The St. Michael-Albertville boys track team made it a clean sweep at the Mississippi 8 Conference Meet last week in Buffalo, taking first place overall with 134 points, holding off the Monticello Magic by just eight points for the conference crown.
A trio of top performers who took home individual crowns, as well as a relay that kicked its way to a surprising finish atop the medal stand to lead the Knights.
Chase Cayo’s success at the meet was no surprise, as the distance runner who dominated the cross country and track season took home championships in the 1-mile and 2-mile runs. Cayo’s preliminary run in the 2-mile shattered the conference record set by Jake Autio back in 2010.
In the 800 meter run, the Knights went 1-2 behind junior Josh Tracy and senior Keith Jorgensen, racking up 18 valuable points in one final.
But the pinnacle of the track events came in the 4×400 relay, when Jorgenson, Eric Sjelin, Evan Gjesvold and Tracy held off all comers to take the conference championship and 10 more valuable points.
In the field, Isaiah Weston, a sophomore who had earlier taken fourth in the 110-meter hurdle final, simply took over. Weston racked up 20 points alone with top finishes in the high jump (he was the only jumper to clear 6 feet, 6 inches) and the long jump, where he sailed to a high of 21 feet, 10 and ¼ inches.
Teammate Jake Munson then chipped in with a conference championship of his own, as the freshman took first in the triple jump. Teammate Tyler Zahler was fourth.
St. Michael-Albertville, coached by Curt Hahn, competed in the preliminary events at the Section 5AA meet at Hamline University yesterday. The Knights will run in finals for the Section Meet tomorrow, May 30, attempting to advance to the State AA Meet, held June 6 and 7 again at Hamline in St. Paul.