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State track and field begins on Friday

ST. PAUL — For New Ulm High School’s Paige Kalis, Olivia Owens and Ben Mathiowetz, this Friday and Saturday’s State Track and Field Championships at Hamline University opens up new chapters.

For sophomore Kalis and junior Owens, it will be their first trip to the state meet. For Mathiowetz, a senior, it will be his last trip to state.

Considering that New Ulm High School hasn’t had any girl athletes reach state since 2007, Owens and Kalis making it to state brings added excitement and a new hope for the New Ulm girls’ track and field team’s future. Owens will participate in the triple jump and the high jump, while Kalis will compete in the long jump.

Owens advanced to state in the triple jump with a jump of 36 feet, 7 3/4 inches last Friday and qualified for the state high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 5 inches last Wednesday on Day 1 of sections. Both jumps were not only personal bests for Owens but also school records.

Kalis qualified for the long jump after a top jump of 17 feet, 4 3/4 inches last Wednesday, a personal best for her.

“They’ll have their own goals of probably jumping what they jumped at sections,” New Ulm head coach Megan Asleson said of Owens and Kalis. “That’s all I can really ask is that they jump with effort, they jump well enough around where they’ve been. Placing at state is going to be icing on the cake for them, just getting the taste of state is going to be enough for them.”

Ben Mathiowetz advanced to state for the fourth year in a row in both the wheelchair shot put and the wheelchair discus. He advanced in the wheelchair shot put last Wednesday after a throw of 12 feet, 10 3/4 inches and advanced in the wheelchair discus last Friday with a throw of 25 feet, 3 inches. His best performances this year came at the Big South Conference Meet, where he had top throws of 13 feet, 2 3/4 inches in the wheelchair shot put and 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches in the wheelchair discus.

“He’s out there getting stronger every day,” Asleson said of Mathiowetz. “He loves being around the track team and everybody he’s with and he enjoys what he does. Any improvement he has on his throws is just another plus for him. It’s just great to see where he came from and how he’s grown and it’s really kind of closing the chapter on this journey of high school. He got injured in eighth grade and now he’s experienced all of this, going through high school, he’s graduated and now he’s kind of closing that chapter on track and going to that next chapter in his life.”

Asleson said that no matter what happens, she is proud of her athletes for just getting to this next level of competition.

“I’m glad Paige and Olivia will have this experience and see what the state meet is all about,” Asleson said. “It will help give them some new goals going into next season and maybe put a driving force behind what they do during off season training. Placing at state is something that all track athletes would like to have on their list of goals going up there. I’m hoping Ben has a couple good days of throwing to close out his career and I think he has it in him to do so. No matter what the outcome, I’m still going to be proud of these athletes and their accomplishments this season.”

Kalis, Owens and Mathiowetz will all compete for Class AA around 9 a.m. Friday, while Owens and Mathiowetz finish things off for New Ulm on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., respectively.

MVL SENDS 5 GIRLS TO STATE

Five athletes from the Minnesota Valley Lutheran girls’ track and field team will make the trip to state this year and all but two are newcomers to state track and field.

Hannah Marzinske caps off the 4×100-meter relay team of Lexi Fosburgh, Megan Seidl and Anna Schwartz for MVL and it’s not the first state relay team Marzinske has been a part of. Marzinske was also part of the 2017 state 4×100 relay team for MVL, a team that finished eighth in the finals.

This year, MVL’s 4×100 relay team finished second at the section tournament last Saturday with a time of 51.22 seconds, a season-best time. It will be the first state appearance for junior Seidl and freshman Schwartz.

Seidl and Schwartz are also both in their first year of track and field for MVL. The 4×100 relay team comes into the state meet seeded eighth.

Fosburgh also qualified for the 200-meter dash after a second-place finish (27.13) at sections, a personal best. She made it to state in 2017 also as part of the 4×200 relay team that missed qualifying for the state finals after a missed hand-off in the prelims.

Also qualifying last Saturday for her first state appearance was junior Mara Weisensel after taking second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.28). Her best time in the 100 hurdles this year came in the subsection finals, where she ran a 16.25. She is seeded 10th in the state 100 hurdles.

“We have been blessed with a great team of hard-working female athletes this year as we were able to show with our seventh-place finish in the state true team meet,” MVL head coach Rollin Timm said. “For these ladies to qualify for state is just an added bonus. The entire team has worked hard and encouraged one another throughout the season. They have been a coach’s dream team.”

The Class A 4×100 girls’ relay prelims will take place around 4:50 p.m. Friday, while the girls’ 100 hurdle prelims begin at 3:30 p.m., Friday. Also on Friday, the girls’ 200 prelims begin at approximately 6:08 p.m.

OTHER AREA COMPETITORS QUALIFY

For River Valley, eighth-grader James Hagen will return to state in the wheelchair shot put, the wheelchair 100 and the wheelchair 200. Hagen took third in the wheelchair shot put at sections (5-1/2), second in the wheelchair 100 (52.09) and second in the wheelchair 200 (1:35.54).

For Wabasso, the Rabbits will be sending one boy to state in the shot put in Carl Swedzinski. Swedzinski competed in the discus last season at state and has a personal-best throw of 49 feet, 10 inches in the shot put that he set this season.

This year, Swedzinski was the Tomahawk Conference shot put champion, the subsection shot put champion and the Section 3A shot put champion.

Wabasso head track and field coach Joel Dudgeon said that Swedzinski is a continuation of great throwers at Wabasso and was one of three separate throwers from Wabasso to qualify for state last season. He credited throwing coach Lisa Roker for creating a great culture among Wabasso throwers.

Dudgeon believes that Swedzinski has it in him this year to hit the 50-foot mark and take home a medal.

“Making the finals is a very reachable goal for Carl,” Dudgeon said. “This would put him on the medal stand and make for a great ending to an excellent career. The 50-foot mark is a huge milestone and well within reach. Carl is a very hard worker and more importantly, he is a student of the throwing events. He is able to help and coach the younger throwers. He bounces back from tough spots very well, which is very important in any technical event. He was third at the Section 3A meet going into the final throw where he unleashed a huge toss. He is going to continue his career next year at SMSU in Marshall.”

Nicollet senior McKenna Thurston will also compete at state this year with Katelin Flack, Olivia Flack and Grace Moeller as part of the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet 4×800 relay team after the team qualified after a second-place finish (9:57.73) at sections last Saturday in Mankato.

For a full list of event times on both Friday and Saturday, visit mshsl.com.

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