Medford earns first place at Tiger Track Invite

It seemed like everything went the Tigers way when they competed in the Tiger Invite on Thursday, May 6. The Medford boys team won first place by scoring 97 points, which is 25 more points than its closest competitor, while the girls team won first place by scoring 91 points, which is 15 more points than its closest competitor.
 
As if those two wins by 15 points or more wasn’t impressive enough, Medford freshman Jackie Cole broke the school record in the long jump with a jump of 16 feet, 9.5 inches. The previous record was 16 feet, 6 inches set back in 1973 by Pam Ambler.
The Tigers’ boys 4x800 relay team, which is made up of Cohen Stursa, Tyler Stursa, Brock Merritt and Garrett Fitzgerald, got the boys team off to a great start by winning its event by finishing in 9:12.53, winning by more than one minute.
In the 1600-meter run, Medford sophomore Cohen Stursa won first place by finishing in 5:09.25, beating his next closest competitor by 16 seconds. In that same race, Fitzgerald earned fourth place with a time of 5:31.19 so the Tigers came away with eight points in that event.
The Tigers scored 12 points in the 400-meter dash. Henry Grayson won the race by finishing in exactly 53 seconds, Cohen O’ Connor came in second place by finishing in 56.47 seconds and Riley Babcock finished in fourth place with a time of 1:03.83.
Medford track and field Head Coach Kevin Werk said Grayson has played a major role in the Tigers’ success in the 400-meter dash.
“Henry is the leader of that group and he does a good job pushing everyone in practice. It just seems they are getting stronger each week,” he said.
In the 800-meter run, Tyler Stursa won first place with a time of 2:12.56, beating the second-place finisher by more than nine seconds. Junior Tyler Buck finished in 2:29.88, which was good for fourth place, so the Tigers earned eight points in that race.
Grayson won his second event of the day when he finished in first place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.42 seconds.
In the pole vault, the Tigers racked up 15 points because they were only school competing in that event. George McCarthy cleared 10 feet and six inches, Dylan Heiderscheidt reached 10 feet, Tyler Stursa cleared nine feet and Brock Merritt reached eight feet so they earned first, second, third and fourth place, respectively.
Heiderscheidt also performed really well in the long jump. In fact, he won that event by jumping 18 feet, 1 inch. Meanwhile, Grayson came in third place by jumping 17 feet, 5.5 inches.
Last but not least for the boys team, Medford earned 10 points in the shot put thanks to Kael Hermanstorfer and Mason Nagel who achieved 45 feet, 1 inch and 36 feet, respectively, to earn first and second place in that event.
Meanwhile, the girls team also achieved success in the shot put. Senior Kinsey Cronin reached a distance of 35 feet, which was earned her first place and earned the Tigers six points.
Werk said Cronin along with Hermanstorfer and Nagel are the leaders and the most experienced among the Tigers’ throwers.
“That is our senior throwing group and they have all been out for track since seventh grade. Mr. Johannes, who is our throwing coach, does a great job with our throwings. The last time I counted we had 18 throwers out this year. I am really excited to see how those three perform as we get closer to the postseason,” he said.
The Medford girls team also won the discus throw, but this time it was Abby Fitzgerald and not Cronin who finished in first place. Fitzgerald threw her discus 93 feet and three inches, which was almost seven feet farther than the second-place finisher.
However, the star of the girls team was Jackie Cole who broke the school record in the long jump by jumping 16 feet, 9.5 inches.
What makes Cole’s record-breaking performance even more impressive is her inexperience competing in the long jump.
“That was actually only Jackie's third meet ever long jumping. She has been our top sprinter since she was in seventh grade and she was looking for a field event to try. She was jumping close to 16 feet her first practice. I am hoping she can increase her mark as the season continues,” Werk said.
The long jump wasn’t the only event Cole excelled in last week. She was the anchor of the Tigers’ 4x100 meter relay team that came from behind to win first place.
“We have had a few different combinations of runners in the girl's 4x100 this year, but it always helps to have Jackie anchoring. She made up at least 10 meters to win that race,” he said.
On top of winning those first two events, Cole also won the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.11 seconds, almost a full second before anyone else finished, and the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.03 seconds. Overall, there wasn’t an event that she competed in that she didn’t win!
Cole and the rest of the Tigers’ girls track and field team and the boys team will next get a chance to compete when they compete against Blooming Prairie, Hayfield, Kenyon-Wanamingo and Triton at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18, at Triton High School in Dodge Center.