By Les Knutson, Sports Reporter
Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of feature articles describing several past stellar performances by area high school track and field athletes who placed in events at state track and field meets.
While the Slayton boys — as featured in last week’s article — were having immense success at high school state track and field meets in the late 1970s, there were several area girls who also earned medals by placing in events at state-meet competition during that same time frame.
After four years of a one-class event (1972-1975) for girls, the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) went with two classes for track and field in 1976 and the Wildcats of Slayton High School had a pair of relays and two individuals place among the top six at the first-ever Class A girls state meet.
Southwest Minnesota Christian had two relay teams and three individuals place in 1976, highlighted by an individual state championship by junior Arla Vander Woude, who won the mile run with her time of 5:18.0.
Chandler-Lake Wilson hurdler Carol Buldhaupt represented the Mustangs at the state meet, finishing sixth in the finals in the 110-yard highs with a time of 15.4, right on the heels of SW Christian’s Tammi Kruehn (fifth, 15.3). Southwest’s third individual placement came from Christi Begeman in the 880 (sixth, 2:23.7).
The Eagles were third in the 880-yard relay (1:47.8) and sixth in the mile relay (4:10.7) as SW Christian tallied a total of 20 points (10-6-2-1-1) and finished sixth in the final team standings.
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