Posted: 5/24/07
Boys track places fifth with only 13 athletes
By Luther Dorr
All in all, it wasn't too bad a Mississippi 8 Conference track meet for the Princeton boys team in Cambridge on May 15.
Competing with only 13 athletes, the Tigers placed fifth and managed to get four all-conference berths. (Those finishing in the top three get that honor.)
"I was quite pleased," said coach Tom Ostroot. "You bring 13 guys and look how they did - that's pretty good."
Ostroot noted the difference in point totals between the top two teams and the rest of the M8.
Buffalo easily won the meet and had 17 all-conference performers. The Bison were also responsible for six of the eight conference records that were broken in the conference's second year of existence.
Senior captain Dylan King had a big day for Princeton, registering personal bests in both the 1,600-meter run where he closed strongly to finish third, and the 3,200-meter run where he was sixth.
Joining King as all-conference performers were Jon Stone, Ryan Fay and Grady Milesko.
Stone, a freshman, placed a surprising second in the high jump with a personal best of 5-8.
He also ran the anchor leg on the fourth-place 4x100 relay team.
Fay, a junior, was second in the pole vault at 12 feet, six inches below his best, and Milesko, also a junior went 11 feet and finished third.
"It was a tough day for jumping [because of a strong wind] but those guys did well," Ostroot said.
Ostroot has hopes for Fay to go 12-6 or higher before the season is over.
Milesko was seeded second in the 400-meter dash with a time of :52.6 but ran :54.03 and placed fourth. "He didn't have his best race," Ostroot said.
Cory Kessler of St. Michael-Albertville ran :50.85 to win that race and was the meet's only triple winner. Mosic Greenprice of Buffalo won both hurdle events and was the only double winner.
There are four seniors on the team, Terry Burke and King the two that scored points in the M8 meet. Numbers kept Princeton from having entries in two of the four relay events.
Ostroot said he hopes the numbers are better next year but doesn't know what will happen.
"The biggest thing is that with the numbers we have in the middle school, they don't seem to come out in ninth grade," he said.
The team will compete in the North Branch Invitational today (Thursday) and then in the section meet in Grand Rapids, with prelims on May 30 and finals on June 2.
Team totals: Buffalo 203, 2. St. Michael-Albertville 142, 3. Big Lake 105.5, 4. Cambridge-Isanti 87, 5. PRINCETON 45, 6. Monticello 41, 7. Becker 40, 8. Rogers 33.5.
100-meter dash - 1. Cory Kessler (SMA), :11.19.
200-meter dash - 1. Kessler, :22.51.
400-meter dash - 1. Kessler, :50.85, 4. Milesko (P), :54.03.
800-meter run - 1. Ray Hienkel (B), 2:02.35.
1600-meter run - 1. Zach Mellon (B), 4:27.35, 3. Dylan King P), 4:36.71.
3200-meter run - 1. David Pallesen (B), 9:50.79, 6. King (P), 10:18.76.
110-meter hurdles - 1. Mosic Greenprice (B), :15.27.
300-meter hurdles - 1. Greenprice, :41.
4x100 relay - 1. Buffalo, :45.37, 4. PRINCETON (Terry Burke, Ryan Fay, Grayson Noles, Jon Stone), :47.12.
4x200 relay - ?1. Buffalo, 1:32.63.
4x400 relay - 1. Buffalo, 3:29.74, 7. PRINCETON (Casey Milesko, Jonathan Fillafer, Isaac Cuny, King), 3:47.98.
4x800 relay - 1. Buffalo, 8:28.07.
High jump - 1. Kurt Mankenberg (B), 5-10, 2. Stone (P), 5-8.
Pole vault - 1. Evan Zachman (SMA), 12-6, 2. Fay, 12-0, 3. Milesko, 11-0.
Long jump - 1. Christian Metz (CI), 20-10.
Triple jump - 1. Alex Bade (BL), 41-11 3/4.
Shot put - 1. Ross Hillukka (B), 53-4 1/4.
Discus - 1. John Howard (B L), 145-11, 7. Burke, 125-8.
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728