OAK PARK HEIGHTS — The most reliable contenders throughout the long history of the Pony Classic finished atop the standings again, but it was Mounds View that had the stronger hand while placing first in eight of 18 events to outdistance Stillwater 291-258 for this year’s title in the boys track and field meet under cold conditions on Saturday, April 20 at Stillwater Area High School.
Last year’s event was canceled due to weather, but the Ponies captured their 15th and most recent title at this event in 2022. With its victory in the 54th edition, Mounds View has now matched the Ponies with 15 victories. White Bear Lake with seven victories is the only other program to win this event more than four times.
There were plenty of highlights for the Ponies, but Mounds View was too strong. Blaine finished third with 205 points and Cambridge-Isanti followed in fourth (188).
It was the third runner-up showing, to go along with a third-place finish in the White Bear Lake Relays, for Stillwater in four events so far this season.
“The guys are on the brink of a successful meet, but we’ve made mistakes early on in three of our previous varsity meets,” Ponies coach Ben Straka said.
A disqualification in the George Thole 4x100 hurdles shuttle relay was costly for the Ponies.
“We’ve been running from behind and we’ve always had to play catch up,” Straka said. “I think it has worn on this team to try and make up for the mistakes early on in the meet.
“There’s some inexperience we are working with on some of our events, but Mounds View is a fantastic team this year. There is no doubt they are one of the top teams in the state all the way from their field events to what they have in distance to sprints.”
Stillwater closed out the meet with a victory in the 4x400 relay as Dylan Riniker, Eli Aldridge, Quentin Howe and Soel Riser combined for a winning time of 3:27.51, which was more than three seconds ahead of the runner-up team from Mounds View (3:30.96).
“The 4x400 team is coming together with some guys from the distance and sprint crews,” Straka said.
The team’s other firsts came in the high jump (17-8) and the Rob McGarry Shot put (133-10). Chase Johnson cleared 6-2 and Nagayo Barento followed at 6-0 to lead the Ponies in the high jump while Tyler Curnow (45-10), Evan Uddin (44-11) and Cash Cerar (43-1) led the way in the shot put.
“The throwers are coming together great,” Straka said. “We have younger guys in there, but young guys who want to compete. I couldn’t be happier with that, they’re a fantastic group.
“High jump came out and had a great day for what the conditions were with 38 degrees and 20 mile-per-hour winds. I love their mentality.”
Stillwater placed second behind Mounds View in the Jim Podratz 4x800 relay (8:28.06), the Luke Watson 4x1,600 relay (18:47.33), the 800 sprint medley relay (1:42.31) the triple jump (121- 1/2) and the discus (389-10). The Ponies also placed second in the pole vault (33-6) behind Cambridge-Isanti, which set a meet record with a combined height of 38-7.
“That is amazing in the weather we had,” Straka said.
Owatonna also set a meet record while winning the 4x200 relay in a time of 1:30.26,
The coach said there are areas that can improve, but was pleased with the efforts against a strong field.
“We lost out to Mounds View, but we were also 7-1 against some of the other great schools that we beat,” Straka said.
Team standings
1. Mounds View 291; 2. Stillwater 258; 3. Blaine 205; 4. Cambridge-Isanti 188; 5. Owatonna 178; 6. White Bear Lake 170; 7. Eastview 130; 8. Roseville 90; 9. Forest Lake 54.
Individual results
4x100 relay — 1. Blaine, 44.33; 4. Stillwater (Eric Uddin, Eli Aldridge, Alem Kovac and Jerrian Xiong) 45.20.
4x100 throwers relay — 1. Cambridge-Isanti, 51.58; 3. Stillwater (Preston Deck, Tyler Curnow, Evan Uddin and Cash Cerar) 52.66.
4x200 relay — 1. Owatonna, 1:30.26; 3. Stillwater (Eric Uddin, Brett Hilde, Alem Kovac and Soel Riser) 1:32.85.
8x200 sprint medley relay — 1. Mounds View, 3:10.97; 3. Stillwater (Eric Uddin, Samuel Fredericks, Taylor Young, Zachary Nelson, Quinten Howe, Alem Kovac, Eli Aldridge and Soel Riser) 3:11.25.
Joe Samuelson 4x400 relay — 1. Stillwater (Dylan Riniker, Eli Aldridge, Quentin Howe and Soel Riser) 3:27.51.
Jim Podratz 4x800 relay — 1. Mounds View, 8:23.15; 2. Stillwater (Cal Heinz, Davis Rolstad, Cohen Smith and Max Gerald) 8:28.06.
Luke Watson 4x1,600 relay — 1. Mounds View, 18:42.26; 2. Stillwater (Andrew Walsh, Dylan Riniker, Brady Bushlack and Ethan Foote) 18:47.33.
Jon Francis 4x3,200 team race — 1. Mounds View, 40:07.23; 3. Stillwater (Jack Richter 10:11.58, George Nelson 10:39.66, Carson Fellows 10:46.03 and James Kalmon 11:01.56) 42:38.83.
800 sprint medley relay — 1. Mounds View, 1:40.48; 2. Stillwater (Ka’ron Cloak, Jerrian Xiong, Maxwell Biever and Jonas Peterson) 1:42.31.
Sean Graham 4,000 distance medley relay — 1. Blaine, 10:56.54; 4. Stillwater (Cohen Smith, Dylan Riniker, Davis Rolstad and George O’Connor) 11:43.79.
George Thole 4x100 hurdles shuttle relay — 1. Blaine, 1:00.56; Stillwater, DQ.
Jim Ratte 300 hurdles team race — 1. Owatonna, 2:13.67; 4. Stillwater (Fruma Felema 43.81, Nagayo Barento 45.23 and Yassin Tirelbar 45.54) 2:14.58.
Long jump — 1. Mounds View, 61-11 1/2; 5. Stillwater (Brett Hilde 19-10, Eli Aldridge 19-3 and Zach Nelson 18-6) 57-7.
Triple jump — 1. Mounds View, 127-6; 2. Stillwater (Zach Nelson 41-1, Brett Hilde 40-4 and Walker Mroczkowski 39-7 1/2) 121- 1/2.
Rob McGarry Shot put — 1. Stillwater (Tyler Curnow 45-10, Evan Uddin 44-11 and Cash Cerar 43-1) 133-10.
Discus — 1. Mounds View, 428-0; 2. Stillwater (Tyler Curnow 143-7, Dominic Slaughter 127-11 and Preston Deck 118-4) 389-10.
High jump — 1. Stillwater (Chase Johnson 6-2, Nagayo Barento 6-0 and Liam Neis 5-6) 17-8.
Pole vault — 1. Cambridge-Isanti, 38-7; 2. Stillwater (Andrew Brekke 12-6, Liam Neis 12-0 and Noah Pagel 9-0) 33-6.
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