by Les Knutson
Sports Reporter
First-place performances by Fulda eighth-graders Jake Fischer and Ryder Henning highlighted Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda’s boys’ results in the six-team Red Rock Conference junior high track and field meet at Slayton two weeks ago on Monday, May 22.
Fischer whirled the junior high discus 124 feet, two inches as he won that event by nearly 15 feet over second-place finisher Cole Boltjes of Ellsworth (109-7). Boltjes had a terrific day for the Panthers, winning three other events — 100-meter dash (12.45), 200 (24.93) and shot put (37-9) — scoring all 38 of Ellsworth’s points.
Henning easily won the junior high conference blue ribbon in the pole vault, clearing 8-6 (18 inches higher than the second-place vault of 7-0).
Fischer tacked on eight more points for the Coyotes when he placed second (behind Boltjes) in the shot put with a distance of 36-5.
Two HLOF relay teams finished third, combining for 12 points. The Coyotes 4 x 100-meter relay team (Tate Eidhammer, Ethan Gilman, Aiden Lang and Ethan Nielsen) ran a third-place time of 1:05.04. The foursome of Eidhammer, Trevor Bass, Noah Vrooman and Adrian Schwaller ran the 4 x 400-meter relay in a time of 5:21.18 and also finished third.
Individually, Bass — an HL-O sixth-grader — finished fourth in the 400-meter dash with his time of 1:18.07. Classmate Waylon Crooks placed fifth in the same race, clocked at 1:42.45.
Four Coyotes placed sixth, including Lang in the 100-meter low hurdles (22.42), Vrooman in the 100-meter dash (14.07), Schwaller in the 800-meter run (2:54.94) and Eidhammer in the high jump (3-10).
Nielsen was seventh in the low hurdles (23.10) and Schwaller finished seventh in the 1,600-meter run (6:06).
Vrooman ran an eighth-place time of 29.13 in the 200 and Gilman leaped an even 13 feet, placing eighth in the long jump.
The Coyotes were fourth in the team standings with 67 points, finishing behind Southwest Minnesota Christian / Edgerton (142), Murray County Central (109) and Mountain Lake Area (98). HLOL scored more points than both Westbrook-Walnut Grove / Red Rock Central (59) and Ellsworth (38), while neither Adrian or Hills-Beaver Creek participated in the rescheduled meet (originally intended to be held on Friday, May 11).
