Lanesboro/Fillmore Central track and field coach Tom Hatleliasked his star Jordan Jarlandto give the 300-meter hurdles a try this year.
Hatleli already knew what Jarland could do in three other events. The senior is among the state's best in the long jump, triple jump and 400. But Hatleli had a hunch that Jarland could also be quite competitive in the 300 hurdles.
What he likely didn't know was that he would be quite this good, this soon.
Jarland has already run a 40.64 time in the 300 hurdles, tops this season in Section One, Class A. That would have been good enough to land third in last year's state Class A meet.
But the thing is, Jarland can likely do a lot better than that. Hatleli said he was one pace to run a sub-40-second 300 hurdles time in a meet Tuesday, but fell going over the last hurdle and crawled to the finish.
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The winning time at state last year was 40.15.
"I made the decision that Jordan should try the 300 hurdles this year, and he agreed to it," Hatleli said. "He's got the athletic ability to be able to learn how to hurdle. He's not a great hurdler yet, but he has amazing athletic ability. He's just so versatile. If he wanted to run the open 200, he could do that. If he wanted to run the 100, he could probably do that, too."
That versatility makes Jarland's post-season race choice an unknown. He'll do the 300 hurdles or the 400, but not both.
"He's a senior, and I want him to do what he wants to do," said Hatleli, who hasn't had Jarland compete in the 400 yet this season. "If Jordan wants to go back to the 400, he can do that. But as of right now, he's really enjoying what he's doing."
— Pat Ruff
BASEBALL
The baseball must be looking more like a watermelon these days to Steven Koenen, because the Rushford-Peterson senior isn't missing it very often with his bat.
R-P is just over halfway through regular season schedule and Koenen is still posting numbers like a slow-pitch softball slugger, with a .640 batting average through 12 games.
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Koenen has hit safely in 23 of 36 at-bats, with two doubles, 13 RBIs and 10 runs scored. He is leading an R-P team that is hitting .350 and has a sturdy 8-4 record.
• No pitching tandem in the area has fanned more batters than Pine Island's Jesse Donahueand Brandon Finstuen.
Donahue has 39 strikeouts in his 29 innings of work, and Finstuen has 37 K's in 26 1/3. Finstuen also has an area-best 6-0 record and a 1.88 ERA.
• Wabasha-Kellogg teammates Zach Wolfeand Eric Sandstromhave both driven in 21 runs to lead all run-producers. Sandstrom leads the area with four home runs, and Wolfe has scored 18 runs. W-K, which finished runnerup at the Class A state tournament last year, is 9-2.
— Donny Henn
