Eden Prairie High School track and field coach Zach Hanson says that, with a young team for both boys and girls track, “Eden Prairie is off to a great start this season.”
Hanson is the head coach of the boys track team, and Paul Selman is the head coach of girls track.
Both the EP boys and girls track and field teams placed fifth at the Lake Conference Relays, held at Wayzata High School on April 12. The junior varsity boys and girls teams competed against Hopkins at a co-ed dual meet held at Aerie Stadium on April 11 and won (boys 102-20, girls 81-41).
On April 4, the teams competed in a junior varsity/varsity meet with Edina and St. Michael-Albertville at the Edina Community Center. The EPHS boys won that meet, and the girls placed third.
Notable performances so far this season include Elijah Rumph’s 11.05-second run in the 100 meters, Emma Nguyen’s 13.16-second run in the 100 meters, Emma Martin’s 28.20-second run in the 200 meters, Jake Heimkes’ 1:59 time in the 800 meters, Tate Bloch’s 15.48-second time in the 110-meter hurdles (Bloch is a future decathlete at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), Vanessa Jordan’s long jump of 16 feet, 10 inches, Madeline Kaufman’s pole vault of 10 feet, 6 inches, and Cameron Merseth’s triple jump of 40 feet, 4 inches.
A complete list of team results is available online.
This year’s captains for the boys varsity team are Liam Berndt, Tate Bloch, Jameson Drieslein, Jake Heimkes, Owen Peterson, and Tate Westin. The captains for the girls varsity team are Berit Berggren, Mariana Blanco, Alyssa Ehler, Madeline Kaufman, Nora Landwehr, and Emma Martin.
Both the boys and girls varsity teams will compete in the Shakopee Relays meet at Shakopee Middle School West on April 18. The Eden Prairie Booster Invitational is scheduled as a home meet at EPHS on Saturday, April 27.
