Struffert advances to state meet in 400 dash
Posted 6/5/03

Milaca senior Jessi Struffert will compete in the 400-meter dash at the Class A State Track and Field Meet for the third-straight year after winning the 400 dash title at the Section 5A Meet Wednesday, May 28, at St. John¹s University at Collegeville.

Struffert won the section crown with a time of 58.60, her best time this season. Senior Megan Beilke of Sauk Centre was second in 59.83 and Milaca junior Amberly Hirsch was third in 61.55.

The top two placers in individual events at the section meet gain berths to the state meet and Struffert will be Milaca¹s only entrant at the state meet.

The Class AA and Class A girls and boys state meets are Friday and Saturday at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Preliminaries in the Class A girls 400 are Friday at 4:15 p.m. The top eight placers advance to the finals Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Last year Struffert, who¹s also competed in two state cross country meets, placed third in the 400 at the state meet, setting a Milaca record of 57.94. She placed fourth at the state meet in the 400 in 2001.

³Jessi is peaking at the right time,² said Milaca Coach Randy Furman. ³She¹s running very strong and very fast. She should do very well.²

Struffert¹s main competition figures to come from eighth grader Kyndal Hargrow of Blake (57.37), sophomore Katie Gewerth of Cedar Mountain (57.78) and senior Shelby McCrady of Montgomery-Lonsdale (58.10).

³Jessi tends to eat the people up who are in front of her,² said Furman. ³I expect a wall of runners at the finish line. The race should be very close.²

The Struffert-Hirsch combination in the 400 earned Milaca¹s girls 16 of their 30 teams points at the Section 5A meet, which put them in eighth place among the 23 teams.

Mayer Lutheran won the girls title with 133.5 points while St. Cloud Cathedral was second with 124 and Delano was third with 69.5 points.

The Wolves¹ other points were scored by:

€The 4x400 relay team of Hirsch, Struffert, senior Chrissy Dee and sophomore Sara Hanenburg, which finished third in 4:14.86. Hanenburg filled in for junior Janelle Packard who didn¹t run after suffering back spasms earlier in the meet in the 200 dash preliminaries. And, Dee was hampered by a pulled hamstring.

Mayer Lutheran won the 4x400 in 4:08.44 and Cathedral was second in 4:12.30.

The first place relay teams at the section advance to the state meet.

€The 4x200 relay team of Hirsch, Struffert, Dee and sophomore Amanda Prasnicki, which placed fourth in 1:51.04. Dee filled in for Packard in that race.

Mayer Lutheran placed first in 1:47.78.

€Dee, who placed sixth in the high jump with a jump of 4-feet, 10-inches. Senior Vanessa Schwanke of Mayer Lutheran won the high jump at 5-6.

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Milaca¹s boys totaled 16 points to finish 15th in the team standings at the 5A meet. Annandale won the boys title with 63 points while Cathedral was second with 59 and Foley was third with 57.

Senior Tony Swenson placed fifth in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediate hurdles.

Swenson¹s time in the 110 hurdles was 16.25 while his time in the 300 hurdles was 42.97. Senior Mike Drew of Mayer Lutheran won the 110

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