John's Journal: Speed Is King For Hastings Track And Field

In chatting with Jason Koch, head coach of the Hastings girls and boys track and field teams, I mentioned that I have been writing about high school sports in Minnesota for a long time and I have known Hastings as a football school, as a baseball school and as a hockey school. Admitting that my recollections are not guaranteed to be accurate, I told Jason that I couldn’t remember thinking of Hastings as a track school.

This conversation took place Tuesday afternoon on the sunny infield at Eagan High School, site of the Section 2AAA True Team section meet. There was a lot happening at the time, including the Hastings Raiders putting on a pure speed clinic.

The meet results make pretty clear where the Raiders are strong: sprinting. Juniors Lane Hoffman and Ellie Magnus swept the 100- and 200-meter races, juniors Sebastian Strauss and Olyvia Erickson won the 400s, senior Carlee Kordosky did the same in the 100-meter hurdles, the boys swept the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays and the girls won the 4x200. Proving that the Raiders also can run far and throw far, junior Linnea Ronning won the girls 3,200 meters and senior Lauren Whitfield won the girls discus.

Speed thrills and the Raiders know all about speed. It’s one thing to run fast, but add the mechanics and agility of handing off a baton at full speed and there is no room for error.

“We've been working on handoffs and everyone's been training so hard this year,” Magnus said. “I can just tell at practice that everyone's pushing themselves, and especially practicing with these girls, we just bounce off of each other and train off of each other.”

Strauss said, “Every one of our practices is competitive and I think we motivate each other as we grow together.”

--Among all 4x200 boys relay teams across all three classes, the Hastings quartet of Gunner Hanstad, Jack Cloutier, Strauss and Hoffman owns the fastest time in the state this spring, running 1 minute, 27.81 seconds.

--In the 4x400, the unit of Cloutier, Hanstad, Johnathan Vickney and Strauss ranks No. 1 in the state with a time of 3:19.14.

--In the 4x100, Cole Zeien, Cloutier, Matthew Jelks and Hoffman’s time of 42.30 ranks seventh in Minnesota.

--Individually, Hoffman ranks third in the state at 200 meters (21.69) and ninth at 100 (10.82), while Strauss stands fourth in the 400 (48.24).

--Among girls, the Raiders’ 4x200 team of Kordosky, Erickson, Jersey Appert and Magnus leads the state with a time of 1:41.63, Magnus has the fourth-best time in the state in the 200 (24.77), Erickson is seventh in the 400 (56.66) and Whitfield has the third-best discus distance in the state (138-8).

Koch, who is in his 17th year as the boys coach and fourth as head girls coach, responded to the line of questioning about Hastings becoming a track school. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, went to college at St. Cloud State and teaches high school biology.

“We’ve broken a lot of school records in the time that I've been here, and I feel like we have built a pretty good program,” he said. “We’ll also been blessed with some pretty talented kids, as well. So I feel like we're on the rise.”

By enrollment, Hastings is one of the smallest schools in Class 3A track and field. Almost all of the team members – around 80 boys and 60 girls -- are involved in one or two other sports. Athletes at Hastings have access to a large multi-use fieldhouse, including a 200-meter track, which means track athletes, especially sprinters, have indoor space to use when the weather is bad.

“We are blessed,” Koch said. “We share it with other teams, but with the way (activities director) Trent (Hanson) puts the schedule together … we have 150 kids on our team so we always get it right after school, and that helps. It is nice that we can use that fieldhouse, and then this year has been really nice because we didn't need to spend a whole lot of time in there.”

This year’s track and field success in Hastings has been building over recent years, and many of the top performers have another season ahead of them.

When Strauss was a freshman, he had the state’s fastest 400 time among ninth-graders, which was a precursor to what’s happening in 2025.

“We knew we had something going,” Koch said. “And they all compete with each other, and when you compete in practice and you push each other, that's only going to help everybody.

“Our philosophy is we don't go try and win every meet. Now, do we win some that we don't plan on winning? Yeah, because they just compete well. But in the meets hat matter, like our conference meet, our section, True Team, we try to put together a good lineup. And that's where the work comes in, figuring out how the pieces fit together.”

Cloutier said, “We work hard. We practice as a team, as everything is together as a team.”

In talking with the Raiders, the theme of hard work comes up again and again,

“It feels amazing,” Appert said of the team’s success. “I feel like we've worked really hard together and we have good chemistry on the track and off the track. That really helps it a lot.”

“We have more to lose than anybody else does running out there,” Erickson said. “But I think the pressure keeps us motivated to try harder and succeed.”

Strauss summed things up nicely, saying, “How you do anything is how you do everything. And I think that's our motto right there.”

--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]