Photo courtesy of Sam Thiel/Marshall Independent GFW’s Treay Taylor (second from left) sprints towards the finish line during the 100 meters at the Class A State Track and Field Meet on Friday at St. Michael-Albertville.

ST. MICHAEL — Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop saw juniors Treay Taylor and Olivia Schwarzrock both take home medals after the Class A State Track and Field Meet concluded on Friday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Taylor finished fourth in the boys’ 100-meter dash, while Schwarzrock took fifth in the girls’ discus.

Taylor was GFW’s busiest athlete at the state tournament on Friday. He first ran in the 100-meter dash and then joined his teammates Johnnie Ambrose, Dominic Henrichs and Valdimire Ambrose in the 4×100-meter relay.

In the 100, Taylor cruised past his qualifying time of 11.60 set at the Section 2A meet in Mankato a week ago, finishing with a personal-best time of 11.17 on Friday. That time earned him a fourth-place medal.

“It made me feel really good because I was seeded 13th going into it,” Taylor said of his 100 finish. “So coming out fourth, that feels pretty good.”

Taylor attributed his strong finish in the 100 to a good practice the day before and a strong practice start out of his block right before the race.

The 100 was won by Max Reis of Spectrum, who had a time of 10.84. Reis tied for first in the 100 at state in 2019 with a time of 11 seconds even.

Taylor said a goal he has for next year in the 100 is to catch Reis, also a junior, and compete for the first-place medal.

In the 4×100 relay, Taylor and his teammates finished 14th with a time of 45.49. The event was won by Minnehaha Academy, who had a time of 43.51.

Despite not finishing as high as the team would have liked, Taylor still said it was a good race.

“It was a really good race,” Taylor said of the 4×100. “I think I kind of underestimated the crowd noise and the amount of distraction there is at a state meet because we’ve never been there before. So it was kind of different. But I’m happy with how we did, we placed how we were seeded. It was a fun race and everyone felt pretty good about it.”

Losing Johnnie Ambrose and Henrichs to graduation this year, Taylor said that he’d like to try training for the 200 next year.

Despite fouling on her first throw, Schwarzrock improved on each throw after that and finished her fourth throw that went 116 feet, 8 inches.

Schwarzrock qualified for the discus with a Section 2A meet throw of 124-11. That throw would have given Schwarzrock a first-place finish at state this year after Metaya Jergensen of Minnewaska Area had a top throw of 123-8 to take first.

Despite not hitting or passing her prior top throw, Schwarzrock was still in good spirits after the event.

“It’s a little disappointing just knowing that I have thrown further in the past, but every meet is different,” she said. “And I know I still have a lot of support from my family and my coaches and that I’m going to hopefully be there [at state] next year — that just keeps my head up a little bit.”

In addition to getting back to state next year, Schwarzrock has a big goal in mind that, if reached, could end up seeing her take home a first-place medal at state in 2022.

“A big goal for me probably next year is going to be our current [girls’ discus] school record,” Schwarzrock said. “It’s 133 feet. So I really want to push for that.”

ALSO FROM THE AREA

Also competing from the area on Friday in multiple events were athletes from River Valley. River Valley wheelchair athletes James Hagen and Toby Hagen competed in several events at state this year.

In the boys’ wheelchair 100-meter dash, Toby Hagen finished with a time of 31.23, while James Hagen finished with a 36.23, a personal best. In the wheelchair 200, Toby Hagen had a personal-best time of 59.16, while James Hagen had a personal-best time of 1:13.31.

In the wheelchair discus, Toby Hagen had a personal-best throw of 17-6. Lastly in the wheelchair shot put, James Hagen finished with a throw of 7-10 1/2, while Toby Hagen had a throw of 7-1/4.

Also for River Valley, the girls’ 4×800 relay team qualified for the state tournament with a time of 10:19.26 at the Section 2A meet at Mankato West High School last Saturday. The team of Marissa Pabst, Skyla Dauer, Emmaline McCone and Lilly McCone finished with a time of 10:32.34 in the event at state, which gave the team a 15th-place finish.

Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet’s top athlete at the state meet this season was junior Emily Lorentz, who competed in the discus and shot put and took home a medal in each event. She finished sixth in the shot put (38-6.5, PR) and sixth in the discus (116-6).

Also for LCWM/Nicollet, Grace Moeller finished 10th in the 1,600 with a time of 5:22. The LCWM/Nicollet team of Savannah Klockziem, Avery Voges, Katelin Flack and Ella Voges finished 14th with a time of 4:22.36 in the 4×400 relay.