MSHSL State Track Championships: Day 1 Afternoon Section, Class A

Pequot Lakes pole vaulter Tyler Tappe attempts a new
Class A and AA MSHSL meet record height of 15'8".
Photo by Jim Ferstle

Perham's Keeghan Hurley,Waseca's Shane Streich, and Pequot Lakes' Tyler Tappe were on a mission. While they wanted to win MSHSL Track & Field Championships, they also wanted to demonstrate that Class A athletes are just as talented as their larger school counterparts in Class AA.  Hurley proved in April on the same Klas Field track at the Hamline Elite Meet that he could compete with the best in Class AA .  That night he battled 2013 3200 meter third place finisher Joey Duerr of Chaska, running 9:07.66 to finish runner-up to Duerr's 9:06.55.

Tappe didn't start jumping Friday until the pole vault bar was at 14'.  He easily cleared that height and 15' before attempting a height, 15'8", that would have set a State Meet record for both A and AA.  Streich ran 1:51.92 in the prelims of the 800, the fastest time by any Minnesota high schooler this year.  Hurley, who noted that he'd never won on the Hamline track, having been narrowly beaten in the 2013 3200 at State and then by Duerr in the Hamline Elite Meet this year, and he wanted to break that streak more than run another fast time.

Hurley(in front in black) at the front of the dawdling pack in the Class A
3200. Photo by Jim Ferstle

He hadn't won any individual State Championship until cross country season this year when he took the Class A crown and completed the set he and his father, Don Hurley, had as the only father/son combination to win a MSHSL XC title.  Nobody wanted to challenge Hurley over the full 3200 by setting a fast pace Friday evening.  The first quarter was run in about 80 seconds, and the tightly bunched pack passed a mile in just over five minutes. The dawdling pace turned an endurance contest into a sprint, but Hurley(9:36,58) had prepared for that and easily outsprinted runner up Nick Golebiowski(9:39.12) of St. Cloud Cathedral and Ian Torchia(9:41.76) of Rochester Lourdes in the final lap dash for the finish.

Hurley isn't done, however, as the gold medal he won Friday night was the 99th medal his father, mother, brother, and sister have won during their athletic careers.  Hurley wants to make that triple digits in the 1600 on Saturday.  For Cannon Falls Emi Trost, the Class A girl's champion in cross country, the challenge was merely making it to the starting line this track season.  A lingering muscle/connective tissue injury had threatened to wipe out her senior track season, but Trost prayed and worked to, first, be able to run without pain, then to run in control so she didn't irritate the stubborn injury.

Her soon to be college coach, Joanna Warmington of UMD, told Trost that healing the injury was the primary goal and not to worry about not competing this season if that's what it took to get healthy.  After winning the 800 at last year's State Meet, Trost felt overjoyed to finally have won a State title.  Fall's cross country title was an added bonus, but the inability to run left a void.  She ran a time trial prior to her conference meet and it went well.  She ran conference, not risking going all out because she didn't want to take any chances of reinjuring the leg, then qualified for State by winning the Section meet.

Mayer Lutheran's Hannah Truniger(4) leads in the early stages of the
Class A girl's 3200. Emi Trost(in red and black) leads the chase group.
Photo by Jim Ferstle

That set the stage for Friday's battle with last year's runner up in the 3200, Hannah Truniger, who had her own issues, running with a taped right leg.  Truniger led from the start, often opening a gap between herself and Trost but was never able to shake her rival.  With about a half to go Trost was back on Truniger's heels, and with a quarter to go, confident that her dormant injury could withstand the stress, Trost began her drive for the finish quickly opening a gap on Truniger to win in 10:56.30 to Truniger's 11:06.53.

In the only other Class A finals, Jayme LaPlante of Chatfield won the boy's Class A shot put  with a personal best heave of 56'11.5".  St. Clair's Katelyn Weber won the girl's discus, throwing 126'1".  Ottertail Central's Tony Ukkelberg had a PR of 44'11" to win the boy's triple jump, and Central Minnesota Christian's Danielle Wubben won the long jump with a leap of 17'1.5".

AA and A Day 1 results are HERE.

Strib summary of Day 1 is HERE.

Pioneer Press summary of Day 1 is HERE.