Running two exceptional races against the best Class A high school girls’ distance runners in the entire state of Minnesota last weekend, Fulda sophomore Morgan Gehl represented the Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda Coyotes in grand fashion at the prestigious state track and field meet, held at Hamline University in Saint Paul.
Gehl claimed a pair of third-place medals in the high-caliber competition as she finished ahead of 29 of Minnesota’s top long-distance girls in both the 3,200-meter (two mile) run and the 1,600-meter (mile) run in the heat (hovering around 90 degrees at race time each day) and bright sunshine on Hamline’s nine-lane track.
On Friday evening, June 7 (6:26 p.m.), Morgan took an early lead in the eight-lap 3,200 as she positioned herself at the front of the 18-runner (two qualifiers from each of Minnesota’s eight sections, plus two wild-card entrants) pack for most of the first two laps.
She was passed on the third lap by the Ping sisters (Lauren and Grace) from Winona Cotter and continued her strong and smooth strides throughout the remaining six laps and maintained her third-place position. Gehl finished with a blazing kick to stretch the distance between herself and a couple of strong challenging efforts by two girls who had appeared to be gaining on her during the seventh lap.
Gehl’s strong finish put her more than 12 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher and she crossed the line 19 seconds before the fifth-place runner, while coming within eight seconds of second.
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