By Brian Tschetter –

The Southwest Christian/Edgerton girls’ track team traveled to Park Rapids, Minn., to compete in the Minnesota State True Team Live Meet on Friday, May 28. It was a whirlwind of a week for the team. They received the news on Sunday that the team had won the Section 3A meet which was held as a virtual meet. Results were used from a meet held the week prior, and combined with all other teams from the section in a computer mock meet to determine the results. At that time, the state meet was also going to be held virtually, with results being used from a meet held the week of May 24 through May 28.

News came on Monday that Park Rapids was putting together a live meet for those in Class A to compete in a head-to-head meet.

Athletic directors and administration from Southwest Christian and Edgerton Public assessed the situation. Both schools had graduation that night and the meet was four and a half hours away. Once it was determined that it looked like things would work out, the green light was given for attending. Special thanks to administration from both schools for their support in attending the meet. A lot of credit also needs to go to the host school of Park Rapids as they did a great deal of work in a short amount of time and put on a first-rate meet.

Park Rapids hope was to have all 12 teams of girls and boys in attendance and have the overall True Team competition determined at the meet. With the meet coming together the week of and schools having other conflicts, not all teams were able to attend. So this meet became the State Live Meet. This did not deter in any way the excitement of the girls as they anticipated competing at the meet. Results from this live meet would also be later combined with the six other teams not in attendance via computer mock up meet to determine the State True Team Virtual Meet Champion. See Virtual Meet article in this issue.

A wet, cold day in the area on Thursday, the 27th, forced the cancellation of the Slayton meet that the Eagle teams were going to attend. Plans were for the girls to leave after that meet and go half way, spend the night, and finish the trip the morning of the meet. With the cancellation of the Slayton meet, we loaded the bus and headed all the way to Park Rapids for a good night’s rest and some extra time in the morning to prepare for the meet.

Conditions for the meet were pretty ideal. With a 10:00 a.m. start, it was a bit chilly at the start, but the sun shone brightly and just a little bit of a wind made for a decent day. As the day progressed, temperatures warmed up and many kids came back with some sun-burned faces.

Eight section winners and four wildcard teams qualified to participate in the meet. Six of those teams were in attendance. Teams were from: host school, Park Rapids Area, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, Paynesville, Minnewaska Area, SWC/E and Barnsville. These teams made for an extremely competitive meet.