Having tasted an increasing amount of track and field success in the past several springs, the senior-loaded Slayton Wildcats traveled north in early June of 1978 with seven of their best athletes competing in six events at the state high school track and field meet, held at the facilities of St. Cloud Apollo High School.
While over the years, the Wildcats have had lots of boys advance to the state meet in field events, all of the ’78 entrants — seniors Brad Hanson, Terry Shepherd, Bob Veenhuis and Mark Zinnel, along with juniors Lindsey Krick and Brad Reinsma and sophomore Mark Burnham — were running on the track, including racing in all three relays.
Each one of those Slayton relay teams — the 440, the sprint medley (220-220-440-880) and the mile — placed third, producing a total of 18 points for Slayton.
Minnesota high school track and field meets were scored 10-8-6-4-2-1 for just the top six places in 1978 and events were still run in yards. The change to meters came two years later in 1980.
In addition to qualifying for the state meet with all three of its relays, the Wildcats had a trio of stellar seniors who had also earned advancement with Terry Shepherd in the 120-yard high hurdles, Bob Veenhuis in the 880-yard run and defending state champion Mark Zinnel in the two-mile run.
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