Carlton’s Dahl-Holm wins high jump while Esko, Hermantown dominate Hawk Invite

• Dahl-Holm

For the past five years, Lindsey Dahl-Holm has been the only high jumper in Carlton.

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• Local teams face off at Hawks Invitational track and field meet

For the past five years, Lindsey Dahl-Holm has been the only high jumper in Carlton. The self-taught senior said she has never had a specialized coach or any formal training.

“I’ve always just coached myself,” Dahl-Holm said Tuesday afternoon at school. “I just try to get over the bar, I guess.”

That simplicity has worked wonders for the Bulldogs’ big threat on the track and in the field. Last Thursday at the annual Hawk Invitational in Hermantown, the talented 5-foot-8 athlete took third in the 3,200-meter run and she won the high jump.

“Besides the two-mile run, the high jump is my favorite,” Dahl-Holm said, who officially jumped a meet-best 4 feet, 8 inches last week and has only lost once this season. “I actually cleared the bar at 4-10, but they forgot to mark it.”

Regardless, Dahl-Holm is as dominant as girls jumpers come. The four-sport athlete has been in the event since volunteering in eighth grade. Back then, she said, it was something no one else wanted to do.

Since then, Dahl-Holm has set the school record at 5-feet, ¼ inch and she was only a couple spots away from qualifying for state a year ago.

“I’m hoping this year will be a different story,” said Dahl-Holm, who is planning to run track and cross country in college next year. “I’ve always just seen the bar at the same height. A lot of it is mental focus.”

“Lindsey is extremely talented and has worked hard to get where she has gotten,” said Carlton Coach Andy Wyman. “She’s gotten the school record, can jump over five feet and continues to work hard at it. In the past, that has been good enough to get to state. I think she has a good shot at it.”

Esko boys Coach Gary Beaudot was running the high jump competition last week in Hermantown. The longtime jumping coach lauded Dahl-Holm’s ability to hop over the rod.

“Lindsey’s definitely one of the top jumpers in our section,” said Beaudot, whose daughter, Janae, was also a jumper. “She’s a nice jumper who really has some ability. She’s got the springs for a 5-2, 5-4 leap even.”

First-year Barnum Coach Cody Gran agreed, saying a good day for Dahl-Holm is nothing short of five feet.

“As a Carlton graduate, that’s nice to see,” said Gran, who ran track for the Bulldogs and now coaches the Bombers with his younger brother Jacob. “It’s always nice to see the smaller schools being successful.”

In Hermantown last week, tiny Polar League towns such as Barnum, Carlton, Cromwell-Wright, Wrenshall and non-conference foe South Ridge all competed with other locals at the 13-team meet.

Cromwell-Wright Coach Dave Foster said it was a pleasant meet for his crew to take part in, although the Eskomos and Hawks won all but eight of the 34 events. Officially, Esko won the girls division with 186 points and Hermantown won the boys at 173. Both schools placed runner-up – visa-versa – in each division.

“Hermantown and Esko are in a separate class of their own,” Foster said. “Overall, they are hands down better than everyone else.

“But it’s a nice meet,” he continued. “We didn’t have anyone win but I thought we competed well against some bigger schools. We’ve been going there for three of the last four or five years. It’s fun to watch.”

Gran added that although smaller schools struggled to compete last week, the athletes involved were second-to-none around this area.

“It was a real eye-opener for us,” he said. “But it’s always nice to see the coaches of schools I used to run against and talk with them in between events. Hermantown did a real nice job with everything.”

He said the same of Dahl-Holm.

“Lindsey is going to be tough to beat,” Gran said. “They take the top two jumpers to state, but she’s really impressive to watch. When she takes her warm-ups off, you know she’s almost always going to clear that bar.”

Coaching herself, of course.

Tags: carlton county, track and field, sports