Sobczynski earns a medal with seventh-place finish
John Sobczynski turned it on over the final 100 yards of the 43rd Hial Pike Invitational at the Falls Country Club.
The Broncos senior earned a medal with a seventh-place finish in 18 minutes, 1.03 seconds, and was all smiles after the race.
“It was a great race today,” he said, noting he shaved at least 30 seconds off his last time.
Reggie Gorden also ran a quality race for the Broncos, returning from an injury to help the home squad finished fourth out of 11 teams that posted scores.
Marco Griffith finished 22nd in 18:35, Cade MacKay was 27th in 18:47.27 and Gorden, returning from a bad case of shin splints, finished right behind MacKay in 28th with a time of 18:51.9.
“He ran a gutsy race today,” Broncos head coach Paul Hjelle said about Gorden. “He’s still not 100 percent, but he’ll help us, and he helped us today.”
Wyatt Ulrich posted the last varsity score with a 35th place in 19:05.69. Logan Veillieux was close behind in 36th with a time of 19:05.81, while Aaron Geiss (43rd, 19:09.09), John Bartkowski (54th, 19:27.72), Charlie Gordon (69th, 20:03.64), Dakota Ruelle (72nd, 20:14.77), Aaron Marx (77th, 20:35.68), Nick Bujold (80th, 20:50.60), Jake Jensen (84th, 21:06.05), Corin Wenger (91st, 22:00.72) and Jason Pumper (102nd, 22:54.59) also competed in the varsity race. There were 116 racers overall.
“It’s probably the home meet. Guys want to do well, but I was impressed by the guys today,” Hjelle said.
Sobczynski was impressed, too.
“We have a chance (at sections) if everybody stays healthy, because losing Reggie hurt a lot,” he said.
Mesabi East took home first place with a 52, followed by Eveleth-Gilbert (79), Virginia (92), International Falls (102), Hibbing (125), Roseau (138), Grand Rapids (149), Warroad (178), Ely (235), Trek North (255) and Dryden (305).
Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia will be tough competitors at the Section 7A meet.
“With a little bit of hard work, we can be right there with Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert,” Hjelle said, noting Esko and Mesabi East will also pose as tough challenges.
Meet notes
• Eveleth-Gilbert freshman Bryce Firth collapsed at the finish of the junior high race and needed medical attention. Paramedics arrived and Firth was rushed to Rainy Lake Medical Center.
Shortly after the meet concluded, however, Linda Currie — Eveleth-Gilbert’s “momager,” who’s missed only one meet in eight years — took a phone call and was informed Firth was alert and responsive. He was released around 6:25 p.m., roughly two hours after he collapsed.
• Eight teams posted scores in the junior high meet: Hibbing (38), International Falls (78), Virginia (78), Grand Rapids (102), Roseau (106), Dryden (113), Ely (148), Warroad (215) and Indus (243).
