Track & Field season at William Kelley is always an adventure. As longtime coach Rick Frericks said, “In a good year, I always feel fortunate if we can get out on our track by May 1. This has not been a good year and it remains soft and muddy.”
Frericks stated that northern teams are scrambling for opportunities to compete in the metro area or southern locations in the state where spring actually appeared this year. The Mariners competed in Rosemount on April 14th (where it was a balmy seventy degrees) and Moose Lake on the 18th. Since then, several meets in either Two Harbors or Esko have had to be canceled.
The Mariner team has twenty-three members in grades seven thru twelve including a large group of students that are new to track. Coach Frericks said, “Despite the slow start, we have a significant number of team members who have set new personal bests. It really shows that these people have been working in the weight room. This is a terrific group to work with. They are kind to each other and are working hard to improve every day.”
Jacob Carpenter, Avery Thompson, Dain Thompson, Isaiah Smith, and Ayden Althaus are new or relatively to the sport. “Ayden’s first run in the 400 was well under a minute.” Coach Frericks also was excited about Camryn Hipple and Sophie Betzler who have shown great improvement in the 200 meter run.
Sofia Blanck, who qualified for the State meet last year in the 800 has worked hard in the weight room and has already beat last year’s time by several seconds.
Junior sprinter Cash Williams has really focused on track this spring and Frericks believes he has a good chance to go far this year.
Freshman Val Melander is another strong performer. “My times in the 400 aren’t where they were last year, but they are close and it is early in the season. I think I will get there soon.” Val is excited for her next meet where she will run the 4 X 400 relay with Sofia Blanck, Sierra Getz and Tanya Thomas. “I think we can do pretty well.”
Sub-sections will be held May 25th at Mesabi East with the top group of finishers competing in the Section meet on June 2nd with the top qualifiers heading to the State Meet.
