Park track & field: Alowonle, Farley, Gorres put on show for home crowd

The Park boys and girls track and field teams hosted an eight-team True Team invitational on Friday and defended their home turf well.

The Wolfpack boys finished in third place in the meet and the Park girls took fifth place. The boys totaled 705 points and the girls had 681 points. Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony won the boys meet with 847.50 points. Stillwater won the girls meet with 1054.50 points.

In the True Team competition every competitor scores points for their team. In individual events the first place finisher is awarded 24 points, the second 23 points and so on. The 24th place finisher earns one point. In relays the first place team is awarded 32 points, the second 28 points, the third 24 points down to the eighth place team that earns four points.

In the boys meet, Park senior R.J. Alowonle finished first in three individual events. Alowonle won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.89 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 38.11. Alowonle has the best recorded time in the state thus far in the 110 hurdles (14.58) and the 300 hurdles (37.92), which he set at last week’s Wildcat Invitational in Eagan. He also won the triple jump with a leap of 45 feet, 1 inch – which is the state’s best thus far. The second half of Park’s dynamic duo, D’Monte Farley, earned first place in his top event – the 100-meter dash – with a time of 11.48. Farley has the fastest recorded 100 in the state this year at 11.01. Farley also finished in second place in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet and took second in the triple jump with a distance of 43 feet, 10 inches. Alowonle and Farley also teamed up with juniors Dylan Smallidge and Irving Gutierrez to win the 400-meter relay with a time of 43.47. The foursome has the state’s fastest recorded time this year, 42.92, which they set at the Wildcat invite last week and which is just off their school record from last year of 42.63.

Individually, Smallidge won the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.94 and Gutierrez also took fourth place in the 100 with a time of 11.94 and was fifth in the 200 in 24.25. Also, Park sophomore Evan Bonneson finished in second place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 33.69 seconds and earned third place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 48.58 seconds and senior Gabe Simoson took third place in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 10 inches.

In the girls meet, Park put on a show in the 100-meter dash as eighth grader Allison Gorres and sophomore Temi Ogunrinde took first and second place, respectively. Gorres had a time of 13.42 to take first, just ahead of Ogunrinde’s 13.66 time.

Park senior Lindsay Kothe earned third place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 4.45 seconds, just ahead of the Wolfpack’s Kianna Griffin, who was sixth in the event with a 1:05.14 time. Park junior Larissa Lurken earned fourth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.24 and Jaclyn Glazier was 12th in the event with a time of 2:42.81. Park sophomore Sarah LaBrosse took seventh place in the long jump with a distance of 15 feet, 3 inches and earned fifth place in the triple jump with a leap of 32-7. Also, Nicole Laabs helped Park out with a seventh place finish in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 8 inches to take seventh place, McKenzie Greeder took eighth place in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet and Hannah Schwartz earned seventh place in the shot put with a heave of 30 feet, 4 inches.

Prior to the home meet, Park’s boys and girls competed in the Wildcat Invitational at Eagan High School on April 24. Park’s boys earned third place and the girls finished in eighth place in the 10-team meet. Apple Valley won the boys meet and Lakeville South won the girls meet.

The Wolfpack competed in a meet in Blaine on Tuesday after the Bulletin went to press. Next up, Park will compete in an invitational at Rochester Mayo High School on Saturday.

Tags: track and field, sports, prep, park, wolfpack, updates