The Superior Express -

Good days . . . and bad days . . .

They affect the lives of everyone in everything we do. And, that includes track meets.

This reporter isn't aware of the expectation of the L-N track coaches and participants, but I think it is fair that many Raider fans were happy with the results of the current Raider track team after their trip last week to the Franklin Invitational Track Meet.

Knowing it is still early in the track season, the L-N girls had a very "good" day. Six gold medals came home with the girls as they had their best outing of the young season. After a slow start this spring, the girl's relay teams performed well to add to the victory margin.

The boy's competition was a little more compact with more balanced scoring. They brought home one gold medal and enough strength to rate the 4th place honors in their division.

Individual results follow.

GIRLS: The Lady Raiders scored in all events they competed in. That was 13 of the 16 events. There were no entries from L-N in the other three events. This accomplishment resulted in scoring 111 points. Second was Blue Hill: 78; 3rd was Loomis: 69.5; 4th Deshler: 45; T 5th Silver Lake: 52; T 5th Heartland Lutheran 52; 7th Franklin: 48; 8th Red Cloud: 16; 9th Hastings: 3.

The gold medals came from two relay teams and four individual events. As important as the gold medal finishes are they would not have provided the winning points without the support of the lower place finishers. It was a 'team' effort as many of the girls provided a season best in individual events. Elsa Jorgensen earned two individual gold medals and was part of the gold won by two relay teams. Emma Epley and Sydney Biltoft each won individual gold and were part of the winning relay teams.

The individual results:

100 M. Dash: Elsa Jorgensen 1st, 13.80; Katelyn Mazour 5th, 14.30 PR; Tori Miller had a PR but did not place. The closeness of the race is indicated by Katelyn coming in 5th, but was only one-half second behind Elsa.

200 M. Dash: Katelyn Mazour 5th, 30.40 PR (0.8 seconds out of first); Emily Troudt PR, no place.

400 M. Dash: Aleah Heikkinen 5th, 1:09.30.

800 M. Run: Claire Himmelberg 6th, 2:52.30.

100 M. Hurdles: Emma Epley 1st, 17.80; Sydney Biltoft 3rd, 17.80; both had a PR for the year.

300 M. Hurdles: Sydney Biltoft 1st, 51.0; PR.

400 M. Relay: L-N 1st, 57.20; PR: Emma Epley, Elsa Jorgensen, McKenzie Ostdiek, Katelynn Mazour.

1600 M. Relay: L-N 1st, 4:43.40; PR; Emma Epley, Aleah Heikkinen, Sydney Biltoft, Elsa Jorgensen.

3200 M. Relay: L-N 2nd; 12:38.0; Claire Himmelberg, Emily Troudt, Tori Miller, McKenzie Ostdiek.

High Jump: Sydney Biltoft 2nd, 4'6"; PR.

Long Jump: Elsa Jorgensen 1st, 15'5.5"; PR; Emma Epley 2nd, 15'5".

Triple Jump:

Shot Put: Kylie Beard 3rd, 32'9.25"; Emily Troudt PR.

Discus: Kylie Beard 3rd, 96'10"; Aleah Heikkinen 5th, 88'1".

BOYS: The boys earned 4th place at the Franklin Invite. The scoring was: Loomis 1st, 91; Hastings 2nd, 86; Blue Hill 3rd, 77; L-N 4th, 51.5; Deshler 5th, 45; Red Cloud 6th, 44; Franklin 7th, 37.5; Heartland Lutheran 8th, 34; Silver Lake 9th, 27.

The short running events were all close, and many of the L-N runners set personal records for the young season, none scored. Even the longer runs and relays ended up being close, and it all added up to an exciting track meet.

Cole Troudt won the lone gold medal for L-N by winning the 3200 Meter Run. He placed in the 1600 M. Run and aided a relay team; Logan Menke placed in both longer runs and aided a relay team. Nolan Ostdiek cut three seconds off his best time in the 800 M. Run, placing 2nd and helped in two relay teams.

The individual results:

100 M. Dash: Trevor Biltoft, Devyn Zikmund and Erik Wheeland all had Person Records (PR) for the season, but did not score.

200 M. Dash: Erik Wheeland PR.

400 M. Dash: Gabe Zikmund PR.

800 M. Run: Nolan Ostdiek 2nd, 2:18.9, PR.

Denise Mazour

The L-N girls track teams over the years have left a strong tradition of good relay teams. That tradition came alive for the 2021 season last week in the trip to Franklin. The girls won two relays and came in second in the third relay at the invitational meet. Pictured are members of the 400 M. Relay team: Emma Epley, Elsa Jorgensen, McKenzie Ostdiek and Katelyn Mazour.

1600 M. Run: Logan Menke 3rd, 5:20.30; Cole Troudt 4th, 5:27.0.

3200 M. Run: Cole Troudt 1st, 11:18.50; Logan Menke 3rd, 11:37.3; Ayden West PR; AJ Koehler PR.

400 M. Relay: L-N T-5th, 50.20, PR: Erik Wheeland, Trevor Biltoft, Tyson Kotinek, Devyn Zikmund.

1600 M. Relay: L-N 3rd, 4:03.0: Tyson Kotinek, Nolan Ostdiek, Gabe Zikmund, Devyn Zikmund.

3200 M. Relay: L-N 3rd, 9:28.9: Logan Menke, Gabe Zikmund, Nolan Ostdiek, Cole Troudt.

High Jump:

Long Jump: Trevor Biltoft, PR; Devyn Zikmund, PR.

Triple Jump: Tyson Kotinek 4th, 36'4.5", PR.

Shot Put: Keaton Mazour, PR.

This week, the track teams will travel to Deshler on Thursday for their Invitational and Next Tuesday, the trip will be south to Superior.