Elite-Meet: Hot Events for a Cold Night

This post was updated at 11:50 a.m. Thursday, noting an important late scratch and correcting an error ...

The weather forecast for the third running of the Hamline Elite-Meet on Friday looks windy, cold, and rainy. (See for yourself, HERE.) The action on the track and in the field, however, looks to be good and hot in Minnesota's annual attempt to gather the best athletes and relays teams from high schools of all sizes into a single event.

Seven previous Elite-Meet champions return for additional glory. Three Four reigning MSHSL Class AA State champions are scheduled to compete, including Minnesota's best girl triple jumper ever, Wayzata's Jordan Helgren. The meet will also feature some scintillating match-ups and delicious meet-record-breaking possibilities, if the weather allows.

You can find boys startlists HERE.

Girls startlists are HERE

Here are some of the events we're particularly eager for ...

Girls Triple Jump ... 40 degrees and rainy isn't exactly ideal triple jumping weather, but we're eager to see what Wayzata's Helgren can do in her return to the site of her state-title-winning, Minnesota all-time best triple jump performance of 38-10 1/4. Helgren has jumped 37-7 already this year and is no doubt eying the Elite-Meet record of 36-07 1/2 held by Alise Post of St. Cloud Tech.

Boys 1600m ... 2005 Class AA 3200m and 2007 Class AA cross country champ Rob Finnerty of Burnsville will battle Irondale's Andy Richardson in the metric mile. The pair went 2-3 in the Class AA 1600m last June, Finnerty edging Richardson 4:10.39 to 4:10.78. Finnerty, with a PR of 4:08.84, is the 4th-fastest 1600m man in Minnesota prep history. Richardson is the defending Elite-Meet titlist in the event.

Girls 100 meters ... Call it the battle of the Elite Meet champions. In 2006 Caitlin Dhein of St. Cloud Tech won the Elite-Meet 100m. Last year, Julia Rozman of Edina won the event in a record-setting 12.38. Both seniors now, the two will battle to join the short list of two-time winners of the meet.

Boys 800 meters ... Two of the best half-milers in the history of Minnesota prep track and field will square off as Class AA champ Zach Mellon of Buffalo meets last year's State Meet runner-up Andy Richardson. Richardson, the 5th fastest Minnesota prep of all-time after his blazing prelim run of 1:51.60 at State, will battle Mellon after running the 1600m. Mellon, the reigning Elite-Meet 800m champ has the 8th fastest Minnesota high school 800m of all-time at 1:51.87.

Update: DtB has learned that Andy Richardson is a late scratch from the 800 meters. He will still contest the 1600m. Also, we failed to note Derek Jerde's presence in the meet.

Boys High Jump … In first two editions of the Elite-Meet, the high jump has been won at 6-7. Junior Derek Jerde of Chaska jumped 6-8 to win the Class AA title in the event last spring. He’ll jump in his first Elite-Meet on Friday with the hopes establishing a new record for the meet.

And more ... Other athletes and events we'll be keeping a close eye on include: Micah Hegerle of Kasson-Mantorville in the boys' discus. He enters the meet with a mark of 186-4. One of his top challengers will be Brian Leonhardt of Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony, the #1 seed at 57-7 in the boys shot put. The defending Elite-Meet champs in the girls throws return. LaiShema Hampton of St Louis Park will attempt to defend her shot title. Jessica Cagle of Grand Rapids, the meet record-holder in the discus, will attempt the same.

There will be a new Elite-Meet champion in the boys' triple jump -- two-time winner Tommy McNamara has graduated from Mounds Views. St. Louis Park's Austin Delaney enters the meet with an impressive 46-7 mark. Junior Zach Mellon of Buffalo, the defending Elite-Meet and Class AA 800m champ will aim for his own meet record of 1:55.26.

Join Down the Backstretch on Friday night beginning at 5:15 p.m. for our live coverage of the Hamline Elite-Meet.