Cloquet girls, boys win conference meets

The Cloquet boys and girls track teams swept top honors last week at the Lake Superior Conference track meet in Cloquet. Both teams finished first with Grand Rapids taking second in both divisions.

Girls

On the girls side the Lumberjack had 216 points, Grand Rapids was second with 135 points followed by Proctor, Hermantown, Superior, Duluth Denfeld and Duluth Marshall.

Olivia Jameson had a big day for the 'Jacks by winning the high jump, the triple jump and by finishing second in the 100 hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. Ilei Benson chipped in with a solid race in the 100-meter hurdles by finishing third.

"Olivia Jameson is one of the top track athletes in the area, she is so versatile," head coach Tim Prosen said. "Her efforts in these events piles up so many team points, I hope to model more athletes after her in how she approaches this sport."

Bella Harriman continued her field dominance by winning both the shot put and the discus while teammate Seija Souminen added a second place in the shot put and a third in the discus.

"Our throwers quietly add so many team points," Prosen said. "They are such a fun group to work with. No group laughs more at practice, but yet they work so hard."

Kaley Will was first in the 100-meter dash and Alexa Snesrud won the 200-meters. Katie Turner also took top honors in the long jump.

Benson, who finished third in the 100-meter hurdles, also added a second in the pole vault, while Cloquet also got third-place finishes from triple jumper Taylor Wick and in the 800-meter run from Caley Kruse.

Cloquet also had solid efforts in the relays by taking first in the 4x100 with Kaley Will, Olivia Macaulay, Addie Loeb and Katelyn Kelley. Charlotte Ripp, Katie Turner, Alexa Snesrud and Caley Kruse took second in the 4x400. The 4x800 relay team of Alexa Shepherd, Ripp, Victoria Nelson and Kruse took third.

Boys

The Lumberjacks boys scored 232 points to outdistance runner-up Grand Rapids with 197 points.

Among the top performers for the Lumberjacks was Dylan Heehn, who won the 200-meter dash, the high jump and finished second in the 100-meter dash. Reese Sheldon was also impressive with a first in the long jump and was runner-up to Heehn in the 200-meter dash.

"Heehn has really stepped up this year. He is a force out there," Prosen said. "Reese Sheldon is really strong this year, but that was the first time he marked a long jump all year. Due to injury early on we could never get some good work on it, we took a gamble putting him in there but we knew that he could hit a great jump and win it, and so he did. Luckily we bring him back for two more years."

Cloquet dominated the hurdle events with Nathan Blatchford winning the 110 hurdles and Nathan Genereau winning the 300 hurdles. Alex Despot was second behind Blatchford and Blatchford added a third in the 300 hurdles. Genereau also won the triple jump.

"Genereau runs so hard, it is so fun to watch him compete," Prosen said. "We are hoping to see him challenge our school record in the 300 hurdles."

Logan Dushkin was a first in the 800-meter run for Cloquet while Jacob Mertz won the 3200 meter run. Miles Fisher finished second in the 1600 and third in the 3200.

Lance Konietzko was third in the discus.

In the relays, the Cloquet boys were just as impressive by taking first in the 4x100 with the team of Miigwan Tanner-Wostrel, Alex Peterson, Heehn and Sheldon. The 4x400 team of Nate Bong, Genereau, Cale Prosen and Dushkin also took first. The 4x200 team of Blatchford, Peterson, Tanner-Wostrel and Genereau finished second as did the 4x800 team of Ben Bauer, AJ Maijala, Prosen and Sam Buytaert.