Lumberjacks track and field team overmatched at sections

When asked how to sum up the Section 7AA track and field meet, Cloquet head coach Tim Prosen kept it simple.

“We were good – others were better,” he said briefly.

Overmatched by the size, strength and speed of much bigger schools, the Lumberjacks found it difficult to compete at Saturday’s Section 7AA track and field meet in Chisago Lakes.

“It was just a really strong meet,” continued Prosen, “especially in our strongest events. It was tough down there.”

To put Cloquet’s difficulty into perspective, their 3,200-meter relay squad, which set a Lake Superior Conference record two weeks ago, improved their record-setting time by 17 seconds Saturday – but they placed second.

“That was amazing,” said Prosen. “I couldn’t believe how deep the teams were down there. I mean they had a lot of kids and literally were big, much bigger than us. And I think that hurt us a bit.”

Prosen said the competition Saturday was just second-to-none.

“We just went up against better kids Saturday,” he said. “We were one of the smallest teams there and that really made things tough to work with.”

The weather wasn’t kind either.

“It was cold,” said Prosen.

Despite poor weather conditions and top-notch competition, Prosen said his boys and girls both competed well, as a handful of relay squads earned medals for their success.

Sophomore Amy Campbell took third in the 300-hurdles as well, earning a medal in her first year hurdling. She was just a mere tenth of a second off of qualifying for this weekend’s state meet.

“She was so close,” recalled Prosen about Campbell’s photo-finish. “And being just her first year hurdling, that’s very impressive.”

Though a number of seniors will graduate for the ’Jacks, Prosen will welcome back a boatload of youngsters – led by Campbell – next year.

“We have a ton of freshmen and sophomores who are coming along,” Prosen said. “We had a good year out here and there are some kids who are really starting to come around.”

And that only makes Prosen more enthusiastic for next spring.

Tags: track and field, sports, cloquet