O’Hare, Meldahl Carry RPH Flag

Each will have next year.  It’s probably a good bet each will make next year’s state track and field meet, all things being equal.   The RPH track and field program sent a junior and a sophomore to this year’s competition.  Distance runner Luke O’Hare carried on his family’s name well.  On Friday, he took on the 3,200-meter run.  O’Hare took tenth overall (field of 16) in a time of 10:03.43.  His only other 3,200-meter on the year was at sections (9:55.20).  On Saturday, it was on to the 1,600-meters.  A burst late allowed O’Hare (4:32.89) to claim 8th place (of 16), making the medal stand.  He was faster than his other two 1,600-meter times of the year (4:38.02, 4:35.20).  In each race, he beat the two guys he lost to at sections, Eric Wittlief of Pine Island (1,600) and Alex Lawrence (3,200) of Stewartville.  Greenway/Nashwauk’s Geno Uhrbom won both the 1,600 (4:18.22) and 3,200 (9:24.07) races.  It is safe to say he’s the top Class A runner in the state.  The sophomore also was the Class A Cross Country individual champ.  For O’Hare, his efforts cap a season where he went to state in both cross country and track and field twice.  Older brother Austin (now a coach for Grand Meadow) did the same thing as a senior in 2013-2014, incidentally, finishing seventh in the 1,600 (4:26.55) and eighth in the 3,200 (9:54.75).  Triton Meldahl had just the one event, the 110-meter hurdles.  He got himself to Saturday’s finals, running a 15.70 to qualify eighth.  In the finals, he ran 16.24 to take ninth.  It wasn’t Meldahl’s best effort.  He’d ran sub-16-seconds six times in the regular season.  Providence Academy’s Jayson Ekiyor took first (14.96) over Cook County’s Jack Haussner (15.28).