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

Hamline Elite Highlights

Maggie Ewen set the standard for the throwing events for girls at her alma mater, St. Francis HS, and the MSHSL.  This year's Hamline Elite champion  Amanda Anderson was told in grade school that she could be the next Maggie Ewen.  Anderson was in awe of her "Idol," Ewen, who continues to inspire her.

In a nice bit of timing, Ewen gave Anderson another boost on Friday.  Maggie broke her own collegiate women's hammer throw record at the Dual in the Desert meet HERE.
Another connection between Ewen and Anderson is Maggie's dad who coaches the throws at St. Frances. Anderson has been dominant in the discus, taking fourth at the 2015 MSHSL Championships and first in 2016..

Anderson, who will be going to NDSU this Fall,  hopes to repeat as champion in the discus and    break the 40 foot barrier in the shot at State. Track isn't her only sport, she  is a triple threat, also playing basketball and volleyball.


For Lance Elliott the weather for the Hamline Elite Meet was balmy.  Earlier in the day he'd placed fifth in the Masters 800 at the Drake Relays where  conditions  were much worse than at Hamline  The temperature was 34 and it was "pouring rain," Elliott said.  By the time he finished the race, changed into dry clothes and got in his truck for the ride to the Twin Cities, Elliott felt "frozen."

He cranked up the heat in the truck cab to 90 degrees, he said, but it took the full trip to thaw out. So his fingers we back to normal in time for Elliott to chronicle the meet in pictures.  HERE.

    Hopkins Seth Eliason holds off fast closing                                                                                               Matthew Wilkinson in the boy's 3200                                                                                                                                                     Photo by Gene Niemi                                                                                                                                          

The boy's 3200 finish was full of  drama as Hopkins' Seth Eliason looked in control as he ran down the final straightaway toward the finish.  He'd opened a gap and appeared to be heading for an easy victory.  That all changed as Minnetonka's Matthew Wilkinson came flying toward Eliason.  As he got to Eliason's shoulder, the Hopkins senior responded decisively, accelerating just enough to hold off Wilkenson's charge.

"Do you believe it!" yelled Wilkenson as he walked toward his teammates who were on the infield racing toward him. Even though he didn't get by Eliason, Wilkenson had the bigger smile on his face as he crossed the line. Both ran PRs, but Wilkenson's lowered his more than Eliason.

"You weren't going to lose that race?" Eliason was asked.  "No, not like that," he said about possibly being passed in the closing seconds.

 Alex Miley Wins the 1600
Photo by Gene Niemi

For the boy's 1600 winner, the appropriately named (Alex) Miley of Maple Grove doubled the 1600 and 3200 as something of a reconnaissance mission. "I don't get to run against the Region 6 guys that often," he said.  Running twice against the best was his objective.  A win(1600) and a fourth place finish(3200) were the results.  He won the 1600 comfortably, coming from behind on the last lap.  He wanted to see how he stacked up against the best and discovered that he could run with the best in the 1600.  The 3200 was to see how he could do when he wasn't fresh, get an idea of what might be his best event for the State Meet and how the competition raced.

He also wanted to see how his body reacted to the task.  How would his legs feel in the 3200 after running the 1600?  The experiment was a success.

Farmington's Anna Fenske(8) takes the lead in the Girl's 3200
Photo by Gene Niemi

Farmington's Anna Fenske completed a team sweep of the distance races taking over the 3200 in the last four laps.  She was racing the clock more than the others at that point.  Running a fast time was the objective, she said. and she got one going solo for the last half of the race.

Anna Keefer(STMA) accelerates through the field in the 100.
Photo by Gene Niemi

Eden Prairie's Denzel Brown takes command of the 100
Photo by Gene Niemi

East Ridge's Ansley Schug(5) and Irondale's Julia Hayes(6) go 1-2 in
the 100 meter hurdles
Photo by Gene Niemi

Eagan's Ryan Steger wins the 800
Photo by gene Niemi

Eagan's Ryan Steger said he was worried on the first lap of the 800 with shoe issues, but he collected himself, relaxed his upper body and went for it down the stretch to take the title.

Minnetonka's Elizabeth Halbmaier controlled the race from the front to win
the girl's 800
Photo by Gene Niemi

Farmington's Lauren Peterson takes the 1600 title over Edina's
Emily Kompelien
Photo by Gene Niemi

The Temperature was Chilly, but the Sprinters were Hot at the Hamline Elite Meet

The Temperature was chilly, but the sprinters were hot at the Hamline Elite Meet at Klas Field Friday night. St Michael Albertville's Anna Keefer dominated her three events: the 100, 200, and long jump. Keefer said of the three the long jump was her favorite.  Though she had some trouble with fouls, on her last jump Keefer broke the Meet and Klas Field records, soaring through the air and landing 19' 3.50 inches from the end of the board to break Minnetonka' grad Mia Baron's marks by .75 meters.

Keefer won the 100 in 12.15 and finished her sweep with a winning time of 24.85 in the 200.  North St Paul's foursome triumphed in both the 4 by 100 and 200, setting a new meet record in the 4 by 200 in 1:42.66, breaking Waconia's 2016 standard by one hundreth of a second.

North St. Paul 4 by 100 and 4 by 200 champion relay team. (From L to R)
Alexis Pratt, Shaliciah Jones, Jebeh Cook, and J'lanna Cager
Photo by Gene Niemi

For the boys, Eden Prairie's Denzel Brown rewrote the 100 record that was set last year by Evon McClellon by four hundreths of a second with a time of 10.53.  Brown finished his individual sprint sweep in 21.62 in the 200. He added to his titles by leading off Eden Prairie's four by 100 relay.  East Ridge broke the meet record in the 4 by 200 relay with a time of 1:29.00

St. Francis' Genuine Mathews shattered Wayzata's Mike Smith's meet record running 47.79 in the 400 to top off the rewriting of all but one of the boy's individual sprint records.  The top four finishers in the 300 hurdles broke Minnetonka's Angus Stout's five year old record in that event.

More coming tomorrow including photos

Hamline Elite Meet Photo Album

Photo album from the Hamline Elite Meet HERE.