Two Falls girls in three track and field events

“It’s always hard to see the season come to an end for the majority of the girls and (Friday) especially when we fell only a few points behind the second-place team,” said Falls head coach Jen Erickson.

Two Bronco girls qualified individually in three events in total for this weekend’s Class A state meet at Hamline University.

Freshman Breanna Shofner won the 200-meter dash in 26.8 seconds and placed runner-up by one-hundredth of a second in the 100 dash (12.61) to qualify in both events.

“It feels great to be going to state in two events,” Shofner said. “I’m glad to have another chance to run again.”

Her 100 dash finish placed her in the Broncos’ record books for running as the fourth-fastest girls time in school history, 17-hundredths of a second behind Stacey Burns, who ran the top 100 dash time of 12.44 in 1987.

Shofner finished just behind Esko senior Alyson Glumac, who set a new Section 7A meet record at 12.6.

Her runner-up finish also broke the previous Section 7A meet record of 12.62 set in 2003 by Jenna Halverson of Barnum and exceeded the state’s standard in Class A of 12.93 to qualify for the state meet regardless of place at the Section meet.

The first- and second-place individual finishers and first-place relay teams at Friday’s Section meet automatically qualified for the Class A state meet being held June 10-11 at Hamline University.

In addition, an individual competitor or relay team with a performance in the Section finals that met or exceeded the established state standard time or distance could also qualify.

Falls eighth-grader Savanah Olson qualified for the state meet by placing second in the shot put with a throw of 34 feet, 1/2 inch. Olson was able to get in her throws after the rain that soaked the Duluth area before Friday’s meet cleared out.

“I am so happy I made it to state this year, especially since I am only an eighth-grader,” she said. “It was nice to have tough competition (Friday), and that was what helped push me as well as encouragement from my coaches.”

Olson finished runner-up in the shot put behind Crosby-Ironton’s Vanessa Hudrlik, who tossed the winning throw of 35-10 1/2.

The shot put was one of two events Olson competed in at the Section meet as she also finished third in the discus with a toss of 103-9, less than 4 feet behind runner-up Lanae Nelson of Hinckley-Finlayson. Stephanie McGregor of Two Harbors won the discus with a throw of 113-11.

Another second-place finish for the Broncos came in the 4x100 relay as Shofner teamed up with Jaci Scholler, Courtney Olson and Blair Johnson to cross the finish line in 52.30, 1.05 seconds behind Esko’s team.

Senior Alicia Hendrickson, who qualified individually for the Section meet in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump, had been a part of the 4x100 relay this season and most recently when the team placed first at the May 25 Hibbing Subsection. However, she didn’t compete in any event at Friday’s Section.

Based on receiving a failing grade in an American literature course she took through Rainy River Community College that was “above and beyond” her requirements to graduate from high school, Hendrickson was going to be ruled ineligible to compete in the state meet, said Hendrickson’s mother, Sheryl, who is also an assistant track and field coach.

Sheryl Hendrickson said a school district ruling made last week following a meeting that involved athletic director Don Rolando and high school principal Tim Everson barred her daughter from competing because they deemed it “unethical” to possibly take away a state qualifying slot from someone who would be eligible.

When contacted for comment, Everson said the matter fell under the Data Privacy Act for students, and he would not elaborate on the situation.

“I can’t discuss that,” he said.

Rolando did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Sheryl Hendrickson said she disagreed with the ruling, being that Alicia could possibly have helped the 4x100 relay team qualify for the state meet, where an alternate could have run in her place, and that her daughter’s ineligibility for the state meet might have been reversed on appeal before next weekend.

She also said she looked into possibilities such as her family paying for the course, which didn’t affect her daughter’s ability to graduate from high school, so that the failing grade wouldn’t be counted against her daughter’s eligibility status, but none of those measures took place before the Section meet.

Since the seventh grade, Sheryl Hendrickson said her daughter has not had a disciplinary matter to warrant her being ruled ineligible.

“We’re talking a good kid, here,” she said.

Alicia Hendrickson qualified for the Section meet as the top seed in two of the three field events and placed first in the pole vault in all the meets she competed in this season. A top-five finish by her in any one of the three field events at the Section meet would have been enough for the Broncos to finish runner-up as a team and bring back the second-place trophy.

Sheryl Hendrickson said what her daughter felt the worst about was how her absence from competing at the Section meet affected the team.

“She’s the most upset about letting her teammates down,” she said.

Three freshmen who didn’t qualify for the state meet on Falls’ girls team contributed 11 points in individual events.

Jaci Scholler placed fifth in the 100 dash (13.39).

“I am very proud of how well my team did (Friday), but I’m also sad to see the season end,” Scholler said.

Sydney Raboin placed sixth in the 3200 run (12:28.42) and eighth in the 1600 run (5:54.76).

Freshman Amy Auran placed sixth in the pole vault (7-6). The Broncos also picked up a point by placing eighth in the 4x800 relay (10:51.35).