Cal/SG sends eight to state track meet

The Caledonia/Spring Grove boys were section runners-up among 21 teams at the 2023 Section 1A Track and Field Championships and qualified eight athletes to compete at state in six events. The Warrior girls placed 20th on May30 and June 1 at Paul Giel Field in Winona.

Junior Josh Beardmore advances to state in three events. The top two in each section event qualify for state along with any others who achieve a state standard height, time or distance. Cal/SG advances with two section champions, two runners-up and three with a state standard. The top six in each event earn medals; the top nine earn team points.

Advancing as section champions are long jumper Beardmore (21-feet, 09.25 inches ) and senior high jumper Tysen Grinde (6-feet, 4-inches. Beardmore also qualifies as a section runner-up as part of the 4×200-meter relay along with senior Eric Mauss, sophomore Fischer Wait and sophomore Owen Staggemeyer. That foursome matched the 14-year-old section record time of 1 minute, 29.86 seconds, but they still placed second behind new record-holder Chatfield.

Wait placed third in the 400-meter dash, but he goes on to state with a time (50.24 seconds) better than the state-standard. Also qualifying via the state standard was the 4x100M relay team – junior Jason Schock, Beardmore, Staggemeyer and Mauss (44.14 seconds). In Thursday’s finals, Schock replaced Eli Staggemeyer, who had been injured in Tuesday’s 4×100 prelims. Wait came close with a third-place medal at 200 meters (22.87).

Junior Jordan Tornstrom goes to state with a section runner-up discus throw of 141-feet, 11-inches. It was a strong field of high jumpers. Grinde won at 6-feet- 4-inches, and fifth-place teammate Ethan Stendel was among four others achieving the state standard height of 6-02. Grinde was a quarter-inch short of qualifying with his third-place triple jump (40-06.50), and he also earned the sixth-place medal in long jump (20-05.50).

Beardmore advances in three events after competing in four; he won the third-place medal in the 100-meter dash (11.42). Mauss ran fifth and Owen Staggemeyer eighth in the 200-meter dash. Mason Banse earned seventh-place team points in discus, and Ethan Crouch was 13th in shot put. Schock and Eli Staggemeyer were eliminated in the 100-meter prelims.

After winning the sub-section team championship, the Cal/SG boys placed second at section among 21 teams. Section team champions were the Pine Island boys and the girls from Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland/Southland (GMLOKS).

GIRLS
The Cal/SG girls earned fifth-place medals in the 4x100M relay (52.19) with legs run by seniors Kloe Jore, Charlese Walk and Ayshia Gay along with freshman Nicole Banse. The 4×200 team (Gay, Walk, Banse and sophomore Sienna Augedahl) was eliminated in the prelims. Banse was the only Warrior to advance to section in an individual event, where she earned eighth-place points in the 200M dash (27.39).