By: Ellie Moore

Prelims for the St .Paul City Conference Meet took place on Tuesday, May 23, and finals were held on Thursday, May 25.

In order to make it to finals and score points for your team you need to place in the top 8 at prelims. There are 3 heats of 6-8 people in prelims and the top 2 from every heat, and the next 2 times, will make it to the finals.

Tuesday also had a few finals. With these events, the girl’s Highland team was in the lead with 59 points, Central close behind with 50 points. For the boys, Central was winning with 38 points and Highland was in second place with 32.

The events that scored on Tuesday were boys and girls 3200 meter, boys shot put, boys long jump, girls discus, and girls triple jump.

Highland Park had 2 conference champs on May 23: Benjamin Ward in the shot put and Nuria Rodriguez-Foster in triple jump. Grace Lewis-Mosher, Chloe Koch, and Ziva Westreich scored points for the team getting second, third, and fifth. Ben Martin, Max Reemtsma, and Gavin Roberts scored for the boys getting fourth, fifth, and sixth.

In the 100 Highland Park will have 3 boys and 2 girls in the final, with Brouke Brookins and Ellie Moore with first seed going into it. Demarcus Simmons and Tenzing Walker got seventh and eighth seed and Austin Bailey-Zimmerman got eighth seed.

In the 200 Highland Park will have 2 boys, Brouke Brookins and Terez McDaniel-Vaughn, and 3 girls, Ellie Moore, Ellery Merrimack, and Alexa Ramirez, in the final.

The 400 will have 2 boys and 2 girls. Ellie Moore and Delia Johnson having first and second seed. Brouke Brookins having third seed and Tobias Hennum with sixth seed.

The boys ran a prelim 800 on Tuesday, but the girls did not due to a low number of girls. Davis Isom and Charlie Service made it to finals, and Delia Johnson, Maddie Klevay, and Grace Lewis-Mosher will run their finals on Thursday.

The 1600 doesn’t have a prelim either so Sam Palm, Ingrid Haaland, and Alice Rapacz will run it for the first time on Thursday for the girls, and Mason Deegan, Gavin Roberts, and Ben Martin will run it for the boys.

Yao Buchl, Austin Bailey-Zimmerman, and Nuria Rodriguez-Foster made it to finals in the 100 hurdles for the girls and Wesley Norquist, Emmett Riemenschneider, and Johnny Xiong made it to finals for the boys 110 hurdles.

Emmett Riemenschneider, Wesley Norquist, Austin Bailey-Zimmerman, Yao Buchl, and Hazel Thrasher also made it to finals in the 300 hurdles.

Finals will take place Thursday, May 25 at Harding High School.

By: Ellie Moore

At a normal track meet only 8 out of 24 runners score but at a True Team track meet all racers score. Getting last place will only score you 1 point but your points still count. The point of these true team meets is to find which team has the best depth throughout the team. You may be able to win normal meets because you have 1 or 2 runners constantly in the top 3, but to win a true team meet you have to have all your runners placing high.

There are only 3 True Team meets in the track season: True Team Conference, Sections, and State. In order for your team to make it to state you need to be one of the top teams in the section, so not every team gets to race at True Team State.

Unlike normal track state, to qualify for True Team Track State you need to qualify as a team. You can’t qualify as an individual.

Saint Paul Public Schools have a disadvantage when they compete in the True Team Section meet. Since SPPS doesn’t have the insurance for pole vaulting, we automatically get 0 points for it, starting us up to 40 points behind the rest of the schools.

Conference True Team took place at Central High School on Wednesday May third. Central took first place with 644.5 and Highland got second with 538. Como Park was third with 413 points.

The Section True Team meet was May ninth at Mounds View where Highland Park competed against Edina, Minneapolis South, Minneapolis Southwest, Minneapolis Washburn, Mounds View, North St. Paul, Roseville, St. Louis Park, and St. Paul Central.

Mounds View ended up winning with 1141.5 points with Roseville coming in second with 1115 points. Highland Park got fifth with 623 points.

State will be May twentieth and twenty-first at Stillwater High School. The top team from each section will move on to state and compete against each other to see who has the most depth on their team.

By: Ellie Moore

While deciding the hardest track event is opinion based, many people believe the 400m is the hardest event, but each event requires a unique set of skills and presents its own set of challenges.

One event that is often considered to be the hardest track event is the 400m hurdles. This event combines the speed and endurance of a 400m race with the technical skills required to clear ten hurdles. It requires a lot of coordination, balance, and timing to maintain a consistent pace while jumping over the hurdles without losing speed or rhythm.

Another hard event is the 800m dash, which needs a balance of speed and endurance. It is considered middle-distance, and athletes must maintain a fast pace while conserving enough energy to finish strong. The 800m race is a tactical race, because athletes have to carefully plan their strategy to conserve energy for the final stretch while still staying in the lead.

The 1600m dash is another super hard event that requires both speed and endurance. It is considered a long-distance race, but it’s not long enough to just pace the entire thing. Athletes must maintain a fast pace while conserving enough energy to finish strong and avoid being outpaced by competitors in the final stretch.

Finally, the 100m dash is considered by many to be the most challenging event because of the extreme explosiveness and power required to cover the distance in mere seconds. Athletes need to have a perfect start from the blocks and continue to have good form throughout the race.

Every track event has many challenges, but the 400m hurdles, 800m dash, 1600m dash, and 100m dash are often considered to be the hardest track events.