By Gary Hildebrandt, Guest Writer
The 14th Annual Hamline Elite was held last Friday. The meet features the “best of the best” in Minnesota track and field. It is not a 2 class meet, simply the best 16 competitors in each of the 18 MSHSL events.
Gehl qualified in both the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races this year. She was seeded 4th in the 1600 and 9th in the 3200. Morgan was one of just three Class A runners in each of the two races so she was definitely up against the girls from the big schools. The Coyote distance ace was one of only two girls to actually run both long distance races in the meet.
First up was the 1600, the mile. Gehl got herself into 7th place after the first lap maintaining that position after two. She moved up to 6th place after three laps before turning on the after burners and passing 2 runners to finish with a season best 5:08.51, just a half a second out of third! That time is also her second fastest behind last year’s 5:04.23 which got her 4th place at the state meet.
An hour and a half later Morgan toed the line for the 3200. Her time from earlier this season was 11:19. She got herself into 8th place from the get go. Briefly in lap 4 she moved up to seventh only to have two girls pass her to move her back to 9th. A relentless finishing kick gave her one of those places back as she finished in eighth place with an outstanding time of 11:06.15. Last year at the Elite meet she finished 9th with an 11:13.21. Like the mile, this was Morgan’s fastest time of the year and second fastest ever behind last year’s school record time of 10:59.91 also run at the state meet.
Head girl’s coach Gary Hildebrandt said,”Morgan is so determined and so talented. It was great to see her go against the best and really come through against the tough, tough competition! We are very fortunate that Hamline University sponsors this meet.” Gehl humbly stated, “It was really fun to run here. I loved the races and want to come back here again next year.”
