Cloquet track team off to the races

After a one-year hiatus, the Cloquet boys and girls track teams finally got back on track (literally) last week when they participated in the North Central Quadrangular meet in Cambridge Thursday. Both teams showed they are a force, with the girls taking first and the boys team finishing second.

"I was just happy to get the team out there and give them a track meet," said Cloquet coach Tim Prosen, who had to postpone Cloquet's first two home meets because of the weather. "Overall, we had a solid meet."

The Lumberjacks took first place in the shot put with Bella Harriman winning the girls event and Will Turnbull capturing first in the boys event. Cody Tibbetts added a third-place finish for the boys and Seija Suominen was fourth for the girls.

Suominen also nabbed first place in the girls discus with Emily Vermeersch taking third and Harriman fifth, while Tibbetts was fourth on the boys' side.

"We have plenty of talent in the throwing events and this is evident, but again they are very rusty," said Prosen. "We are fortunate to have Andy Elias as our throws coach, and we are fortunate to have CHS alumni like Thomas Udenberg and Evan Erickson to help coach these athletes. This is a huge help."

Abigail Brown finished first in both the 55-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

"Abi had a great meet for us, and I think she surprised herself with her success," Prosen said.

Nathan Genereau continued the success for the Cloquet hurdles by winning the boys 300-meter hurdles, with Nathan Blatchford also having a nice race by finishing fourth.

"Coach Tim Anderson has done a really good job developing hurdlers, and Nate Genereau is an example of that," Prosen said. "Nate had a really nice time this early in the season for this event, and it was a great race, as he and the Cambridge athlete fought really hard to win this race. Nate Blatchford has also really evolved into a solid athlete in our program, and I expect to see his name in the paper plenty throughout this season."

Perhaps the most impressive race for the boys team was in the 3200-meter run where they took the top four slots - led by Miles Fisher, who won with a time of 10:41.21. Jacob Maertz was second, Josh Sanders third and Ben Bauer finished fourth.

"Our distance runners are strong, and this is great evidence of it," Prosen said. "They had so much fun out there running, as these guys work very hard all week and stick in a pack and take these spots. Coach Arne Maijala, Ed Martin, Harry Cottrell and Issac Boedigheimer really do a great job working with these athletes. It is great to see the trust of the athletes on the coaches, the athletes know if they work hard the results will follow."

The boys 1600 saw Bauer finishing second and Fisher taking third for the Cloquet boys. Addison Loeb added a second-place finish in the girls 1600-meter run with teammate Victoria Nelson taking fifth.

In the girls jumping events, Taylor Wick was impressive by taking first in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 1 inch, then adding a second in the triple jump. Cloquet's Katie Turner finished third in the long jump, Caley Kruse was fifth in the high jump, and Kaley Will was fifth in the long jump.

Meanwhile, in the boy's triple jump Cloquet went 3-4 with Logan Dushkin and Genereau. In the 400-meter boys run, Nate Bong was fourth, with Dushkin fifth. On the girls' side it was Alexa Shepherd finishing fourth.

"Coach Michelle Wick and coach Dale Flankey do a great job and will get the jumpers where they need to be, they always do a great job," Prosen said.

Another impressive feat for the girls team was their strength in the sprints. In the 100-meter dash it was Kaley Will and Katelyn Kelley finishing second and third, respectively. In the 200, Katie Turner and Lydia Stone finished fourth and fifth, respectively. On the boys' side, Dylan Heehn and Miigwan Tanner-Wostrel finished fourth and fifth. In the boys 100-meter dash Alex Peterson was fifth.

Sam Buytaert had a strong run in the boys 800-meters by finishing second. In the girls race, Charlotte Ripp placed third and Amelia Allen finished third.

Ashtyn Schneberger took second in the girls pole vault.

Both the Cloquet boys and girls had strong showings in the relays, with both the boys and girls winning the prestigious 4x400 relay event.

"At Cambridge, the 4x400 is the reputation of the meet, the 4x400 is king, and we built the best team we could at this point," coach Prosen said. "Our athletes always know the reputation and tradition of the 4x400 at Cambridge, and they rose up."

The boys lineup featured Cale Prosen, Genereau, AJ Maijala and Dushkin. The girls' winning 4x400 team featured Caley Kruse, Turner, Allen and Ripp.

Cloquet also repeated the feat of taking first place in the 4x100 relay with the girls team of Kelley, Addie Loeb, Olivia Macaulay and Schneberger. The boys team of Blatchford, Alex Peterson, Reese Sheldon and Heehn also captured first place.

"It was good to see both teams get out and win this race, as again the competition was good," Prosen said. "They have had such minimal handoff practice, but they overall hit the handoffs pretty well."

The boys 4x800 team placed second at Cambridge with Buytaert, Maijala, Prosen and Dushkin racing.