor Yedoni of Benilde-St. Margaret’s, St. Louis Park. Sandle’s qualifying triple jump of 49-00.25 exceeds the State Meet All-Time Record of 49-00, so he will attempt to better that mark on Friday. Yedoni is the top qualifier in both the long jump, 22-07.75, and the high jump, 6-10.