Students from Columbia Heights, DeLaSalle (DLS), Edison and St. Anthony Village convened in St. Michael-Albertville (STMA) for the Minnesota State High School League Championships, June 10-12. In track and field, individuals, rather than entire teams, qualify for state. As a result, 72 different schools participated over two days in the Class AA portion of the three-day championships.
DeLaSalle’s head coach Matt Letcher said he “was really impressed with how STMA was able to handle the weather and keep things moving. Any time we had athletes with conflicting events, the judges were clearly focused on making decisions that would best help the athletes perform.”
Of the schools listed earlier, the girls’ team from DLS was the most dominant, finishing 7th overall. Sophomore Laila Moses participated in four events — shot put, high jump, 300-meter hurdles and 100-meter hurdles — scoring in all but the shot put. She established a new Class AA record and was crowned a State Champion after she ran a 14.28-second 100-meter hurdle.
Teammate and fellow 10th grader Ervina Swaray placed second in the 100-meter and contributed to a scoring 4×100-meter relay team.
Columbia Heights junior Danchau Le jumped 17’1” in the long jump, earning her 8th place in Class AA. Reymie Keenan of Edison competed in the discus, and the girls from St. Anthony qualified Josie Bossen in the pole vault, Tatum Lyon in the 3200-meter, Rebecca Nelson in the 400-meter, and Anna DeSouza in the 300-meter hurdles, as well as three different relay races: 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800.
On the boys’ side, the 400-meter featured seniors Makai Odiase of St. Anthony, Darius Irvin of DeLaSalle and Sophomore Sundjata Henderson of Edison in the finals. The quarter-mile sprint was not the first time these runners lined up next to one another, but it was remarkable to see them do it one last time.
Odiase placed fifth, besting Henderson and Irvin. Totino-Grace’s Josiah Young won the event with a time of 48.16 seconds. Irvin and his DLS teammates (including his twin brother) wrapped up the meet by finishing second in the 4×400 relay.
Other noteworthy feats from the boys’ competition include: DeLaSalle seniors Jaden Alexander scoring in the 100, 200 and the 4×100 relay; and De’Von Irvin, who qualified for four events, scoring in the 300 hurdles and multiple relays. DLS junior Christopher Anderson qualified in the pole vault. Columbia Heights seniors William Lacy and Khoi Le participated in the discus and triple jump, respectively. Lastly, the boys from St. Anthony qualified for two different relay races: 4×200 and 4×800.
Looking to get on a track this summer? The Twin Cities Track Club will be hosting the “All Comers” meets in July and August. Registration and information can be found at the Twin Cities Track Club website, https://www.twinci
tiestc.com/all-comers-info.
Editor’s note: David Salzer is a teacher and track coach at Edison High School who went through Citizen Journalism University, a collaboration between Bethel University and the Minnesota News Media Institute.