After being postponed for a day because of the weather, International Falls’ boys and girls track and field teams headed to Grand Rapids on Wednesday to participate in the Old River Meet.
The host school, Grand Rapids, won both the boys and girls competition.
The Bronco girls ended in third in the team standings.
The Grand Rapids “Black” team placed first with 238.5 points, followed by Duluth East (152.5), the Falls (128), Hibbing (80) and Cromwell (44) in the top five.
The Broncos’ best individual finishes came from freshman Savanah Olson, who placed first in both the shot put (35 feet, 4 inches) and discus (98-2.5). Olson’s winning distances in both events were nearly 4 feet farther than her nearest competitor.
Falls recorded a 2-3 finish in the 1600-meter run from seventh-grader Lexi Erickson and sophomore Amy Auran in 5 minutes, 46.33 seconds and 5:46.54, respectively. Duluth East’s Abby Holak won in 5:40.51.
“After (Wednesday’s) meet, I’m excited to see what we can do in the next few weeks,” Erickson said.
Auran also placed second in the pole vault (8-6). Grand Rapids’ Karley Petersen won the event after clearing 9-0.
“With the warmer temps this meet felt different than our previous ones, especially with us competing against Rapids and Duluth East,” Auran said. “I’m proud of how our team adjusted to the competition and warmer weather and I am excited to see where the season takes us.”
Sophomore Lexi Owen placed second in the high jump (4-6), third in the 300 hurdles (52.21) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (18.23).
“I liked the competition the larger schools provided and I’m hoping to see all of us improve with each meet,” Owen said.
Among other Bronco girls scoring team points:
• Breanna Shofner placed fourth in the 200 dash (27.37), sixth in the 100 (13.38) and eight in the long jump (13-11).
• Jaci Scholler finished fourth in the triple jump (30-11.5).
• Maddie Filipiak came in fifth in the triple jump (30-3.5), seventh in both the high jump (4-2) and 300 hurdles (55.53).
• Valandre Butler placed sixth in the long jump (14-1) and seventh in the triple jump (28-10.5).
• Amber Harms finished sixth in the 3200 run (13:10.16).
• Blair Johnson was seventh in the long jump (13-11.5).
• Abby Kostiuk came in eighth in the 400 dash (1:08.17).
• Kelsey Eibler finished eighth in the triple jump (28-7.5).
• Kylie Skallman placed eighth in the shot put (26-4).
In the four relay events, the Falls recorded top-three finishes in three of them.
The best showing came from the Broncos’ 4X100 relay team of Scholler, Owen, Butler and Shofner, who placed second in 53.9, 22-hundredths of a second behind Duluth East’s winning team.
The 4x200 relay team of Madeline Dahle, Scholler, Filipiak and Kostiuk finished third in 1:57.98, while Falls’ 4X800 relay team of Lindsey Granrud, Auran, Erickson and Harms also came in third in 10:57.17.
Falls’ 4X400 relay team of Claire Herzig, Auran, Granrud and Kostiuk placed fourth in 4:40.65.
Bronco boys fifth
In the boys competition, the Broncos didn’t have the entire team present with the meet being delayed by a day and came in fifth.
Grand Rapids’ “Black” team won with 226 points, followed by Duluth East (124), Hibbing (106), Bigfork (89), and the Falls (68) rounding out the top five.
“We ended (up) fifth overall at a pretty big meet, so I’m proud of the guys who got some good season/personal bests and...stepped up with some of our better sprinters gone,” said Broncos junior Jason Pumper.
Pumper placed second in the high jump (5-6), 2 inches below the winning height of Grand Rapids’ Michael Spoden, and added fifth-place finishes in the triple jump (37-4) and 200 dash (25.1).
Falls’ sophomore Paul Skoglund came in runner-up in the 110 hurdles (17.26) and added a six-place finish in the 300 hurdles (48.55).
The Broncos’ other second-place finish came from senior Kyle Askey in the pole vault (11-6).
Falls senior Tyler House placed third in the triple jump (38-4) and fifth in the 100 dash (11.86).
“The good weather led to some personal bests in the jumping and running events...,” House said. “We had to drop a few relays (without the whole team present), but overall very good competition with Rapids there to push us to our best this season.”
Broncos junior Marco Griffith finished fourth in the 200 dash (25.05) and seventh in the 400 (56.99).
““It was good for us to go against some of the tougher schools, and it caused many of the team (members) to get some new personal records,” said Griffith.
Falls’ other top-eight individual finishes came from Jacob Ettestad, who placed fourth in the pole vault (10-6) and Jared LaVigne, was came in eighth in the shot put (36-10).
The Bronco boys fielded teams in only two of the four relay events and placed fourth in both the 4x100 (47.98) and 4X400 (3:51.27).
Old River Meet
Team scores
Girls: Grand Rapids Black 238.5, Duluth East 152.5, International Falls 128, Hibbing 80, Cromwell 44, Bigfork 30, Grand Rapids Orange 12.
Boys: Grand Rapids Black 226, Duluth East 124, Hibbing 106, Bigfork 89, International Falls 68, Cromwell 47, Grand Rapids Orange 12.
