Hamline Elite Meet

As the temperature began to fall, so did the records at the Hamline Elite Meet.  A cold, gusty wind helped some or hindered others as the sun filled the horizon with a frigid orange glow as the afternoon mild heat gave way to near freezing temps that didn’t deter the spectators bundled in their warm clothes while they cheered and encouraged the athletes to go faster, jump higher, and throw further. 

                The athletes defied the chill, not dressing in tights and/or long sleeved attire for the upper body.  In his orange singlet and shorts, Stillwater’s middle distance runner Addison Stansbury didn’t attempt to stay in the pack for the 1600.  Instead he took the lead from the beginning, opening a gap from the pack with a 62 second first lap.  Stansbury retained his lead until the last lap of the four lap race.  Bookending the last lap with the first, Stansbury ran the final 400 meters in 62.7  seconds to hold off the charge of those behind him.  None of which were able to catch and/or pass Stansbury in the final straight.

He said he could “feel” them cutting into his lead , but he had  enough speed in that final straight to win by over a second.  For Edina’s Emily Kompelien  the girl’s 1600 was the first of three races she was scheduled to run.  She shadowed the leaders, maintaining contact before turning loose her superior speed to win both the 1600 and the 800.

Hopkins’ sprinter Joe Fahnbulleh anchored both the 4 by 200 and 4 by 100 relays, helping each  team tie the  Elite Meet record.  As an encore, Fahnbulleh  won the open 200 meters. Meanwhile, Mounds View’s Calvin Ciganik won the boy’s vault clearing 15’8”.  Then he took aim at 16 feet.  Up to this point he’d made the lower heights clearances look easy,  Plenty of room as he jack knifed over the bar with room to spare.  

Cignik attempts to clear 16'

His first try at 16 went wrong on the run up as Cignik said that the cross wind threw off his approach.  His steps were off on the second attempt, he said.  His third and last try also didn’t have the confidence and clearance of his previous attempts.

The girl’s vaulters took the stage and   Julia Fixen won the girl’s pole vault to complete the  Mounds View sweep. Fixen was doing double duty,  finishing second in the high jump as four girls cleared 5’ 5”.
Perhaps the most anticipated contest at this year's Hamline Elite Meet was the women's 3200.  It didn't disapoint.  Washburn's Emily Cover attracted the attention because of her early season race indoors where she ran a PR of 10:13.28 in the 3200.  Could she match that time?  Break 10 minutes in the event?  Could anybody run with her? 
That last question was appeared to be answered as Covert ran the first lap in 1:11.423, opening a lead right away as the race became a time trial.  The cold and the wind didn't seem to slow her down.  Covert fought off the weather as she cruised around the track.  Only one other runner in the field that had a number of runners who had already won State Championships.  Cotter's Lauren Ping was in a position to move into first if Covert couldn't handle the pace, but that didn't happen.
Covert finished in 10:17:41, breaking Clare Flanagan's meet and track record in 2013 of 10:23.00 on a night that was warm and the wind was calm.  Asked after the race about the run, Covert said that the pace got difficult at times, but she snowed no signs of major stress or that anyone was going to catch her.  "Do you think you can run under 10 minutes?" Covert was asked.  She nodded her head and said yes, that her goal coming into Friday's race was time, to run as fast as she could.
A junior, Covert will have another year to pursue the 10 minute barrier and if she gets challenged--Ping almost  broke Flanagan's record too, finishing in 10:25.12.  If they stay healthy, the duo will go into the State Meet  with a chance at running sub 10:20 or faster.

Elite Meet Results are HERE