Albert Lea's Jim Gustafson Field hosts Big 9 Conference meet

Conference meet draws in athletes from all over the region

Hundreds of student athletes from around the area gathered at Hammer Field Thursday morning as Albert Lea played host to the Big 9 Conference track and field meet.

Twelve teams of both boy and girl athletes came into the day with hopes of taking home conference medals before gearing up for section meets.

For the boys competition, it was Mankato East who came out on top of the team standings with 289 points, cruising to a victory with Owatonna finishing in second 82 points behind with 207. Albert Lea came in 10th place with a score of 68.

Individuals earning team points for the Tigers were juniors Isaiah Andersen-Pitchford, Andrew Tscholl and Charlie Irvine. Andersen-Pitchford finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.84 and Tscholl came in second in the 1,600-meter dash with a time of 4:30.71, earning 15 team points. Irvine won points in multiple individual field events, coming in fourth in the long jump with an effort of 21 feet and two inches; and finishing fifth in the triple jump with a jump of 42 feet two and a half inches.

All of the other points earned by the Tigers were in the relay races. The 4×100-meter relay team of Irvine, Andersen-Pitchford, Aiden Boss and Tristan Camel were the highest finishing team for Albert Lea, coming in seventh with a time of 44.17.

The girls’ competition was much closer at the top, eventually finishing with a tie between Rochester Century and Mankato West with 224 points each. Albert Lea finished 12th with 16 points.

The Tigers best finish was an eighth-place finish in the 4×800-meter relay, which saw Mya Hanke, Elle Schulz, Alizay Kratz and Maggie Schulz come in with a time of 10:20.66.