Rosemount wins third team championship in four years
Others might have focused on what Rosemount didn’t have. The Irish only thought about what they did have, and the result was a second consecutive state Class 3A boys track and field championship.
The Irish, who were state large-school champions in 2021 and 2023, might not have gone into last week’s Class 3A finals as the favorites after graduating the most dominant thrower in state history (Hayden Bills, now at Arizona State) as well as athletes who contributed big points in hurdles and distance races.
But people might not have taken into account the determination of this year’s Rosemount team.
“We’re never going to count ourselves out,” said senior Maki Whelan, whose victory in the 300-meter hurdles and third place in the 110 hurdles were instrumental in Rosemount’s one-point victory over Wayzata for the team championship. “Other coaches come up to our coach (Jay Hatleli) and say those Rosemount guys, they always compete no matter what, no matter who they’ve got, no matter who they’re going against. And we really pride ourselves on that.
“Last year we kind of thought we had it locked going in, but this meet we were like, we’re going to really have to go all out in order to get it. I think we did that.”
Whelan was the only Rosemount athlete to win an event at the boys state meet this year, but several others supplied key team points, including senior distance runner Andrew Schultz (third in the 3,200), junior thrower William Riddel (fourth in the discus) and senior Jayvon Maternowski (sixth in the high jump).
The Irish also got third place in the 4x100 relay and sixth in the 4x400.
“It played out exactly like we thought,” Hatleli said. “We knew it was going to be a lower-scoring meet, and when that happens you need your big point-getters. Maki really needed to score big in the hurdles. The 4x1 needed to score. Schultz needed to score in the 3,200. The difference for us was, all of that happened. It was a total team effort, like you always need to win this.”
Rosemount had 53 points in the Class 3A boys meet, which finished June 8 at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Wayzata was second with 52, Mounds View third with 50 and Minnetonka fourth with 48.
The team competition came down to the final event, the 4x400 relay, although Rosemount and Wayzata had by far the most realistic chances of earning the first-place trophy. Minnetonka actually held a one-point lead going into the 4x400 but had little chance of keeping it because the Skippers didn’t have a team in the last relay while Rosemount, Wayzata and Mounds View all did. Mounds View needed to win the 4x400 (which it did) and have Rosemount and Wayzata finish in the back of the pack (they didn’t).
Whelan ran a career-best split of 49 seconds on the first leg of the 4x400 relay. Levi Cinnamo, Kavari Flowers and Jackson Ganser carried it the rest of the way as Rosemount finished fourth with a season-best 3 minutes, 21.70 seconds. Wayzata’s relay took third but would have needed second or first for the Trojans to overtake Rosemount for the team championship.
Whelan was second in the 110 hurdles preliminaries and third in the finals in 14.26 seconds. Lakeville North senior Tyler Christianson went into the state meet as the top seed in the 300 hurdles, but Whelan ran a personal-best 38.00 to finish half a second ahead of Christianson, the runner-up.
“I’m always going to go into a race thinking I’m going to win it. That’s just my mentality,” Whelan said. “In the 110s it didn’t go the way I wanted but I’m happy with third place, especially now that I know it led to a team victory.
“If I’d gotten second in the 300s I would have been disappointed in myself. I was runner-up last year, and I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve been training every single day since then, and I’m super-happy that I came out with first place.”
Riddick Collier, Ganser, Flowers and Kwabena Yawson ran the 4x100 final in 42.20 to take third behind Minnetonka and Rochester Mayo. Schultz ran the 3,200 during the preliminaries June 6, taking third in 9 minutes, 18.11 seconds.
Also scoring points for the Irish boys were Riddel in the discus (fourth, 167 feet, 8 inches), Maternowski in the high jump (sixth, 6-2) and Noah Rodenwald in the pole vault (ninth, 14-0).
Asked if the 2024 state championship was as satisfying as any meet he’s ever coached, Hatleli said “I think you’re right on the money with that one.
“Year to year, we have a lot of kids who are multi-sport athletes. We don’t have to do a lot of poking and prodding to get them to come out for track and field,” Hatleli added. “They just work hard, go about their business, and they’re talented. And when you have that, you put yourselves in positions like this.”
Rosemount athletes scored points in three events in the girls Class 3A finals. Top individual finish was sixth by ninth-grader Abby Essler in the long jump (17-6).
Essler also ran the anchor leg on two Irish relays that made the finals. Catelyn Ketterling, Elizabeth Narloch and Kendall Grate joined Essler on the 4x100 team, which placed sixth in 48.86. The same four sprinters were ninth in the 4x200 in 1:42.75.
Rosemount’s girls scored nine points, good for a tie for 27th in the Class 3A team competition. Minnetonka took first, 13 points ahead of Wayzata.
AV’s Smith wins 400
Apple Valley senior Dwyne Smith Jr. earned three medals at the boys Class 3A finals, including the one he wanted most – for first place in the 400-meter dash.
Smith, running the 400 at state for the fourth consecutive year, took first in 47.55 seconds, 1.09 ahead of Burnsville junior Albert Ongwenyi, the runner-up. Smith’s highest previous finish in the 400 was second to Ramy Ayoub of Farmington two years ago. Smith and Ayoub will be teammates at the University of Minnesota in the fall.
In the 100, Smith finished fourth in 10.72. He was runner-up in the 200 with a personal-best 21.43, also the second-fastest time recorded in Minnesota this season.
Irondale senior Juriad Hughes Jr. won the 100 in 10.35 and the 200 in 21.22. He added a victory in the long jump for a trifecta of state first-place medals.
Smith holds the all-time state 400-meter record of 46.87, set in the Section 3 finals May 31 (he ran 46.93 at the Hamline Elite Meet in late April, becoming the first Minnesota high school athlete to break 47 seconds in the event).
The all-time Minnesota State High School League meet record of 47.34 was set by Ayoub two years ago. That record did fall, going to Mound Westonka senior Jack Markstrom, who ran 47.28 to win the Class 2A 400 meters.
The sprinter who might have been able to push Smith toward the state meet record – defending Class 3A champion Harlow Tong of St. Paul Central – missed the event because of an injury. Smith and Tong are the only Minnesota athletes to go below 47 seconds in the 400.
“I was looking forward to running against Harlow,” Smith said. With Tong out of the meet, “I just wanted to push myself, try to go for another all-time state record. But honestly, once I got into the race and felt that wind on the back stretch, I just looked to secure the win.”
Smith said he thought he got everything he could have from his 200 and 400 races and came close in the 100.
“In the 100 I didn’t get what I was really looking for,” he said. “Fourth place is great, but I wanted to get a (personal record), which right now is 10.60.
“But I’m 100 percent satisfied with the 200 and 400. I have the record for the 100, 200 and 400 at my school now, so I can’t really be much happier than that.”
Smith scored 28 points in the three sprints, enough to lift Apple Valley to 11th place in the Class 3A team standings.
Eastview
Two Lightning athletes scored points in the boys Class 3A meet.
Bryson Mwaura, a junior, finished seventh in the 100 in 10.78 seconds. He ran the same time in preliminaries to advance to the finals.
Senior Samuel Ngando went 43-9.75 on his second triple jump attempt to finish eighth.
The Lightning were one of 50 schools to score team points in the Class 3A boys competition. They tied for 39th place with five points.
Farmington
The Farmington girls tied for 35th place in the Class 3A girls meet with six points. In the boys meet, the Tigers had three points to tie for 45th.
Ninth-grader Lauren Lansing finished sixth in the 800 meters in 2:14.46. Also reaching the finals was senior Marianah Scott, who was eighth in the 100 in a personal-record 12.21.
Tigers senior Mariah Fenske didn’t score team points for her 10th-place finish in the 1,600, but her time of 5:00.05 set a personal record.
Farmington senior McKenzie Donlan reached the finals in the boys 400, finishing seventh in 50.29.
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