Alex track: Cards finish second in team standings for third straight year

• Urman

Madi Urman ran through the finish line during the 4x100-meter relay on Saturday. (Echo Press photo by Eric Morken)

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The Alexandria girls’ track and field team is getting used to taking home some hardware from the state meet.

The Cardinals finished second in the team standings for the third year in a row this past weekend after finishing with 49 points. That tied them with co-runner up Minnetonka as Lakeville South won the team event with 56.50 points.

“I think it was a good showing by us,” head coach Mike Empting said. “We had a lot of young girls there, and I thought they handled it incredibly well.”

The only seniors Alexandria brought to the state meet were Jamie Piepenburg and Brittany Ludwig. Piepenburg finished third in the 3,200-meter run and second in the 1,600. Ludwig just missed finishing in the points with a personal-best toss of 121-11 in the discus.

The 4x100 team finished high in the point standings on Saturday after posting a school-record time. Wensia Johnson, Gabrielle Koel, Briquelle Bowden and Madelyn Urman teamed up to finish third with a time of 48.62. The 4x800 team of Julia Sieling, Bethany Hasz, Karly Betterman and Megan Hasz also ran on Saturday, finishing 10th with a time of 9:35.25.

The Hasz sisters are two of the young stars that this team will rely on in the future. The two 8th graders finished just off the podium in the 3,200-meter run. Bethany finished 10th overall in 11:15.64, while Megan was two spots behind her in 12th place after crossing in a time of 11:18.22.

Junior Briquelle Bowden made the podium with her performance in the high jump. She finished ninth after a jump of 5-02. All these athletes are part of the reason why Empting feels the future of the girls’ track and field team is so bright.

“We lose Brittany and Jamie,” Empting said. “Those are going to be two big shoes to fill. At the same time, we have a lot of good, young talent coming up.”

2012 GIRLS STATE TRACK AND FIELD MEET

TOP 10 TEAM STANDINGS – 1. Lakeville South – 56.50; 2. Alexandria – 49; 2. Minnetonka – 49; 4. Hopkins – 40; 4. Farmington – 40; 6. Prior Lake – 39; 7. Minneapolis Southwest – 32; 8. Mounds View – 31; 9. Osseo – 26; 10. Apple Valley – 25

Eric Morken

Eric Morken started as a sports reporter for the Echo Press on July 9, 2007. He is a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls where he majored in journalism and minored in history and communications. In his spare time, Morken enjoys hunting and fishing or just being in the outdoors. He is also an avid Minnesota sports fan. Follow Sports Reporter Eric Morken on Twitter at @echo_sports. Read Eric's sports blog, More with Morken at Areavoices.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, track