The Alexandria track and field team took to the outdoors on Monday and the girls’ team came away with a victory.
Alexandria scored 121 team points, besting runner-up finisher Brainerd by 54 points.
The Cardinals earned seven first-place finishes, led by Jaelyn Miller, who earned first in the 1600-meter run (5:21.40) and the 400M dash (1:01.40).
The Cardinals dominated in those events, earning four of the top five spots in the 1600 and the top three spots in the 400 dash.
Emma Ecker earned second in the 1600M run (5:37.66), while Kasey Soderholm earned fourth (5:29.65) and Giselle Jahner earned fifth (5:42.31). In the 400M dash, Fuglestad earned second (1:02.78) and Ecker earned third (1:03.02).
Another event Alexandria dominated in was the 200M dash, where a Cardinal earned all top-five spots. Hailie Kent was first (28.14), Fuglestad earned second (28.56) and Addison Fettig earned third (28.60). Jisella Haskamp earned fourth (28.96) and Kaia Emter earned fifth (29.10).
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From the beginning of the meet, Alexandria head coach Meghan Orgeman could sense her team’s enthusiasm and excitement for their first outdoor meet of the season.
“What I really saw is our girls were going to the well,” Orgeman said. “There was almost like a blind courage. That is the heart of competition. Competition pulls you outside of what you can do on your own and I saw that. You could feel the energy at the track. You could see the kids competing. We can't replicate this in our practice.”
Orgeman said that there were many displays on Monday of what she calls, “blind courage.”
“One example is Brynn Cross in the 4x800 had like an eight second (personal record) because she just competed, she raced,” Orgeman said. “The first heat of the girls 200, they didn't get a time on them. And so they could have said, no, that they didn't want to rerun it, but they chose to rerun the race. Some of those kids, you can only run for four events, but they did five. This is the best I've seen them compete yet this year. So I'm just really thrilled about them going to the well then competing like I know that they can compete and welcoming this first outdoor opportunity to have a meet.”
In the 800-meter run, Aleah Miller (2:20.69) earned first, while Brynn Kosters earned second (2:35.55). In the 4x400 relay, the team of Jahner, Marisa Rousu, Kiara Sowada and Greta Oldenkamp earned first (4:22.43).
The Cardinals took first in two field events.
Alison Krasky took first in the long jump (16-05.00) while Fuglestad earned second (16-02.00), and Kent took first place (36-04.00) in the triple jump while Ella Steussy earned second (34-01.50).
In the 4x800-meter relay, Kosters, Miller, Brynn Cross and Madeline Hochhalter earned second (10:26.1). Sophie Korynta earned second in the 100M hurdles (17.1). Fettig, Kent, Fuglestad and Elle Heydt earned second in the 4x100M relay (52.76). Kent had another top-three finish, this one in the 100M dash (13.38)
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Rounding out the runner-up finishes, Amaria Sowada earned second in the discus throw (101-11) and in the shot put (34-02.00).
Alexandria had two other top-three finishes with Izzy Kent in the pole vault (8-00.00) and Sonja Schabel (89-10) in the discus throw.
