Track & Field: Park hosts SEC championships; boys take sixth, girls ninth

• Andy Voigt

Park senior Andy Voigt earned fifth place in the shot put with a throw of 46-10 in the finals as the Wolfpack took sixth overall at the Suburban East Conference championships on Thursday, May 21 at Park High School.

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The Park boys and girls track and field teams hosted the Suburban East Conference championships on Tuesday, May 19 and Thursday, May 21 at Park High School, with each team struggling to best some of the strongest competition.

Not only does Park boys head track and field coach Mike Moran feel the Suburban East Conference is the toughest conference in the state for track and field, he believes that out of any sport, the Suburban East is the best at track and field.

For example, three of the eight boys teams that qualified for the True Team State meet are from the Suburban East. Three other SEC schools, including Park, were their section’s True Team runner-up.

At the SEC championships, the Park boys finished in sixth place out of nine teams with 92 points and the girls took ninth with 30 points.

Forest Lake won the boys meet with 178.0 points, edging second-place White Bear Lake by eight points. On the girls side, Roseville won the conference title with 219 points, beating out second-place Mounds View, which scored 195.8 points.

At the meet Park had one first-place finish and nine top-five finishes.

Park junior Drew Benson won the high jump for the Wolfpack, clearing 6-4 to take the top spot. Benson also just missed his attempt to break the school record of 6-8.

Also in the high jump, Nick Koethe and Josh Dorweiler tied for fifth, each clearing 6-0, giving Park a total of 21 points in the event.

Park’s 400-meter relay team turned in the Wolfpack’s second-best result, finishing third with a time of 44.12. Roseville won the event with a time of 43.76.

In addition, Tomi Awosika took fourth in the triple jump, Ezekiel Okeleye earned fourth in the 100-meter dash and in the 200-meter dash, Tony Perkins was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, R.J. Alowonle was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles and Andy Voigt earned fifth in the shot put.

On the girls side, Park eighth-grader Larissa Lurken earned the Wolfpack’s best finish, taking third place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:36.29. White Bear Lake senior Rachel Drake won the event with a time of 11:18.90.

Park senior Katie Borner had the Wolfpack’s second-best individual finish, taking fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 60.97 in the finals. Roseville’s Ellie Wilson won the event with a 58.00 time.

In addition, Park eighth-grader Hannah Pignato took seventh in the 200-meter dash and sophomore Jerrilynn Koltveit took ninth in the discus. Pignato had a time of 27.28 in the 200 finals, while Roseville senior Stormy Nesbit won the event in 25.53. Koltveit tossed a 102-10 in the finals. Stillwater senior Hailey Buberl won the event with a toss of 121-1.

The Wolfpack girls also finished fifth in the 800-meter relay, sixth in the 1600-meter relay, seventh in the 400-meter relay and ninth in the 3200-meter relay.

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