Track & field: Alowonle breaks 25-year-old state record

On a night where all the stars come out, it was Park senior R.J. Alowonle that shined the brightest.

The University of North Carolina recruit put on a show for the crowd that came to watch the Suburban East Conference Championship finals on Friday at East Ridge High School —standing on top of the podium in four events and breaking a 25-year-old state record.

Alowonle ran a time of 36.38 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles to become the fastest 300-meter hurdler in state history, breaking Minneapolis North’s Dan Bannister’s state record time of 36.97 from 1987 in the event. Alowonle also won the 110-meter hurdles with a meet-record time of 14.32 seconds, won the triple jump with a mark of 47 feet and helped the Wolfpack’s 400-meter relay team — along with senior D’Monte Farley and juniors Irving Gutierrez and Dylan Smallidge —win the race with a meet record time of 42.50 seconds.

Individually, Farley also won the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.97, which is the best recorded in the state this year, and finished in second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.27 seconds. Roseville junior Elvis Barclay won the event with a time of 21.84. The University of North Dakota recruit also took seventh in the long jump with a leap of 20-05.25. Roseville junior DeAntre Smith won the long jump with a 22-00.50 leap.

In addition, for Park, Smallidge took seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 44-06, Gutierrez placed ninth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.53, senior Robert Briggs placed 11th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:04.23, senior Gabe Simoson took 11th in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 8 inches, junior Mike Broskoff took 13th in the discus toss with a throw of 121 feet 11 inches and sophomore Evan Bonneson placed 13th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:39.61.

For East Ridge, Raptors junior Nate Roese topped Woodbury’s Matt Watterhouse to win the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.81. Watterhouse had a 50.05 finish. Roese also took fourth in the 200 with a time of 22.34 and helped the Raptors 800-meter relay team — along with freshman Emilio Huerta, senior Val Huerta and senior Dayo Ogundepo — finish second in the race with a time of 1:30.56 (behind White Bear Lake’s 1:29.69).

In addition, for East Ridge, junior Allen Swenson earned second place in the pole vault by clearing 13 feet 6 inches, senior Jayden Cline took fourth place in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 2 inches, Ogundepo took fifth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.39, East Ridge senior Jarred Morris took seventh place in the 200 with a time of 23.70, junior Will Neuenfeldt placed ninth in the shot put with a heave of 45 feet, 8 inches and was ninth in the discus toss with a throw of 127 feet 2 inches.

In all, the Park boys team took seventh place in the 10-team meet with a total of 89 points and East Ridge was eighth place with 63 points. The Forest Lake boys won the SEC Championship with 174.50 points.

In the girls meet, East Ridge finished in fourth place with 110 points, while Park was eighth with 62 points. Stillwater won the meet with 177 points.

For East Ridge, the Lady Raptors broke nine school records at the SEC Championships. East Ridge senior Nicole Ethier led the way, taking second place in the 800-meter run with a new East Ridge record time of 2:17.88 — just back of Mounds View senior Laurisa Titterud (2:17.80) and the meet record (2:17.05). East Ridge freshman Brenley Goertzen was just behind Ethier in the race with a time of 2:17.99. Ethier and Goertzen also helped the Raptors 1600-meter relay team take second place with a time of 3:59.30, along with Megan Amend and Kiera Joiner.

Also, in the 100 meter dash, freshman Yarhi Shavers set a new school record and placed fourth overall with a time of 12.95, while junior Jamila Joiner also placed ninth in the event with a time of 13.36.

In addition, Alicia Ickstadt placed fifth in the long jump with a new school record of 16 feet, 10 inches. In the 1600-meter run, sophomore Bailey Ness broke her own school record running 5:21.95 and placing sixth, followed by her teammate senior Anna Moynihan in seventh place at 5:22.58. In the 3200, freshman Emily Betz placed fourth overall and also broke the school record running 11:22.67.

In the 100-meter hurdles, eighth grader Karina Joiner placed fourth with a new school record of 15.98. In the 300-meter hurdles, sophomore Sandra Gramer took ninth overall also setting a new school record during the prelims at a time of 48.71. In the 200-meter dash, freshman Raven Tittle took sixth place with a tie of 26.56, while Jamila Joiner again placed ninth in this event with a time of 27.15. In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Kiera Joiner placed fourth with a time of 1:00.36 and freshman Katy Marcus placed seventh with a time of 1:01.30.

In addition to the 1600-meter relay, in the relay events, East Ridge girls took fourth in the 400-meter relay with the team of Jamila Joiner, Savers, Ickstadt and freshman Reme Abulu running a time of 51.04 for a new school record and the 800-meter relay team of Tittle, Amend, Ickstadt and Ethier taking second place.

For the Park girls, eighth grader Allison Gorres and sophomore Temi Ogunrinde turned in the top performances for the Wolfpack. Gorres earned second place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.63 (officially 12.624) which was just four-hundreths of second back of the winning time of 12.62.

Gorres also finished in third place in the 200-meter run with a time of 26.28. Ogunrinde earned a pair of second-place finishes, taking runner-up in the 400-meter run with a time of 59.23 and second in the 200 with a time of 26.11. Gorres and Ogunrinde also teamed up in the 800-meter relay to take fifth place — along with junior Sharmaine Turner and sophomore Katelyn Floysand —with a time of 1:47.38.

In addition, for Park, Floysand took fifth place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.07, senior Nicole Laabs placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, Freshman Rebekah Schulte took 11th place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:35.64 and eighth grader Cameron Anderson earned 12th in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:59.53.

Park competes in the Section 3AA meet at University of St. Thomas on Tuesday and Thursday while East Ridge is at the Section 4AA meet at Stillwater High School on the same days.

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