On Tuesday April 28th, the annual Blaine Invite track meet was held in our own backyard. Both the boys and girls team had a strong showing as they both came in second behind Champlin Park. The girls finished with a final score of 98, short of Champlin Park’s solid 113 points. On the boys side, Blaine fell just 6 points short of the 118 point score that Champlin Park put up.

The final standings for the teams that competed are as follows:

Girls: Champlin Park 113, Blaine 98, Centennial 59, Coon Rapids 56, Andover 43, and Park Cottage Grove 9

Boys: Champlin Park 118, Blaine 112, Andover 61, Centennial 54, Park Cottage Grove 17, and Coon Rapids 16

Blaine’s relay teams had a strong showing, with both the boys and girls teams coming in first in the 4×200. The boys also came in first in both the 4×800 and 4×100 relays.

Stellar individual performances included Taylor Morgan, senior captain, who finished first in the 100 meter dash, and Elisha Lindsey (11) taking home the win in the 400 meter dash. 8th grade distance runner, Sarah Olson finished first in the 3200 meter (2 mile) run with 9 seconds of breathing room.

Logan Nelson (12) sprinted into victory, winning in the 100 meter dash as well as placing third in the long jump. Soon to be jumping for the University of Minnesota Duluth, Alyssa Nebo (12) placed second in the long jump, with a distance of 17 feet, 5 inches. She was just edged out by Champlin Parks Allison Gerads (10) who jumped a distance of 17 feet, 10 inches. Elisha Lindsey (11) and Sydney Seim (11) both earned points for Blaine in the triple jump.

Blaine stole the show in throwing, with Clint Lockwood (11) , Ben Kytta (10), and Jake Petterson (12) taking home second, third, and fourth in the discus. ShaRon Miller (12) threw herself into first place in the shot put and third in the discus.

The Blaine Invite is technically a varsity meet, yet there were some impressive performances by underclassmen from the teams that competed. Coon Rapids freshmen Brielle Clark and Caitlin Ackerman placed first and second in the high jump, followed by Blaine’s Kyla Aamodt (10). Ben Olson (9) from Blaine placed third in the 1600 meter run, behind two juniors from Andover.

All in all, Blaine had an impressive showing at their home meet, winning and earning points in almost every event. With many meets to come, will they be able to power past Champlin Park? Or will Blaine only be able to remain in Champlin’s shadow?