John's Journal: Small Schools, Big Accomplishments At Elite Meet

Trinity Giddings was a busy track and field athlete Friday evening at the Hamline Elite Meet. The senior from Two Harbors competed in three events at the biggest regular-season meet of the year in Minnesota, bringing together the top performers from the spring in an invitation-only all-comers competition, regardless of school size.

Two Harbors is a Class A school in Minnesota’s three-class track and field system. Like other small-school athletes who competed against kids from Twin Cities mega-schools, there may have been some minor intimidation, but the biggest gains from the Elite Meet were confidence and determination.

“I love being here and competing with everyone,” said Trinity, who placed second in the long jump, ninth in the 200 meters and 18^th in the 100 meters. She also qualified in the high jump and 400 meters, deciding to skip those events in favor of the other three.

Giddings’ long jump mark of 18 feet, 5 inches Friday ranks fourth in the state among all classes in that event this spring. She has the 10^th-best high jump mark (5-5) overall. In Class A, she has the No. 4 time in the 100, is No. 2 in the 200 and has the state’s leading time in the 400.

Those are pretty amazing facts considering that Two Harbors had only competed in one outdoor meet prior to Friday.

“We had a meet at Zimmerman a couple weeks ago, and it was like in the 30s and raining,” said Trinity, who will be a track and field athlete at Minnesota State Mankato. “It was not good.”

In the boys 800 meters, two small-school runners did very well. Junior Aaron Peterson of Class 3A Anoka won the race in 1:52.88, followed by junior Brady Rach of Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale in 1:53.57 and sophomore Tate Goergen of Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland/Southland in 1:53.75.

The other 800 entrants included athletes from Maple Grove, Lakeville North, St. Michael-Albertville and Eagan, among others.

Rach, running at Hamline for the first time, was beyond ecstatic with the result.

“I was trying to come out here and not get last place,” he said, smiling. “It’s the greatest feeling. I was surprised, really surprised.”

Rach is involved in three sports, and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale middle-distance coach Kenny Miller called him “a great all-around athlete.”

“He's a thousand-point scorer in basketball, he plays football. A lot of these kids here (from big schools), they can train for track year-round and this kid is legit in three sports. He does everything. That's a big difference in small schools like us, we have to have kids like him to survive.”

Goergens was a little downcast after his inaugural Elite Meet race, saying, “I just wanted to win.”

“It’s an honor to run with the best runners in the state. I’m just lucky and thankful that I can be here,” he said. “It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but I'll be here next year.”

The girls 1,600 meter field of 16 runners included junior Valerie Quast of St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran and ninth-grader Sophia Stencel of Maple River. After Quast finished 10^th and Stencel 16^th, they congratulated each other.

“It's just pure joy,” said Valerie, who has run at state in track and cross-country. “It’s like everything you've ever done has kind of paid off. And it's just adrenaline. I don't even know what to say. I’m grateful.”

Stencel said learning that she qualified for the Elite Meet was almost earth-shaking.

“It was so exciting, I was so overjoyed. When I got here I was pretty nervous about it, but it was truly an honor to be chosen to be here and to be from a small town and represent it is really cool.

“There's definitely a lot of intimidation. Being from a small school and at such a young age, I think you just have to realize they're in the same boat as you and they all want to do their best, too.”

Pierce Petersohn, a junior from Triton, finished fifth in the high jump and sixth in the 400 meters. Placing seventh in the 400 was Caledonia-Spring Grove senior Fischer Wait. Wait had run in two relays at Hamline a year ago and Petersohn was making his Elite Meet debut.

“I think a lot of people think that in big schools the people are insane and stuff, but I think small schools have good kids, too,” said Pierce.

Wait said the experience “definitely raises my spirits, because you realize you can be here with the best, even though it might not seem like that throughout the season.”

Another small-school athlete making her Elite Meet debut was Pine Island senior Elena Hartung. She finished sixth among nine competitors (with the seventh-best time in the state this year) in the 300-meter hurdles and was extremely grateful afterwards.

Her time of 45.65 was just short of her school record of 45.28.

“It's a big honor,” she said. “I was actually expecting to go for the 100 hurdles, and this was just a big shock to me. I'm so grateful to be here. I've put in years of effort and I'm so happy to be surrounded by people who pushed me. This is the elite competition.

“This pushes (my confidence) above my expectations and just makes me feel grateful to be where I am. And I feel like this also just gives me more knowledge on how to warm up, how to compete, how to be a friendly competitor, and I feel like it also helps me be knowledgeable to help my teammates, as well. This is just an amazing experience. It’s phenomenal.”

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]