The Annandale boys track team won one meet and placed second in another last week. They started out with a decisive win over Wright County Conference foes Delano, Dassel-Cokato and Watertown-Mayer on Monday, April 17, at Delano. Five first-place finishes, eight seconds, seven thirds and a handful more in the top eight added up to a winning score of 97.5 for the Cardinals. Delano’s 71.5 earned them runner-up; D-C came in third with 60.5 and W-M was fourth with 42.5. “We’re excited about the win,” coach Jim Schimelpfenig said. “The conditions were perfect, which is really rare for this time of the year and we really performed well for this early in the season.” The Cardinals’ 4×800 relay team of Trevor Prinsen, Andrew Larson, Ben Weeres and Connor Gjevre started things off with the first win of the day. This race has come down to the wire two meets in a row, Schimelpfenig said. Gjevre ran the last leg and secured the win by crossing the finish line less than two feet ahead of his opponent. The team’s time was 9:04.2. Later in the day, the Cardinal crew had success in the distance events. Steven Parker won both the 1,600 and the 3,200 meters. His times were 4:59.6 and 10:56.8. “He’s had a great season so far,” said Schimelpfenig. “He’s off to a great start.” Michael Planer had a big day in the field events. The senior won the shot put with a toss of 43’81/2” and the discus with a throw of 136’31/2”. Matt Molde was another Cardinal who had a big day. He was stretched to the limit, competing in four events, but still managed to earn three second-place finishes and one third. “I was really impressed,” said Schimelpfenig. “He has been working tremendously hard and putting up a lot of points for us.” Molde earned second places in the 110 meter hurdles, which he ran in 17.6 seconds; the 300 meter hurdles, which he ran in 44.1 seconds, and the pole vault, in which he recorded a height of 10’. He also placed third in the high jump with a 5’6” leap. Sophomore Coty Eckerman was second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.9 seconds; Chris Thurber finished second in the 400 with a time of 54.6; Isaiah Atkinson was second in the shot put with a throw of 40’1/2”; Brian Karg was second in the long jump with a distance of 17’1/2”, and the Cardinal 4×100 team of Karg, Troy Lang, Nick Hemminger and Mike Dechaine also came in second with a time of 48.1. Dakota Kuhn was third in the 100 meter hurdles; Gjevre was third in the 1,600 meter run; Larson was third in the 800 meter run; Thurber was third in the 200 meter dash; Stein was third in the discus; Karg was third in the triple jump and Molde was third in the high jump. On Thursday, April 20, the Cardinals hosted their first home meet, the annual Heart of the Lakes Invitation. Again they did well, placing second out of eight teams. “We were extremely happy with that finish,” Schimelpfenig said. The Heart of the Lakes Invitational traditionally draws competitive teams including WCC foes D-C, Delano, Waconia and Glencoe-Silver Lake. G-SL won the event with 157.5 points, but the Cardinals weren’t too far behind with 151.7 points. Waconia was the next best with 112.5 points. Also competing were subsection rivals Maple Lake and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and section rival Rockford. “As is typical with the WCC, our conference is probably one of the toughest in the state, as far as size goes,” Schimelpfenig said. As if to prove that, Delano and D-C stole the fourth and fifth slots from the non-conference schools, which were left with sixth, seventh and eighth. The Cardinals scored points in all 18 events to cement their runner-up slot. That means everyone placed in the top eight or better. “That is tremendous for us,” he said. Kuhn earned the first win of the day in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 43.8. Gjevre won the 3,200 meter run in 10:32.7 and Planer won the discus with a toss of 138’10”. “Dakota has been working on his hurdles for a number of years and it’s starting to come together,” Schimelpfenig said of the Cardinal junior. Molde earned second in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.8; Scott Harloff was second in the 100 meter dash in 12.1; Parker was second in the 3200 with a time of 10:36; Eckerman was third in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.3; Yotter was third in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:48.8; Molde was third in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 44.2 and in the pole vault with a height of 9’6”; Karg was third in the long jump with a leap of 18’4” and Planer was third in the shot put with a distance of 42’4”. The Cardinal 4×200 team of Thurber, Eckerman, Kyle McCreight and Harloff was third with a time of 1:37.3 and the Cardinal 4×400 relay team placed third with a time of 3:40.3. That team consists of McCreight, Larson, Anderson and Thurber. “That was a great event to watch,” Schimelpfenig said. “It was a photo finish with four teams. That is pretty rare.” The Cardinals were scheduled to compete Monday, April 24, in Litchfield at a conference quadrangular. On Friday, April 28, they will travel to Holdingford for an invitational. That meet begins at 4:30 p.m. Cards place third The Annandale girls track team placed third with 102.5 points at their own Heart of the Lakes Invitational on Thursday, April 20. Leading the Cardinals with first-place finishes were Amanda Horsch in the pole vault with a height of 8’6” and Andrea Neumann, who threw the discus 99’1”. Glencoe-Silver Lake won the eight-team event with 146.5 points; Delano was second with 111 and Waconia was fourth with 93.5. The Cardinals also competed on Monday, April 17, at Delano, but results were not available at press time. Annandale was scheduled to compete Monday, April 24, at Litchfield, They will travel to Holdingford on Friday, April 28, for a 4:30 p.m. meet. Their next home meet is scheduled at 4 p.m. Monday, May 1.
