Speaking of Sports

By John Fragodt, Sports reporter

Gosh, I’ve been so amazed at how many close track meets there have been this year, including the State Class A girls meet which was decided by one point among three teams, or the Section 6A Meet at Pillager involving the Laker boys and girls track teams.  At the Section 6A Track Meet, it came down to the final boys event and final girls event to determine the team champions.

Sauk Centre, Osakis and Pelican Rapids were within two points of each other going into the 1600 meter relay during the boys meet.  Pelican Rapids went on to win the 1600 meter relay to claim the team title, while the Lakers placed second to earn a state berth and Osakis and Sauk Centre finished third and fourth.  In the girls team race, it came down to the pole vault; yes, the pole vault.  Normally an event that takes place outside the stadium and away from the eyes of most fans, the pole vault took center stage at the Section 6A Meet.  

It was the last event and a Barnesville athlete was one of the favorites.  She passed on the first four heights, but when she cleared her first attempt at 8-6, she automatically gave her team the points needed to claim the team title from Pelican Rapids.

•  Another close meet was the Section 3A Boys Track Meet.  Just ask Montevideo’s Francis O’Malley how close track meets can be.  Luverne edged Montevideo for the boys Section 3A team title, 80.33-79.  O’Malley, one of the state’s best in the shot put and discus, won the shot put, but placed second in the discus with a throw of 151-11.  The winning throw was 152-0, meaning O’Malley earned eight points for second in the discus instead of 10 points for first, which ended up giving Luverne the team title by 1.33 points over Monte, or the equivalent of one inch.

•  I also remember a close meet at the State Track Meet in 1977 when I was a 9th grader at Benson High School.  I made sure to go over to St. Cloud to watch the state meet because Benson had one of its best track teams ever.

During the Class A meet, I’ve never seen four guys dominate a meet like Benson’s Ryan Lamppa and Jeff Eckhoff, and Silver Bay’s Frericks brothers.

Have you ever been to Silver Bay; it’s just a small town on the way up north to Grand Marais but it’s always meant the Frericks’ brothers to me.

During the 1977 state meet, Ryan Lamppa won the 100, 220 and 440 yard dashes for Benson, while Jeff Eckhoff was second in the 220 and third in the 440.

That gave Benson 44 points and the Braves picked up another six points from the third-place 4×440 yard relay in the final event of the meet.  In that race, Benson was in the slow first heat and won its heat by close to 50 yards.  The Braves went on to place third overall for six points, but certainly would have had a chance at second place (or even first) and at least another two points if they had raced in the faster heat.  

As it stood, Silver Bay ended the meet with 51 points to claim the Class A team title while Benson was second with 50 points, missing out on a state team title by only a few tenths of a second.  Wow!

It’s interesting to note that Lamppa still holds the retired state record for the 220 yard dash (21.7) and 440 yard dash (48.1), while Mike Frericks still owns the records for the 120 yard high hurdles (14.1) and 180 yard low hurdles (19.6) and Silver Bay also owns the 4×220 yard relay record of 1:30.7 set in 1977 by Tom and Mike Frericks and two Silver Bay teammates.