LAKEVILLE, Minn. — The tears were difficult to discern from the persistent rain Saturday for Mayo's girls track team, but the long faces were harder to hide.
The Spartans, who harbored hopes of winning, finished a disappointing third in the Section 1AA meet at Lakeville South High School with 86 points. Lakeville North won with 109 points, while Lakeville South was second at 100.
While Mayo qualified four individuals, none qualified in multiple events and every relay fell short of advancing. The Spartans also broke three school records, but just one qualified for state — pole vaulter Kayla Wiltrout, who finished third.
How much of a role were adverse weather conditions, which delayed a number of the field events?
"A lot. A lot, a lot, a lot," said Mayo's Kalesha Taylor, who won the 200-meter dash in 26.01 seconds. "I can't run in the rain. My legs were just like jello and my shoes were so wet my feet were sliding around in there."
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Taylor's seed time in the 200 was 25.58 and her best time of the year is 25.17. While the speedy junior still managed to win that event, she was also a part of two relays who dealt with disappointment.
The 800-meter relay of Lynn Kelly, Sophie Charlton, Bailey Alston and Taylor finished second in one minute, 44.23 seconds. They bettered the school record by more than a second, but fell short of the the automatic qualifier, which was 1:43.91. The 1,600 relay of Leah Karsten, Charlton, Jordan Bucher and Taylor finished third in 4:07.09, which is nearly five seconds slower than its seed time.
Mayo's 3,200 relay of Karsten, Melanie Voigt, Sarah Rein and Jordan Bucher shattered the previous school record, which was set in 1994, by nearly eight seconds. However, they finished third and missed the automatic qualifier by about 10 seconds.
"I just applaud the other teams for doing really well," said Mayo girls coach Brett Carroll, who was voted Section 1AA Girls Coach of the Year. "You've gotta take everything in stride."
Charlton, who qualified for state in four events last year, will compete in just one this year. She advanced by placing second in the triple jump (25-3 1/2), but took third in the 200 in 26.50. Charlton, who was battling an illness, missed second place by three hundredths of a second.
The state meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.
Century girls advance 3, and relay
Jenny Guibert was faced with a dilemma after the first lap of the 800.
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The Century freshman was boxed in on the inside lane and stuck in fourth place as she began the second lap. Knowing the pace wasn't particularly fast, she quickly swung around to the outside and surged into the lead. She held on for about 200 meters before being passed, but had enough kick left to hang on to the final state spot.
She finished in 2:20.73.
"I'm really excited and really happy," Guibert said. "It was a good day."
Guibert, who will be making her state debut, had qualified earlier in the day as part of the 3,200 relay. She teamed with Madeline Youngberg, Emily Holman and Stephanie Murray to finish second with an automatic qualifying time of 9:27.72. They shaved nearly 16 seconds off their seed time.
Century senior Alex Jacobs won the 100 hurdles with a season-best time of 15.47 to qualify, while classmate Jessica Christy placed second in pole vault with a height of 10-7 to advance to state.
Healthy Zietlow clears 2 hurdles
Matt Zietlow plans to play soccer next year at St. Olaf College, but that passion has been banned from his approved activities list this spring. His performance on Saturday made that bitter pill a little easier to swallow.
The Mayo senior missed the 2009 section track meet due to a soccer injury. He bounced back at Saturday's meet to qualify for state in both the 110 and 300 hurdles.
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"It was a little bit disappointing," Zietlow said of sitting out last year. "I stayed healthy this year. It's been a good season and a good finish, obviously."
He entered sections seeded fourth in the shorter race. He cut half a second from his prelim to to secure an automatic qualifying time of 15.28. He had the top seed time in the 300, but settled for second in 40.51.
Zietlow will run in next weekend's state meet before returning to the soccer field. He intends to play soccer for the Oles, though he's also considering track.
