State “AA” Track & Field Meet Underway

Wes Vork-NSO

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June 5

Wes Vork-NSO

Track and field season wraps up this weekend with both the “A” and “AA” state tournament meets taking place at Hamline University in St. Paul. A total of 1325 athletes are participating–664 in
class AA
and 661 in
class A.
Cloquet sent two participants to the event: seniors Taylor Sautbine and Jes Vork.

Sautbine competed at the state level in the 100m hurdles for the second straight year. While her time of 15.83 was not enough to qualify her for the finals on Saturday, it was a personal best and substantially faster than her qualifying time of 16.70 seconds. Sautbine told NSO, “While it would have been nice to make the finals, I am very happy to turn in a personal best in the last race of my high school career.” Sautbine will compete in track and field for Bemidji State University next fall.

Vork ended her high school track and field career by competing in the high jump. Hampered by an injured heal, Vork was unable to practice leading up to the meet and cleared the bar at the 4’-10” mark, 6 inches off her personal best. Still, Vork was happy to make it to state as a senior, capping off an incredible track and field career at Cloquet. Vork stated “It was quite a fun and exciting ride and it’s quite a bummer that it has to come to an end.” This year was her fifth consecutive trip to the state track meet that saw her compete in 7 different events. Vork will move on to the University of Minnesota where she will play soccer for the Gophers.

Brandon Perrault represented Hermantown in the 100 meter dash. The Hermantown senior improved on his seed time of 11.61 with a very respectable 11.19 seconds. However, in an event loaded with talent, it took a time of 10.96 to qualify for the finals. Perrault also ran the 200 meter dash in a time of 22.61 seconds, finishing fourth in his heat race.

Grand Rapids senior Jessica Cagle defended her state title in the discus, repeating as state champion with a throw of 157’-6”. While this was short of her state record throw of 162′-4” as a junior, it was nine feet farther than her seed toss of 148’-5” and an amazing 21 feet farther than the number two finisher. Cagle will also compete in the shot-put on Saturday, entering the competition as the number one seed. In a sign that the Grand Rapids track & field team has a bright future, seventh grader Erin Baker finished fourteenth with a time of 11:40.14 in the 3200 meter run.

Lindsy Mattson of Grand Rapids qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 400 meter dash by backing up her section 7AA record setting time of 56.64 seconds with a number one seed time of 56.66 seconds. Duluth Denfeld sophomore Paige Stratioti also qualified for the 400 meter finals by breaking her own school record with a time of 57.42 seconds. Stratioti will go into the 400 meter finals seeded fourth. Both Mattson and Stratioti participated in the 200 meter dash but failed to qualify despite turning in
times of
25.29 for Mattson and 25.66 for Stratioti.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@norrthlandsportsonline.com