The Owatonna High School Boys Track and Field team has continued their blazing pace through their recent competitions.

At the Mankato West meet, on April 26, the Huskies faced off against Mankato West and Albert Lea. At this meet they ran a collection of their best times of the year, including the highlight performances from the senior captain Jacob Johnson and the 4×400 meter relay team of Ryan Guenther, Jaden Dohaniuk, Nick Raichle and Johnson. Despite these impressive victories, they produced a second place overall finish, narrowly losing to the Scarlets by two points.

At the Lakeville South Cougar relays, on April 28, the Huskies were met by fierce competitors in Blaine, Prior Lake, Lakeville South and Faribault.  The Huskies finished in third, behind Blaine and Lakeville South and comfortably ahead of Prior Lake and Faribault.

At the third and final home meet of the season, on May 3, the Huskies needed a statement win to get back to their winning ways. Their competition for the meet was Northfield and Winona. The Huskies dominated this meet with an outstanding victory. They had four athletes score in three different varsity events.

The Dick Norman True Team Invitational, at Rochester Mayo, provided the Huskies with some of the best competition they have faced all year. The difference between a true team meet and a regular meet is that in a true team meet, each position is awarded a point. This places more of a team emphasis on the meet. The Huskies competed against Andover, Rochester Mayo, Rochester John Marshall, Park, Winona and  Forest Lake. The depth that the Huskies are well known for paid off nicely. They won the Dick Norman Invitational by a slim margin of ten points. This gave the Huskies a feeling of team accomplishment and community, knowing that they all relied on each other to compete at the best of their ability. Senior Nick Raichle shared his opinion on the outstanding team performance, Raichle said, “It’s nice to see all of our hard work in practice pay off in a true team meet like this.” The Huskies hard work has proven to pay off for them in their true team meets.

Coach Kevin Stelter weighed in on where he thought the Huskies success came from, “Our team has drawn off of a total team effort. This emphasizes the importance of each competing athlete on our team.” The team emphasis has put the Huskies above and beyond their opponents this year, giving them an advantage that only teamwork can offer.

With three meets left, the Huskies look to win one last regular season meet, in Redwing, and win the big nine and section meets in the following weeks.

Next meet is on Tuesday, May 17, at 4:30 p.m. at Red Wing High School.