The Scoop: Recapping New York And Minnesota's State Champs

Jun 11, 2018

Minnesota State Meet Recap

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Minnesota is frequently applauded for its distance talent and that theme continued this weekend at the state championships, where some of the state's best performances came in the distance events.

1. Edina's distance double. Emily Kompelien, slated for Brown in the fall, claimed two individual state titles in the 800m and 1600m. But making it more impressive, though, was the fact that they were the first two championships of her track career. Part of Edina's strong program for the last four years, it was a fitting cap to Kompelien's career. She went 2:10.25 in the 800m and a US No. 14 mark of 4:46.36 in the 1600m, beating a strong contender in Emily Covert -- who we covered earlier this weekend with her win in the 3200m.

2. Perhaps the best state matchup took place on the boys side, where Edina's and Wayzata's top dog went toe-to-toe in 2A. That battle came down to Khalid Hussein and Max Manley, though it was Hussein who won both races -- narrowly edging Manley in the process. Hussein flew to a winning time of 4:13.30 in the 1600m, scoring a win over Manley by less than a second (4:13.85), then doubled back in the 3200m , scoring a time of 9:07.88, to Manley's 9:08.90.

3. Let's not forget about the Ping sisters, Grace and Lauren. While Grace has had an up and down season, she scored one of her best outings when it mattered in the 1600m, scoring her second win in the distance since 2016 with a time of 4:57.86. Lauren, meanwhile, raced in her first state championships and scored a win in the 3200m in 10:29.77, looking like a real prodigy in the making.

4. Mounds View (MN) junior Julia Fixsen scored a US no. 3 mark of 13-9.25, a PR by a little over three inches. That marked her fifth straight outing over 13 feet and her third in fourth outings over 13-6.

5. In the shot put, Bertha-Hewitt's Samuel Moore cracked into the top 25 nationally, going 62-3.5 to score his second straight championship at the event. He was second in the discus (180-4).