The Cloquet track teams aren’t even at full stretch yet, but they still had enough to dominate a quadrangular meet at home on Tuesday afternoon.
Both the boys and girls teams did extremely well in the meet with Hermantown, Proctor and Ashland according to coach Tim Prosen
“We really aren’t competing ‘fresh’ now because our training schedule is geared to getting them to peak later in the year,” coach Tim Prosen said. “The kids weren’t at their best levels today but they don’t make excuses. They just go out there and work.”
And win. The boys scored 112 points, 27 points better than second-placed Hermantown. Junior Conner Denman did the double, winning the 800 and the 1600 meters in 4:54 to start the fun, with Collin Trout taking the 300 hurdles.
Parker Sinkkonen won the two-mile run and the 4x400 team of Denman, Andre Couture, Trout and Isaac Boedigheimer won in 3:42.2.
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Junior Evan Erickson had a 160-foot discus throw to win while Trout won the triple jump and Wyatt Benson had an 11-foot pole vault to win as well.
“It does help that we have a deep team,” Prosen said. “Joey Gotchnik cleared 10’6” in the pole vault as well so that was very good, and (sophomore) Aahsan Maigag really stood up in the 100 meters and matured in that event.”
On the girls side, Cloquet’s team score of 115 was 29 points better than second-place Hermantown.
The 4x800 relay team of three freshman - Elise Pickar, Payton Schneberger, and Mackenzie Brummer - with junior Marie Osuna won easily, with freshman Kelly Lorenz taking the 100 hurdles and freshman Kendra Kelley winning the 100- and 200-yard dashes to earn a double.
Mikayla Baker won the 800 meters in 2:26 and Anja Maijala won the two-mile run.
The 4x400 team of Kelley, Lorenz, Baker and Maijala also won its event in 4:22.7.
In the field events, Alyssa Earls took the discus throw and Schneburger won the triple jump.
Prosen had plenty of praise for his girls team.
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“Kelly Lorenz was very strong in the meet, especially in the hurdles where she works very hard at the technique and we are proud of her,” he said. “We also got some very good performances from Lauren Cawcutt and Kellie Martin (both seventh-graders).”
That does lead to optimism, with the freshmen performing well on Tuesday too.
“I would say the future is bright,” Prosen said.
The team will host the Cloquet Relays on Friday and then the Section 7AA True Team meet the following Tuesday.
“It’s nice to have some good weather and showcase our track,” Prosen said. “We have had great support from the school and the school board, and we are always happy to get out there, use the track and show it off. There’s a lot to be proud of.”
