Cloquet Runners and Hermantown Field Athletes Headed To State

Wes Vork-NSO

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June 4

Wes Vork-NSO

Two Cloquet runners and a pair of Hermantown field athletes saw their efforts bear fruit in the Section 7AA track and field finals in Grand Rapids on Saturday. Halee Peterson and Jared Anderson of Cloquet along with Rachael Hoium and Corey Anderson of Hermantown will be moving on to the State Track & Field Meet at Hamline University.

Hoium and Corey Anderson both won the triple jump; Hoium finished nearly a foot ahead of the competition with a jump of 35’-10” on Saturday. Corey Anderson qualified for state as part of the field finals on Wednesday by out jumping David Leason of North branch by nearly two feet with a jump of 43’-3-1/2” to Leason’s 41’-5-1/4”.

Peterson won the 1600 meter run while Jared Anderson turned a #7 seed start into a second place finish and a trip down south.

As she has done all year, Peterson outdistanced Amanda Bowman of Duluth Central to claim the 1600 meter crown with a winning time of 5:17.13 to Boman’s 5:20.66 pace. Temperatures that rose throughout the day were nearly at a pinnacle with the race starting a bit after 3:00pm and took their toll on both runners. The race drained Peterson a bit more than normal and Boman briefly collapsed after crossing the finish line.

With only an hour to rest after the 1600, Peterson’s hopes of a daily sweep and a victory in the 800 meter run fell by the wayside. Peterson briefly led the race before settling into third place and finishing in fifth. “This is the hottest meet we have run all year and we couldn’t train for that with our weather this spring. “She felt kind of sick after the mile and that hurt her. She wanted to win the 800 and she’s had good enough times to do it, but it just wasn’t to be today.” Cloquet Head track Coach Tim Prosen Explained.

Still Prosen pointed out that they went into the meet with a plan and stuck to it. “Halee is such an intelligent runner and Coach [Arne] Miajla has done a great job of working with her. We break her race down into 200’s and she knows where she needs to be at each break. The plan was to get the sure thing in the mile and then go from there.”

Cloquet assistant track coach Arne Miajla pointed out that while Peterson obviously wanted to win the 800 also; winning just the 1600 meter run may be a blessing in disguise. “When you look at Halee’s times compared to other runners in the state, her 1600 times are the most competitive and focusing on just one race should make her very competitive at the state meet”

Coach Prosen agreed and pointed out that Peterson is the rare case of a female runner who hasn’t peaked by and continues to improve. “Halee has truly worked and trained for this since her freshman year, she just keeps getting better and better and she is not done yet. She will continue to improve when runs for Mankato State next season.”

In what was a surprise to all except the folks who truly knew Jared Anderson, he finished second in the 400 meter dash after having a sub-par performance in the prelims, which put him in lane seven for the finals. Anderson has been bothered all year by shin splints which have limited his running to meets. To minimize the pain
and
wear and tear on his body, Anderson uses a stationary bike to train rather than running on a track. “It started in April and I kind of was losing my ability to run. I would run about 20 feet and then have to sit on the ground until the pain went away. Since then I have been working out on a bike.” Anderson Explained.

“If you go under the bleachers you can find the bike he uses. He tried
training on the track and just couldn’t do it. I would give him a workout each day and he would go to the weight room and come out sweating his tail off.” Coach Prosen explained. “That takes a lot of discipline when you are by yourself with no one to push you. That tells you the goal Jared had and the desire to achieve that goal.” Coach Prosen added.

“I felt good going in, but I was a little bit nervous since my prelims didn’t go that well. I don’t know what happened to me [in prelims], it was the first time I actually felt like stopping during the last 100 meters, it wasn’t good.” Anderson commented. He was able to put Wednesday behind him and turned in a second place time of 50.84 on Saturday compared to Wednesday’s qualifying time of 53:73. “I had to feel good in this race because it is the section finals.” Anderson further explained.

Using the high jump as an event the coaching staff gave him to relax a bit, Anderson received a bit of a bonus by medaling with an eighth place finish.

The state Class AA track and field meet will kick off on June 10 with the finals taking place on June 11 at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com