Paced by a dozen top-10 finishes in a 27-team meet, the International Falls girls track and field team placed seventh at Tuesday’s Paul Bunyan Invite held at Bemidji State University.
“This invite is always a tough meet to compete at, especially when you look at the number of schools competing and the length of the meet,” said Broncos head coach Jen Erickson. “A normal indoor meet takes around six or seven hours, but (Tuesday’s) meet lasted nine.
“Finishing in the top 10 in your event at this meet is a big accomplishment and those that earned points for the team (Tuesday) did an outstanding job. There were some really good performances by some of the girls, but we have a long way to go before the end of the season,” she said.
Bemidji won the team title with 86 points, followed by Grand Forks Red River (74), Grand Rapids (65), Pequot Lakes (61), Park Rapids Area (56), Grand Forks Central Knights (45) and the Falls (39.5) in the top seven.
In addition to Falls’ 4X200-meter relay team of Jaci Scholler, Lexi Owen, Maddie Filipiak and Breanna Shofner placing second in 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, the Bronco girls had a pair of individual runner-up finishes.
Sophomore Savanah Olson placed second in the shot put with a career-best throw of 37 feet, 5.5 inches. Her best throw last year had been 36-9.5.
“I’m really happy that I got my personal record (Tuesday) and against some tough competitors,” Olson said. “The day went really well and I hope to improve throughout the year.”
In the 3200-meter run, Broncos eighth-grader Lexi Erickson placed second in 12:32.03, while senior Amber Harms came in fourth in 12:59.46.
Falls junior Hailey Fentem picked up a pair of sixth-place finishes in the high jump (4-8) and long jump (13-9).
The Broncos’ 4X800 relay team of Lexi Erickson, Harms, Amy Auran and Tayler Hebner placed seventh in 11:07.52.
Owen came in seventh in the 60 hurdles (10.98).
Filipiak added an eighth-place finish in the triple jump (30-0).
“(Tuesday) was a good day for everyone, individually and team-wise,” Filipiak said. “This is just the beginning of the season and we hope to improve in the meets to come.”
In the 60-meter dash, Shofner and Scholler placed ninth and 10th, respectively, in 8.53 and 8.56.
Falls’ other top-10 finish in the girls competition came from Auran in the pole vault (7-0).
“There were a lot “pre-race or pre-event” jitters visible (Tuesday), even with the veteran athletes,” Jen Erickson said “This was the first opportunity the girls have had to lace up their spikes and feel a track surface underneath them – coming out of a block with spikes on feels a lot different than running in the hallways.”
The Bronco girls have another indoor meet April 6 at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Four FHS boys in top 10
In the boys competition, four Broncos finished in the top 10.
Falls junior Paul Skoglund had the best showing at the indoor meet by placing fifth in the 60 hurdles (9.5). Senior Jason Pumper came in seventh in the triple jump (37-1), while senior Cade MacKay finished ninth and junior Jakob Ettestad placed 10th in the pole vault in 11-0 and 10-6, respectively.
The Bronco boys will be back at BSU next Tuesday for the Little Amik meet.
