Owatonna sweeps Ted Nelson Invitational
Owatonna’s Jamie Lisowski bursts out of the starting blocks for the first leg of the 4x200 relay. Lisowksi was a section fill-in for Owatonna’s 4x200 relay last season and is now the team’s starting first leg. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna’s boys and girls track and field teams look back to form after finishing the Ted Nelson Invitational 2-0 in Faribault last week.
The boys team put away the competition with a 215-point day while the girls edged out St. Peter 197-190 for the win.
“It was a really promising day. Obviously, with the smaller meets, our goal is to go in and win it as a team. We dominated on Thursday, which was planned and expected. We’re very versatile,” said Owatonna senior captain Nolan Ginskey.
The boys team featured nine winners on the day with seven coming in running events and two from the field.
Winning for the boys’ track team were the 4x800 relay, Vicente Chavez (100-meter dash), Jack Sorenson (800- and 1,600-meter), Nolan Ginskey (400-meter), Seth Johnson (300-meter hurdles) and the 4x400 relay team.
In the field, Owatonna’s Ginskey (triple Jump) and Terell Miller (high jump) were the team’s two champions.
Standout performances on the day came from the trio of Sorenson, Johnson and Ginskey.
Sorenson continued to dominate the distance events and won the 1,600-meter race by nearly 12 seconds.
Johnson also put in a stellar race in the 300-meter hurdles, taking first place by nearly three seconds in an event where he will be a state contender.
Ginskey was the team’s most dominant athlete on the day, posting wins in the 400-meter (53.29), the triple jump (42 feet, 11.5 inches) and anchoring the 4x400 relay (3:40.16.)
However, the day’s most surprising result was the Huskies’ 4x200 relay, which was disqualified for a fault in its first race of the season after winning the state title in 2024.
The girls’ team saw near equal success with seven winners in its debut meet.
Owatonna’s girls scored three wins on the track and four in the field.
Owning the field events were Halle Theis (17 feet, 0.5 inches – long jump), Johanna Spielman (33 feet, nine inches – triple jump), Kyleah Miller (36 feet, nine inches – shot put) and Dylann Norrid (nine feet – pole vault.)
On the track, Owatonna’s Theis won the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.52 seconds and contributed to the winning 4x100 relay with Madelynn Meier, Kendra Miller and Jozie Johnson.
The group of four were blistering fast and won the event by 3.03 seconds with a final time of 52.01 seconds.
The Huskies’ Leah Leckner brought home the final win by taking down the 400-meter race in 1:02.89.
Owatonna’s girls team will compete at Two Rivers High School next on Friday, April 18 at 3:45 p.m.
The Huskies’ boys squad will compete in Stillwater the following day at 11 a.m.