Saints Girls Cap Off Season in Nine Events at State Meet
The St. Ansgar girls’ track team qualified for the state track meet in nine events. Fourteen girls participated in those events. Individual state meet qualifiers included: Grace Heimer (shot put), Addy Carlson (1500 and 3000 meter runs), and Taylor Hanna (400 meter dash). Relay teams and their members included: 4 x 800 relay (Lauren Bork, Shelby Heimer, Hali Anderson and Addy Witt), distance medley relay (Chelsey Huisman, Madi Soltau, Maggie Davis and Addy Carlson), sprint medley relay (Gabby Finberg, Kirsten Boerjan, Chelsey Huisman and Taylor Hanna), 4 x 100 relay (Gabby Finberg, Chelsey Huisman, Hannah Patterson and Kirsten Boerjan) and the 4 x 400 relay (Maggie Davis, Taylor Hanna, Madison Minnis and Addy Carlson).r
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Grace Heimer had a best throw of 35’06.5” for 14th place in the shot put on Thursday morning. EJ Photo/ Colby Fossey
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Addy Carlson runs in the 3000M run on Thursday. Carlson came in 17th place with a time of 11:47.33. EJ Photo/ Colby Fossey
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rCoach’s comments:
What a great way to cap off a great season – participating in nine events at the state meet in Des Moines. We had something happening every day, Thursday through Saturday. Grace Heimer was our first competitor. She threw 35-06.5 in the shot put to finish in 14th place. Addy Carlson got things started on the running side of things in the 3000 meter run on Thursday. It was a bit of a struggle and she ran 11:47.33 to finish 17th. Our 4 x 800 relay team of Lauren Bork, Shelby Heimer, Hali Anderson and Addy Witt ran 10:43.78 and finished in 21st place. Taylor Hanna finished off our Thursday events and showed why she is one of the top 400 meter runners in Class 1A by finishing 8th in a time of 1:00.97.r
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The girls 4x800M relay team, which placed 21st at the state meet. Left to right: Addy Witt, Hali Anderson, Shelby Heimer and Lauren Bork. EJ Photo/ Mike Byrnes
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rOn Friday, the distance medley relay team of Chelsey Huisman, Madi Soltau, Maggie Davis and Addy Carlson ran 4:23.82 to finish 5th. All of them ran well starting with our senior leadoff runner Chelsey Huisman. Chelsey is one of the best relay runners I have had the honor of coaching. She got us off to a great start. Madi Soltau has really come on the last two weeks of the season and she didn’t disappoint us in this race. Maggie Davis ran her best 400 of the season and Addy Carlson was fantastic in her 800. She ran a 2:26 split which was her fastest time ever. They ran 8 seconds faster than their qualifying time. It was a great way to start Friday. Our 4 x 100 relay team of Gabby Finberg, Chelsey Huisman, Hannah Patterson and Kirsten Boerjan ran their best time of the year (53.13) to finish 22nd. The last race on Friday was the 4 x 400 relay. We were hoping to qualify for the finals but the girls ended up just short of that goal. Maggie Davis, Taylor Hanna, Madison Minnis and Addy Carlson finished 10th in a time of 4:13.45 which was seven seconds faster than their qualifying time. They all ran well and really competed which is all we can ask of them.r
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The distance medley relay team ran a time of 4:23.82 on Friday for a 5th place finish for the Saints. Team members left to right: Addy Carlson, Maggie Davis, Madi Soltau and Chelsey Huisman. EJ Photo/ Mike Byrnes
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rSaturday got started with a bang in the sprint medley relay. Gabby Finberg, Kirsten Boerjan, Chelsey Huisman and Taylor Hanna ran their best time ever, finishing 5th in a time of 1:52.49. They all ran well topped off by a 58 second split for Hanna in the 400. In our final event, Addy Carlson ran her fastest time ever in the 1500 finishing 13th in a time of 5:10.99.r
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Kirsten Boerjan gets the baton from Hannah Patterson in the 4x100M relay at the state meet in Des Moines. EJ Photo/ Mike Byrnes
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rCongratulations to all of our state participants. They really did represent St. Ansgar well, both on the track and off. Of the 14 girls that qualified for the state meet, two are seniors. This is not the first time Grace Heimer and Chelsey Huisman have represented St. Ansgar at the state meet. This was Grace’s second trip to the state meet. Grace may not have had her best day at the state meet, but she has consistently been one of the top throwers in our class the last couple of years. As I mentioned before, Chelsey Huisman is one of the funnest kids to watch on our relays because she just flies!! She got us in the races and kept us there. This was Chelsey’s third trip to the state meet and she finishes her career as a member of the school record 4 x 100 meter relay team. It was nice to see Gabby Finberg have a good state meet. Last season she struggled, but this year she got us off to some great starts. Nothing like a little experience. This was Addy Carlson’s second trip to the state meet. Addy qualified in four events. Her first event wasn’t real pretty, but the rest of the weekend she was top shelf. Madi Soltau had a good race in her first state track meet experience. These five were our upper classmen. The rest, nine of them, are freshmen and sophomores. We look forward to some great leadership and confidence next year.
