K-M girls finish third at Cannon Falls meet

The Kasson-Mantorville track and field team took their schedule into their own hands last week. After the weather forced the KoMets to just have one meet over the first six weeks of the season, they acted quickly once Mother Nature began to cooperate and headed up to a meet in Cannon Falls on April 21.

As a result, K-M got its first action in an expanded field of schools this year and the girls were able to hold their own, finishing third among the six-school meet to extend their solid start to the season.

One of the most impressive things about the girls’ performance was that there wasn’t just one athlete leading the way. The KoMets put forth a total team effort where several girls stood out as they look to refine their form with just over a month left in the season.

K-M had one of its most impressive efforts as a team in the 100 meter dash as Kelli Schneider (13.74 second, 3rd) and Jaclyn Smith (13.79, 4th) each sped to top-four finishes in the event. McKenzie Evans added to K-M’s success finishing in third place in both the 400 meter dash (1:07.12) and 800 meter run (2:36.84).

Even in the distance events, which featured a deep field that was headlined by the Math & Science Academy’s Tierney Wolfgram, the KoMets did well. Whitney Deno finished behind Wolfgram for second place in the 1600 meter run (5:47.41) and Tiana Wiebke finished third in the 3200 meter run with a time of 12:10.38 seconds.

The KoMets’ solid day on the track was complemented with a solid team effort in the 4x200 meter relay as the team of Schneider, Smith, Anna Rechtzigel and Brooke Gullickson finished second with a time of 1:55.04.

The girls wrapped up their solid afternoon with great performances in the field events as Rechtzigel finished first in the high jump (4-10.00) and Ashanti Branson finished first in the shot put (32-04.25). Jora Gergen (8-06.00, pole vault) and Schneider (34-04, triple jump) would add second place finishes to cap the afternoon off and give K-M 97 team points to finish behind St. Croix Lutheran (104) and Bloomington Jefferson (192).

On the boys side, Mason Iverson stood out once again after sweeping both hurdles events in Byron the previous week. In addition to winning the 110 meter hurdles (16.66 seconds) and 300 meter hurdles (43.35 seconds) once again, Iverson also showed out in the 200 meter dash with a time of 23.87 seconds that was good for second place.

With another meet under their belt, the KoMets headed out to Elgin to take part in P-E-M’s Verne Herman Invite on Tuesday afternoon. They’ll rest up until May 3 when they head back to Byron for the Chuck Rathum Invite.