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West Central Area Track and Field Wraps up its Season

By Craig Olson, 06/03/19, 12:15AM CDT

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The Knight track and field teams wrapped up their season competing at Sub-sections in Morris with 15 athletes moving on to Sections.

In Sub Sections they take the top 5 places or if any athlete meets section standards to advance to sections.

In the girls 100m Kaylyn Uhrich advanced placing 5th with Kaitlyn Hansen just missing the cut in 6th place.  For the Boys, Senior Wyatt Olson ran his final race of his career finishing in the 7th spot. 

The 200 featured 7th grader Terina Blazcyk who placed 7th overall, Reese Kuseske and Bret Duncan also missed advancing placing 11th and 14th.

Liz Rustan just missed out in the 400 placing 6th along with Bennet Grove who finished up his career also placing 6th. “Both of these athletes have had tremendous seasons, we will surely miss Bennett and his contagious work ethic,” stated coach Dave Schleicher, “and Liz has a promising future in the event”.

Morgan Woodle competed hard in the women’s 300m hurdles but came up short in her bid to advance

The girls and boys 4x100m and 4x200m relay teams competed well but again missed the cut to advance, relays are a but different, they take top 2 with a wild card team advancing to sections. “It’s hard sometimes to compete with teams that have the luxury of a track to practice on, relay hand offs make or break the event so the fact that our kids compete well in spite of no track is a true testament of their athletic abilities,” added Coach Schleicher.

Alexa Blume and Taylor Bennett ran strong 800s but missed out on advancement while Kyle Schill and Jack Vankempen finished 2-3 to move on. In The 1600m Terina Blazcyk finished a strong 3rd place to advance again with Jack Vankempen and Kyle Schill who also advanced placing 3-4. 

The 3200 featured Senior Ella Vankempen advancing placing 2nd behind team mate Teagan Nelson who won the event. The boys were led by Jacob Bright and Alex Salwasser who finished 2-3 to advance to next week.

Gage Staples led the men jumpers advancing in the High jump 3rd and triple jump 2nd with a new personal best of 39’4.50

Devin Stone advanced in the disc but missed in shot put.  Tyler Stone and Brady Reeve had strong showings but also missed advancing. For the girls Taylah Schroeder moved on in shot put but missed the mark in disc, Elly Schleicher and Jocelyn Anderson also missed advancing.

The girls jumps were led by Brynn Fernolz placing 4th in High jump and second in triple jump.  Sydney Uhrich missed out on high jump but came back with a strong finish in long jump to advance to sections. Victoria Valleramos and Morgan Woodle failed to advance in long jump as well, with Woodle coming back to finish 4th in triple jump to move on. Kaitlyn Hansen also missed advancing in the triple jump.

“We had a LOT of kids finishing just outside the parameters to advance, and the best part is these were mostly all underclassmen so they will return next year hungry to move on,” coach Schleicher said. WCA had 15 athletes advancing on to the Section 6A Meet at Fergus Falls on Thursday, May 30.  To advance to State you need to again hit state standards or finish in the top 2,” noted Schleicher. “We have a very tough section to advance from across the board, every event features a lot of talent from the surrounding schools so we really need to step up our game to move on to the State Meet.”

Kaylyn Uhrich was first up on the day in the 100m, she ran a strong race but did not make finals and a chance to advance on. Terina Balzcyk competed hard in her race placing 14th.

The 3200m had Teagan Nelson and Ella Vankempen placing 9th and 14th overall. “The day didn’t finish up like we had hoped but Ella has been a huge part of this program during her career and we will miss her,” added Coach Schleicher.

The boys 3200 had Jacob Bright being edged out in the final 10 meters to place 3rd and Alex Salwasser placing 9th.  “The heat played a factor today with performances, it was pretty much the first time anyone had seen temps like this,” reported Schleicher, “our athletes did what they could to stay cool and hydrated.”

The 800 had Jack Vankempen placing a solid 3rd with Kyle Schill finishing 8th.

The girls 4x800 team, Ella Vankempen, Alexa Blume, Teagan Nelson and Terina Blazcyk ran their final race of the season against a strong field, placing 7th overall.

Sydney Uhrich had a strong showing against a talented field in the long jump and placed 10th overall, leading Schleicher to comment, “We expect great things from this one over her track career.” Girls high jump was another stacked group of talented girls as Brynn Fernholz had a strong day but came up short in the event placing 8th overall.

Girls Triple jump had Senior Morgan Woodle and Brynn Fernolz competing against some talented jumpers, Brynn placed 10th and Morgan 14th.  Morgan has had an outstanding track career at WCA and we will miss her leadership and fun personality around the program.

Gage Staples competed well against a loaded up field in the Triple jump placing 7th overall and in the high jump placed 6th.

Taylah Schroeder made finals in the shot put but missed on advancing, placing 9th..  Devin Stone had a strong showing in disc but also failed to move on placing 11th overall.

“Going into the day we knew we had to get after things and really run our best times of the season to advance,” summarized Coach Schleicher.  “We have a particularly strong section to advance out of, Perham, Minnewaska, Morris, Osakis and the list goes on and on of really talented programs that we compete against here, so even placing in the top 5 showcases the talent we have here at WCA. We are very proud of our athletes from our seniors to our 7th graders on the way they come to work and compete and get better every day.  We will miss our seniors, they have been tremendous leaders for this program this season but we feel we have an amazing group coming up to fill their shoes so we are excited just the same for them.  We see where we need to get better and I’m confident these kids will come back next spring ready to get back to work and chase down their state dreams.”