The Johnnies had a good meet last weekend at the University of Minnesota, but we will be glad to be back home for this Saturday’s meet. Going into last weekend, I knew Saturday was going to be a long, but I didn’t anticipate a meet lasting eleven hours. Thankfully we had an extra vehicle and could send the team home after the running events finished. After some technical difficulties with the measurement laser in throws, the men’s shot put was just starting as the running events finished. The team arrived home with plenty of time to “study” on Saturday evening, while the shot putters and I returned much later.
Despite the delays, we still had some good performances. Kevin Arthur (JR, Champlin Park) finished second in the 200m dash to a Gopher while improving his personal best with a time of 22.58 sec. First year sprinter Caden Wheeler (Andover) made his collegiate debut in the 60m dash with a strong 7.17 sec. performance. Caden is also a running back and kick returner for the SJU football team. He will be a very good two-sport athlete for the Johnnies. Representing the field events, sophomore Zach Schaffer (Chaska) improved his long jump to 21-5. Zach is in his first year of doing track and learning along the way. The big highlight was Carter Grove’s (SO, Osakis) 3,000 meter victory. He dropped 16 seconds from his previous best time and ran a smart race with a decisive move at 5 laps left. Carter spent much of last year on the injured list and we are excited to have him back competing.
Saturday we are back at SJU with a start time of 11:00am. The other teams competing are Minnesota-Morris, Concordia-Moorhead, Southwest Minnesota State, Gustavus, St. Cloud State, the Minnesota Running Club, the St. Cloud State Running Club, and Ryan Bromenschenkel (‘99). If you see Ryan at the meet, feel free to escort him to the pole vault area so he doesn’t miss his event again.
Hope to see you there.
Jeremy
BTW: We have two options for apparel orders:
The first option closes on February 15th:
https://sjutrack-field23.itemorder.com/shop/home/
The second option does not have a deadline: