Paced by the multiple-placing performances of Maddie Schumacher, Morgan Gehl, Samantha Untiedt and Faith White, the young Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda varsity girls’ track and field squad finished seventh in the final standings among 13 competing teams in last week’s (Monday, May 6) Section 3A True Team Meet at Pipestone.
Competing In adverse weather conditions, which included some wind and cool temperature before rain began falling at Paulson Field on the west edge of Pipestone, athletes from 13 participating teams did the best they could as they challenged for a state-meet True Team berth.
True Team is a different concept from a normal high school track and field meet. In a typical meet, only the top six or eight finishers in each event are “placed” and awarded points. In True Team competition, which was created by the Minnesota State Track and Field Coaches Association during the 1980s, all places are scored. In the case of this year’s sectional meet, there were 26 places in the 14 individual events, as each team has two participants. First place is worth 26 points, second place scores 25 and so on all the way down to one point awarded for 26th place.
Relays are scored at three-point spreads for each place, starting with three points times the number of teams at the top. With 13 participating teams, a winning relay scores 39 points, while a 13th-place team scores three points. If a team does not have a finishing relay or has a vacant spot in an individual event, they score zero points at that available slot.
Team and individual point totals are much higher in a True Team Meet than they are in other meets.
Canby / Minneota claimed this year’s girls Section 3A championship, scoring a total of 758.5 points.
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