ST. PAUL -- A first and a second, no need to complain about that.
And Kim Hovey didn't. The Red Wing senior was second in the discus at the Class AA state track meet Friday at Hamline University and then Saturday morning, passed the final test of her high school career by winning the shot put for the second straight year.
Whew, mission accomplished.
"To go out like this is a big relief,'' she said after collecting her gold medal. "The only pressure I felt was that put on by myself. I really wanted this one.''
Despite an unbeaten shot put season, Hovey was seeded fourth, based on her Section One, Class AA throw of 41-1 1/2. Emily Lesser of Maple Grove, who finished second (41-9 3/4) on Saturday, was seeded second (43-1). Maggie Ewen, a freshman from St. Francis, was seeded first and wound up third at 41-3/4.
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Ewen won the discus on Friday night.
Hovey's third throw in the preliminary round turned out to be the winner. The competition was finished before a steady, annoying drizzle hit shortly before noon.
"I felt fine,'' she said. "Obviously, my goal here was just to win. I wasn't all that concerned with the distance.''
Last year, Hovey won with a distance of 42-8 1/4.
"This was a good way to end the year,'' she said, "and a great way to cap my career.''
Hovey is headed to the University of Minnesota next year on a track and field scholarship.
She will take a couple of weeks off and then start lifting and running by the middle of July.
• Fortune wasn't as kind to Red Wing junior Luke Johnson, who finished second in the discus despite throwing 177 feet, 3 inches.
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Johnson, who was seeded first (180-03) had the lead after the three preliminary throws but was passed by Farmington senior Logan Hussung, who won with a throw of 178-6. Hussung was seeded second at 169-5 but earlier this season cracked 188 feet.
No one else was within 20 feet of the top two throwers.
Johnson also finished fourth in the shot put on Friday night, leaving him short of a goal of two state gold medals. But he returns next year.
Guibert finishes fifth
The goal for Rochester Century freshman Jenny Guibert was simply to make it to the finals.
That she did, first qualifying on Friday night and then capping a splendid year with a fifth-place finish in the 800.
It's an event she did not even run until early in the season. Last year, as an eighth-grader out for track for the first time, she ran the 400.
"I definitely got what I wanted,'' she said. "I was pretty happy with the way everything turned out.''
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Guibert was timed in 2:17.96, abaout two seconds slower than her preliminary time of 2:15.54. And that was five seconds better than her Section One, Class AA time.
Guibert admitted she had some tired legs entering the finals. Earlier in the day, she ran the anchor leg on Century's 3,200 relay, which finished seventh.
"I could feel it,'' she said. "Usually, I start off fast but I wasn't able to do that today. It wasn't exactly the way I had planned the race.''
She trailed most of the field after the first lap but then staged quite a comeback to wind up fifth.
"Like I said, I just wanted to make it to the finals,'' she said. "This whole state experience has been quite a thrill. I learned a lot and hopefully I'll be back next year.''
Minnetonka eighth-grader Maggie Carruth won with a time of 2:12.14, edging Havlie Zenner of Fergus Falls, a sophomore, by a half second. Zenner finished in 2:12.19.
Notes
• The Century 3,200 relay finished seventh with a time of 9:26.47, which was a personal team best. The Panthers entered with a seed time of 9:31.95.
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And it was an extremely young team with three freshmen and a junior.
Madeline Youngberg ran the opening leg followed by Emily Holman, Stephanie Murray and Guibert. Holman is the junior.
Roseville won with a time of 9:14.78. The top four teams all ran faster than the winning time last year of 9:20.56.
• Mayo senior Sophie Charlton, who graduated on Friday night, closed out her career with a 12th-place finish in the triple jump at 34-4. Alex Beckman of Eastview won it with a jump of 37-11 1/2.
• In the girls pole vault, Jessica Christy of Mayo and Kayla Wiltrout of Century both cleared 9-6 but based on misses, Christy finished 11th and Wiltrout 15th. Christy is a senior and Wiltrout a junior.
Kaitlin Murgic of Rosemount won at 12 feet.
• Red Wing junior Bryant Blahnik finished 11th in the 1,600 with a time of 4:22.13.He was 10th in the 3,200 on Friday night.
