Track and field: Detroit Lakes girls win Section 8-2A True Team title

FERGUS FALLS – The Detroit Lakes girls track and field team is headed to the State True Team meet out of Section 8-2A after narrowly edging out Pequot Lakes.

The Lakers were trailing by five points heading into the 4x400-meter relay, the final event of the afternoon. The team of Grace Gunderson, Helena Daggett, Haydon King and Annie Paulson took second place with a time of 4:17.37 to hop over the Patriots in the standings.

“There were so many amazing moments, but my favorite was the way our team rallied around our final event,” Detroit Lakes girls track and field head coach Maggy Doll said. “As they were running, our entire team was there cheering them on. It was a great way to end the meet. The final score was Pequot Lakes with 543.5 and Detroit Lakes on top with 561 points scored. It was a great day to be a Laker.”

Detroit Lakes’ Section 8-2A True Team win clinches a spot at State True Team on May 21 in Stillwater.

The Laker girls had three first-place finishes on Tuesday. Abby Larson won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.78 and the 200-meter dash at 26.99 seconds. Annie Paulson paced the pack in the 300-meter hurdles at 48.11 seconds.

Detroit Lakes won the meet with its depth. Doll was excited to see girls step up to compete in events they typically haven’t run in this season.

Sasha Sekundiak ran two open events for the first time this season. She took third in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.84 and sixth in the 200-meter dash at 28.13. Doll said Sekundiak didn’t know she was competing in the 200-meter race until 20 minutes before it started.

The Lakers got a boost in the distance events from Julia Steffl. She took fourth place in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:46.21. In the two-mile race, Steffl finished in seventh place at 12:58.62.

Both Jerzie Horner and Jordan Ehnert had big performances in the pole vault. Horner took fourth place at 9-feet, 6-inches, while Ehnert placed sixth at 9-feet. In the high jump, Grace Gunderson took second place (5-feet), while Rylee Johnson took fifth (5-feet).

Sekundiak also placed in the triple jump at 33-feet, 1.5-inches, which was good enough for fifth place. Lily Anderson took third at 35-feet, 4-inches.

Elle Bettcher hit a personal record in the discus at 103-feet, 5-inches. Brenna Skadsem took fourth in the shot put (32-feet, 2-inches), while Jacee Hauser took fifth (32-feet, 1-inch).

The Detroit Lakes boys team had another handful of standout performers in its sixth-place finish on Tuesday.

Ethan Carrier collected two more first-place finishes. He won the 100-meter dash at 11.41 seconds and also anchored the 4x200-meter relay team with Brandton Marsh, Cameron Marxen and Caden Strand to a time of 1:34.98.

Marxen, Mason Carrier, Jack Pace and Ethan Carrier took second in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 45.43. Alexander Fletcher took first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.04, with Zach Olson on his tail in third at 16.47 seconds. Fletcher also took fifth in the high jump at 5-feet, 6-inches.

Brandton Marsh was a few inches away from taking the triple jump crown. He took second at 41-feet, 6-inches, which was just over a foot away from the top spot. He also took sixth place in the 300-meter hurdles at 46.13 seconds.