CROOKSTON GIRLS TRACK FINISHES 10TH AND GEIST BREAKS TWO SCHOOL RECORDS, BOYS FINISH 15TH AT BSU

The Crookston Pirate track teams competed amongst 39 teams at Bemidji State University’s Gillett Wellness Center for the Beaver Relays. Crookston’s girls finished in tenth place with 35 points with Thief River Falls winning with 95 points, 34 points clear of the rest of the field. The Pirate boys finished in fifteenth place with eight points while Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton won the meet with 109 points, 11.5 points ahead of Bemidji. 

GIRLS –
The Pirates were led by a pair of record-breaking performances from distance runner Katherine Geist who took the top spot and broke school records in the 1600 and 800-meter races. In the 1600 meter race, Geist finished in 5:10.60 taking first place by nearly 30-seconds and breaking her own school record in the process.  Katherine set the indoor record in the first meet of the year with a time of 5:14.25.   In the 800 meter race, Geist finished in 2:23.18, breaking Danica Brekken’s indoor record of 2:25.83, which was set in 2015. “Katherine has been very strong,” said Crookston Girls’ track and field head coach Amy Boll. “She’s been training all year long and she trains during the summer time and she looks very strong. She had an exceptional day.”
Crookston’s 4×800 relay team of Halle Winjum, Anke Weirsma, Hailey Spivey, and Thea Oman combined for a finish in 10:52.34 good for fourth place in the deep field. “Those girls started out the meet very well,” added Boll. “There was strong competition in there and they all had a really good race and some really good times.”
Jada Dillabough continued her strong start to the season tossing the shot put 34’1” taking fifth place amongst 79 athletes. “(Jada) looks really good,” noted Boll. “I want to get her doing a full throw and getting her foot underneath her. I’m excited, when she gets a full throw down, to see how she’s going to do, because these are just standing throws that she’s throwing. She’s another great asset to the team.”
In the 200-meters, Emma Borowicz finished in 28.41 to claim fifth place. “Emma Borowicz, what a fun, young lady to watch her run,” said Boll. “She’s just so smooth. Today she had her debut in the hurdles as well and it was very fun to see her make it into the finals and I look forward to her running in our outdoor meets.”
The Pirates last finish in the top eight came in the 4×400 relay as Thea Oman, Abby Borowicz, Hailey Spivey, and Anke Weirsma finished in 4:40.59 for seventh place. “I thought the (relay) runners, for coming out in their third meet did really good. Overall, I was really happy with how our girls performed today,” summarized Boll. “There was a lot of competition there. A lot of competition to push them.”

BOYS – The Pirate boys were tested throughout the meet against a deep and talented field. Noah Kiel provided the top finish for Crookston’s boys taking fourth place with a time of 24.60 seconds in the 200-meter dash. “He ran a nice race in the 200,” said Crookston Boys’ track and field head coach Wayne Folkers. “He’s been on vacation for a little bit and came back with not much practice and finished fourth so he had a good run there.”
Jaden Lubarski continued his improvement in the 800-meter run with a sixth-place finish after crossing the finish line in 2:12.29. “He had his time right around 2:11:00 which we like to see,” explained Folkers. “Right now anyway, especially for indoors, because for sure he’ll cut it by the time we get outdoors.”
Crookston now faces a potentially extended lay-off with Tuesday’s meet marking the final one scheduled to take place for the Pirates inside in 2019, but Folkers was pleased with his team’s progress during the indoor portion of the season, “I thought we learned a lot of things here in the indoor season. You know, trying to get kids placed in different events. Our throwers are starting to come along which is nice. We’re looking forward to the outdoor season, but I understand it’s going to snow a little bit first.”

The Pirates return to the track on Tuesday, April 16 at the Park Rapids Invitational in Park Rapids beginning at 4:00 p.m.

FOR THE COMPLETE RESULTS AND TEAM SCORES CLICK HERE

FOR THE COMPLETE RESULTS AND TEAM SCORES CLICK HERE