Lightning-fast Streeters leave no doubt at section meet

Kampsen, Weber head to state

Rylan Weber always approaches track and field meets with the same mindset. Regardless of what event he is participating in, the Sauk Centre senior will do his best, and if it does not work out, he takes solace in the knowledge that he will wake up the next day the same way he did the previous day.

This grounded mentality has helped Weber emerge as one of Section 5A’s strongest sprinters, and now, he will wake up June 9 as a 200-meter dash competitor at the Minnesota State High School Class A Track and Field Meet.

“It just blows my mind,” Weber said. “There were certain times where I didn’t think that this was even possible. Now that I’m officially here, it’s been a crazy ride and it’s been a ride I’ve loved and enjoyed.”

Weber was not the only Streeter to find success at the Section 5A Championships June 1 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, as the Sauk Centre boys track and field team completed its season with a third-place showing out of 20 teams.

“We had a lot of kids that worked their hearts out all year long and it paid off today,” said Jim Metcalf, head coach. 

Joining Weber at the state meet for the Sauk Centre boys track and field team is junior Brandon Kampsen, who qualified for state with first-place finishes in both the 800- and 1600-meter runs. In the latter, the Kampsen dropped over 24 seconds off his seed time, ending the event with a time of 4 minutes and 24.48 seconds. 

“He’s just got magnificent kick,” Metcalf said. “He’s got a lot of speed and he seems to be able to turn it on and off at will. I know if he’s close to anybody near the finish line, he’s going to get that victory.”

In Kampsen’s second event of the afternoon, the 800, the determined distance runner shattered an 18-year-old school record, hustling to the finish line at 1:58.76. In both of his events, Kampsen would have qualified for state off of time alone.

Sauk Centre also had several close calls. Macoy Thiesen compiled a first-place 110 hurdles time in preliminaries but collided with a hurdle in his finals performance, ending up eighth. The senior three-sport athlete showed resilience with a 43.08-second 300 hurdles race, but ended up outside the state-determining top two spots after Cathedral’s Emanuel Kutzera re-ran his race due to interference and ended first. 

“You can’t say enough about that guy, just how hard he has worked,” Metcalf said. “He’s been a great leader for our team and has so much talent.”

Nathaniel Lahr took fifth in the 800 and seventh in the triple jump, Aaron Kerfeld collected a pair of top-eight finishes in the hurdling events and eighth grader Jacob Drevlow paced himself well in a sixth-place race in the 3200. 

“Out of the 18 events, we had 15 of those events covered,” Metcalf said. “When you can do that kind of thing, you’re going to score pretty good as a team.”

Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted won the section championship at 94.5 points, with Pierz taking second at 72 points. 

The Class A state meet will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at St. Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael.

“I want to make that day my best day, because it will be the last time I ever run in high school,” Weber said. “As my coach Mr. Leen would say, it would be a ‘miscarriage of justice’ to make it all the way there and not [be] prepared fully for the actual event.”

Team scores: 1. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 94.5, 2. Pierz 72, 3. Sauk Centre 66, 4. St. Cloud Cathedral 65, 5. Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball 48, 6. Minnewaska Area 43.5, 7. Royalton 41, 8. Maple Lake 39, 9. Holdingford 36, 9. Northwest Nighthawks 36, 11. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 34, 12. Rush City 32, 13. Ogilvie 28, 14. Upsala/Swanville 20, 15. St. John’s Prep 15, 16. East Central 13, 17. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 7, 18. Paynesville 6, 19. Braham 4 and 20. Hinckley/Finlayson 1. 

Individual results: 100: 4. Weber 11.46 seconds. 200: 2. Weber 23.34 and 15. David Gilmore 24.94. 400: 9. Reese Blondin 55.26 and 15. Alex Tate 56.98. 800: 1. Kampsen 1:58.76, 5. Lahr 2:08.80 and 9. Owen Christians 2:14.05. 1600: 1. Kampsen 4:24.48. 3200: 6. Drevlow 10:44.90. 110 hurdles: 5. Kerfeld 16.59, 7. Spencer Marthaler 17.05 and 8. Thiesen 18.67. 300 hurdles: 3. Thiesen 43.08, 9. Marthaler 44.94 and 11. Kerfeld 45.66. 4x100: 5. Gilmore, Rykin Engle, Jeric Schloegl and Weber 47.97. 4x800: 5. Lahr, Derick Sorenson, Christians and Zander Olmschenk 8:53.82. High jump: 15. Jacob Robischon 5 feet, 1 inch. Long jump: 11. Gilmore 17-11. Triple jump: 6. Thiesen 38-5 and 7. Lahr 37-8. Shot put: 14. Carter Schuster 40-5.5. Discus: 14. Corey McCoy 109-5.