Northfield athletes earn 1st places at conference meet

Several outstanding performances, including first place efforts in the high jump and shot put, allowed the Northfield High School girls track and field team bring home a third-place finish at the 2024 Big 9 Conference championships that were held in Rochester on Thursday, May 23.

The top-three finish continued Northfield’s success story in 2024, as it improved six spots in the team standings from last year’s ninth place finish. In addition, it was three places higher than Northfield’s sixth place seed going into this year’s Big 9 meet.

“There are some meets where everything goes right for a team. For example, every athlete projected to make finals or score does, and then there are other meets where things happen that were unpredictable,” NHS coach Janet Smith said.

“This was one of those meets for the Raiders, where pretty much everything that could have gone right did and then some. I am so proud of this team for accepting the challenge of shooting for a reach goal of fourth place like we talked about in our team meeting leading up to conference, and then going out and surpassing those expectations. It took a whole team effort, we scored in all but 3 events in the meet. It was a great day for our team as a program, not soon to be forgotten by the girls and coaches.”

The Raiders posted 211.5 points, while Mankato East took first place at 276 and Mankato West placed second at 237.5. Winona (197), Rochester Mayo (188.5), Century (176.5), Owatonna (168), John Marshall (110), Faribault (80), Red Wing (63), Austin (35) and Albert Lea (7) completed the field.

Amber Mahal earned one of the team’s medalist honors as she won the high jump at 5-04 and Alaina French also brought home a top finish in the shot put at 38-03.25. She earned points for NHS with a second place finish in the discus at 119-10. Both earned All-Conference status for Northfield in those events.

Emily Beaham gained All-Big 9 not in the 300 hurdles with a second place finish at 47.19, while All-Big 9 awarded were also claimed by Makayah Petricka in the 1600 meters (2nd place/5:17.30) along with Peyton Quaas (11:44.19/4th place), Anna Forbord (11:46.68/5th place) and Claire Fobord (11:50.29/7th place) in the 3200 meters.

Raiders bringing home All-Conference Honorable Mention notice were Judith Prensa Aupetit with a third place finish in the long jump at 17-04.25 and Erika Nesseth in fourth place in the pole vault at 9-06.

Other point scorers for NHS at the meet included Kate Hubers in the 100 meters (seventh place), Sydney Livingston in the 100 hurdles (fifth place), Petricka in the 800 meters (seventh place), Inga Johnson in the shot put (sixth place) and discus (seventh place), Ani Gottfried in the pole vault (seventh place) and Whitney Gray in the pole vault (ninth place).

Northfield’s 4x100 relay team placed sixth, while the Raiders’ 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams each earned points with seventh place finishes and the 4x200 relay team placed eighth.

The Raiders will return to action on Thursday, May 30 and Saturday, June 1 with a trip to the Section 1AA championship that will be held at Alexander Park’s Ted Nelson Track in Faribault, Minn. This meet serves as the qualifier for the 2024 MSHSL Class AA state championship that will take place at St. Michael-Albertville H.S. on June 6-8.

Boys track and field

The Northfield High School boys track and field team placed 11th at this year’s Big 9 Conference championship meet, which was held in Rochester on Thursday, May 23.

The Raiders posted 56 points at the meet, which was won by Mankato East with 327.5 points. Owatonna (306.5) Rochester Mayo (207.5), Rochester Century (173) and Winona (167) completed the top five team placers at the event.

Stephen Feig was a top point producer for Northfield at the meet with an All-Conference finish of second place in the pole vault at 13-08.00. Another top performer for NHS was Gavin Novotny in the 200 meters with an eighth place finish of 23.43.

In the relay events, Northfield’s 4x100 team and 4x400 teams placed eighth, while the 4x200 and 4x800 teams both claimed seventh place finishes of the Raiders at the meet.

Next up on the schedule for Northfield will be a trip to the Section 1AA championships at Ted Nelson Track in Fairbault on Thursday, May 30 and Saturday, June 1. This meet serves as the qualifier for the 2024 MSHSL Class AA state championship that will take place at St. Michael-Albertville H.S. on June 6-8.