The Annandale girls track team is finding its strength in its throwing crew. Two weeks ago Andrea Neumann and Bailey Kovall helped lead the team to a first-place finish at a Wright County Conference Quad in Delano on Monday, April 17, with a pair of firsts and a pair of seconds in the discus and shot put events. Last week the Cardinal throwing crew placed four girls in the top five, helping their team to a third-place finish at the Litchfield Conference Quad on Monday, April 24. “So far our most consistent and deepest events have been the shot put and discus,” head coach Rob Tengwall said. “The shot and distance crew have consistently had two or three place in the top five in every meet.” Neumann and Kovall weren’t the only two to win events at Delano, however (Neumann threw the discus 96’5” and Kovall threw the shot put 29’11”). Robin Ekholm, an eighth-grade distance runner, won the two-mile event with a time of 13:29.5. Ekholm is one of a crew of youngsters that have made an impression by continuously scoring points, Tengwall said. The girls also saw success in the relays. The 4×800 team of Brittany Partridge, Ekholm, Briggette Barthel and Rachel Lashinski won with a time of 10:58; the 4×200 team of Natalie Larson, Lindsay Barrett, Amanda Horsch and Amanda Thompson won with a time of 1:58.5, and the 4×400 team of Chelsey Zupan, Jessica Horsch, Stephanie Korbel and Thompson won with a time of 4:28.4. Amanda Horsch, a pole vaulter, cleared the bar at 9’3” to win. “She loves the pole vault and has really excelled at it,” Tengwall said. “Pole vaulting is a very difficult event because if you’re going to do well at it you need sprinter speed, upper body strength and gymnastic skills. Amanda has placed first four times and second once in the five meets we have had so far this year.” Beside first-place finishers at the Delano meet, the Cardinals also recorded six seconds, three thirds, four fourths and four fifth-place finishes. Coming in second for the Cardinals was Ariel Gauldin in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 18.4; Partridge in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:03.4; Neumann in the shot put with a throw of 29’ 5”; Kovall in the discus with a throw of 89’ 3.25”; Breanna Barrett in the long jump with a leap of 14’2” and Faith Fretham in the triple jump with a distance of 28’10”. Breanna Barrett also placed third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.4 and in the high jump with a height of 4’8” and Lauren Medvec placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 28’9.5”. As a team, Delano was second with 81 points; Watertown-Mayer was third with 62.5 points and Dassel-Cokato had 41 points. Annandale won it with 86.5 points. On April 24 at Litchfield, the Cardinals rallied for a third-place finish with two of the toughest teams in the conference. Litchfield won it with 96 and Glencoe-Silver Lake was second with 74 points. Annandale had 62 points and D-C was fourth with 41. “I felt that scoring 62 points was very respectable considering the competition,” Tengwall said. Cold weather that day also had an effect on the times and distances. Vicki Alma was the only athlete to come home with a blue ribbon. She won the 800 meter run in a time of 2:46.2, edging out her Litchfield opponent by three seconds. Amanda Horsch pulled through in the pole vault again, placing second with a height of 9’, and Partridge was second in 1600 with a time of 5:49.3 Fretham earned a second-place finish in the long jump with a distance of 13’5.75”; Kovall was second in the shot put with a 30’ toss; and Amanda Horsch was second in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:12.5. The girls 4×400 meter relay team also placed second. Finishing third for the Cardinals was Emily Pippo in the 3200 meter run; Fretham in the triple jump; Kovall in the discuss and the 4×800 meter relay team; the 4×200 meter relay team and the 4×100 meter relay team. The Friday, April 28, meet at Holdingford was cancelled because of the weather and the Cardinals will not make it up. Annandale was scheduled to host a conference quad at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 2. That meet was scheduled for Monday, but it was postponed because of rain. On Thursday, May 4, the Cardinals will compete at 3:30 p.m. at New London-Spicer.
