Caledonia/Spring Grove senior Tysen Grinde closed his only season of high school track at the pinnacle as the 2023 Class A State champion high jumper. Junior Josh Beardmore won the fifth-place long jump medal and ran on two relays. The Warrior boys competed in five events and scored team points in three. Their 18 team points placed them 21st among 68 teams that scored. They had previously won the sub-section team title and were section runners-up.
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Grinde matched his career-best and Cal/SG program record by clearing the bar at 6 feet, 6 inches. It was his eighth straight high jump win. Cal/SG was the only Class A team with two high jumpers qualifying for state, including Cal/SG sophomore Ethan Stendel. In a field of 22 jumpers, eleven cleared the bar at 6-02, but only six had success at 6-04. Grinde and Maxim Sergeyev of St. Croix Lutheran were the only two left when the bar was raised to 6-06. Sergeyev had barely advanced, needing all of his three attempts before clearing 6-04, while Grinde advanced on his first attempt.
Grinde and Sergeyev then both got over 6-05 on the first try, while four others were eliminated after three attempts. Then at 6-06 neither made it over the bar on their first two attempts. But on their last allowed leaps at 6-06, Grinde made it and Sergeyev did not. But St. Croix Lutheran would not have won the state team championship without the 10 points Sergeyev earned in high jump.
Beardmore achieved his career-best long jump of 21 feet, 9.75 inches to earn the fifth-place medal in a field of 18. That was a half-inch longer than his section championship jump. Beardmore had qualified for three events and made two trips to the medal stand. The junior jumper/sprinter ran on the 4×100-meter relay along with senior Eric Mauss, junior Jason Schock and sophomore Owen Staggemeyer. They earned the ninth-place medals among 17 teams. Their 43.95-seconds time in the state prelims was better than the 44.56 in the state finals and better than their 44.14 qualifying time at section.
The 4x200M relay team had the 10th-best time (1:31.80) among 16 teams in the prelims, but only the top nine advance to the finals. It was again Beardmore, Mauss and Staggemeyer plus junior Gabe Curley, the latter stepping in for Fischer Wait, who was unable to make the trip to state. Wait had also qualified in the 400-meter dash.
Junior Jordan Tornstrom finished 11th among 16 discus athletes. His state mark of 140 feet, 2 inches was one his best of a season, during which he showed significant progress. He had been the sub-section champion and the section runner-up.
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