Charlotte Meyer broke the Cleveland School 1600-m record at the conference championship in Lake Crystal on Thursday.
In the first race of the meet, the 4x800, Savannah Meyer teamed up with sister Charlotte for the triumph. As a member of the 4x400, she also won gold and came in first in the 400 as well. Ava Hahn (above) anchored the 4x400 quartet and won the 200 for the first time this season.
The three took home All-Conference awards. On the boys side, Nathan Strobel, running the second leg of the 4x800, also earned an All-Conference award.
“We had a really successful meet,” said head coach Casey Olson. “We came in hoping to compete really well, to get second. There were a lot who were stepping up and competing well.”
Olson got what he wished for. Teamwise, Lake Crystal-Welcome Memorial/Nicollet ran away with both the girls and boys meets with scores of 148 and 131 respectively. Loyola/Cleveland was second in both with 87 points for the girls and 82 points for the boys. Rounding out the field for both were, in order, St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran, Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther and Martin County West.
Charlotte Meyer crossed the 1600 finish line in 5:24.07, breaking Emily Phillips’ 2008 record of 5:26.6. With a 27.07 finish in the 200, Hahn was 0.36 of a second ahead of the second-place finisher. Savannah Meyer ran the 400 in 65.49, 0.26 of a second ahead of the silver finisher.
Savannah Meyer carried the baton in the second leg of the 4x400. Hahn crossed the finish line in 4:20.61, 0.93 seconds in front of the second-place team.
Charlotte Meyer ran the second leg of the 4x800. Savannah Meyer ran anchor. Their 10:23.53 finish was over 44 seconds ahead of the second-place group.
“We really changed our girls four by eight team today, and they responded really well,” Olson said. “They ran what is now one of the top two or three times in the section, which is a really challenging section. Charlotte and Savannah ran 2:30 splits and have more in the tank when we need that.”
As members of the second place 4x100 team, Emma Kortuem and Mylie Krenik earned an All-Conference Honorable Mention. The quartet completed the race in 56.65, 1.93 seconds behind the winning team.
The boys first place 4x800 team finished the race in 8:53.35, over 18 seconds ahead of the second place team. Strobel ran the third leg.
Kortuem’s leap of 29-04 in the triple jump was good for a bronze finish. The winner jumped 2-03 farther.
Strobel ran the second leg of the second place 4x400 team. His handoff to Sam Vetter wasn’t clean, and, with a 3:42.12, they lost the race by just 0.16 of a second.
Strobel also finished third in the 800. His 2:11.03 was just 1.69 seconds off the pace.
TJ Waldron was third in 1600 with a 5:00.49 finish. It was about 15 seconds faster than his best mile this year. Elijah Mons was 11th with a 5:41.41. Mons also competed in the triple jump, where he bounced 32-03.75 for a PR eighth place.
The Crusaders return to the track for subsections on May 23, either in Wells or Norwood.
Nathan Strobel and Sam Vetter didn’t connect right away in the 4x400.