Boys Track and Field: True Team champions

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Coming off a state championship last season, coach Jay Hatleli felt he had a different style team this year.

The season-ending meet typically goes to the team with the most top-end individuals.

Hatleli thought this year’s squad offered a bit more depth, but maybe not as many of the elite individual athletes.

As the season has progressed, though, Hatleli might be changing his tune a bit.

Rosemount proved its coach right in one aspect — team depth — by winning last week’s Class 2A True Team state championship at Stillwater. The Irish scored 800.5 points, topping Eden Prairie’s 772.5 points.

And while the True Team format is finished, Hatleli likes the way his Irish are set up to end the season.

“(Winning) is not going to hurt things, obviously,” Hatleli said. “I guess coming into the season, I knew we would have a True Team style team. As we’ve gone on here, I’ve seen the depth, but also individuals have emerged similar to the top-end talent we had last year. It puts us in a good spot and we have a lot of kids that can make the state meet.”

Austin Eliason is one of those individuals with a shot to advance.

Eliason won the 100- and 200-meter dashes last week, and added a top finish in the long jump.

Chris Massey won the 3,200 run and was third in the 1,600.

Willman added points on top of Eliason’s finish in the 100 by placing fifth. Andrew Anderson added an eighth-place finish.

Willman then placed second in the 400. Andrew Hausmann was ninth.

Hausmann also added a third-place finish in the triple jump.

“Andrew Hausmann had a great day; probably better than we expected of him, and we expect a lot,” Hatleli said. “Not to be taken lightly was Andy Malicki, a senior, in the shot put, really came through bigger than expected.

“That’s the way the meet is set up. We had a lot of key individuals, everyone counts.”

Malicki finished fifth in the shot put. Brandt Berghuis was sixth in the shot put and fifth in the discus.

Adding to Massey’s finish in the 3,200, Abasher Abasher tied for sixth in the same race.

Zach Vraa was third in the 110 hurdles.

Chandler Dye was sixth in the 800.

Jeremy Stewart added a sixth-place effort in the triple jump, and 10th in the long jump.

Brandon Wolff was seventh in the high jump.

Myles Phillips, Eliason, Alon Dungy, and Anderson combined to take third in the 4x100.

Vraa, Anderson, Phillips and Hausmann were part of a third-place finish in the 4x200 relay.

Rosemount placed second in the 4x800 relay.

“It was a good deal for us,” Hatleli said. “During the grind of the season you don’t get a lot of chances to celebrate. The guys got some validation for all the hard work they’ve been doing. Now you hope that’s motivation for the more individual portion of the season.”

Tags: track and field, true team, sports, rosemoount