This year, however, the girls didn't perform well enough to defend their 1996 Conference title. Long Prairie came out on top with Paynesville not too far behind for second.
Among those receiving all-conference honors, Erin Aagesen had a spectacular meet becoming the conference champ in both the mile and two-mile runs.
Tiffany Rausch was the conference champ in the 400 meter dash. This is her second consecutive year of that honor.
Also receiving all-conference recognition is Steph Tangen. She placed second in both the hurdle races.
Finally, Teresa Rodriguez earned the honor with her second place shot put throw.
The girls will be competing next at the sub-section four meet hosted by Litchfield on Thursday, May 22. Prelims begin at 1:30 for the 100 and 200-meter dashes and the 100-meter hurdles. Field events follow at 2:00 and the meet begins at 3:10.
Paynesville is the defending champion in the sub-section, however, New London is the favorite this year. Be sure to cheer the girls on!
Boys track. . .
The Paynesville boy's track team hosted the 1997 West Central Conference track meet on Thursday, May 15. The weather was a bit cool, with nothing more than a breeze for wind.
The Paynesville boy's tracksters ran, jumped, and threw their way to a very solid third place performance. Despite the fierce competition, eight received all-conference honors, including three champions.
Grant Bowden ran a near-personal best (41.25) 300-meter hurdles race that out-paced the competition, and earned himself the conference win. Dan Johnson won the 800-meter run in a personal best time of 2:03.82. The third conference champion from Paynesville was shot-putter Tom Knutson, who threw a PR of 46' 7.25 ".
The Paynesville 3200-meter relay team smashed its own school record by 23 seconds enroute to being nipped at the finish line by Albany. Runners from the team, receiving conference silver medals, were Luke Trees, Troy Wendlandt, Matt Jorgensen, and Dan Johnson. Josh Jones hopped, skipped, and jumped his way to an all-conference, second place triple jump performance. Thrower Lee Hiltner also earned a second place medal, in the shot put with a PR of 42' 8."
The next meet on the boy’s schedule is the sub-section track meet at Litchfield on Thursday, May 22.