Class A track and field: Shaina Zinter dominates for Concordia Academy to close out high school career

Throughout her dominant high school career, the rulebook is pretty much the only thing that’s stopped Concordia Academy senior Shaina Zinter from taking home more hardware.

In accordance with the Minnesota State High School League, track and field athletes are only allowed to compete in four events.

As a result, Zinter entered the Class A state meet this week as the favorite in the long jump, the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, and finally, the 200 dash. She almost certainly would’ve been the favorite in the 100 dash and the 400 if she was allowed to race.

Who knows how many medals Zinter would have if she was able to compete in as many events as possible?

In the end, Zinter emphatically defended her state titles in the 100 hurdles (14.53) and the 300 hurdles (42.43) on Friday night at St. Michael-Albertville High School, then added another state title in the 200 dash with a personal best time of 24.98. She also took second place in the long jump (18 feet, 1/2 inch) on Thursday night.

“I knew today would be harder on my legs because of yesterday,” Zinter said. “I ice bathed so I would be a little bit more recovered. It was definitely a little challenging thinking that my legs weren’t going to be as fresh as they were yesterday. But I pulled through. I’m used to it so I knew I had it in me to run well.”

Concordia Academy earned second place in the Class A girls team standings with a grand total of 68 points. Not surprisingly, Zinter did most of the heavy lifting, amassing 46 points by herself.

“There’s definitely so much adrenaline at state,” Zinter said. “It definitely helped me power through races.”

Now that her high school career is over, Zinter will attend the University of Wisconsin this fall where she hopes to compete as a heptathlete. The events for a heptathlete include the 100 hurdles, 200 dash, 800 run, long jump, high jump, shot put and javelin.

STATE CHAMPS

Nova Classical Academy took home first place in the Class A boys team standings on Friday night, earning a total of 47 1/2 points to edge Perham.

After winning a state title in the 3200-meter run on Thursday night, senior Finn McCormick helped lead the way once again on Friday night. He took second place in the 1600, finishing the race in 4:21.13, a mere hundredth of a second behind Perham senior Jacob McCleary.

“I was sitting behind Jacob on the final lap, and we were both kind of relaxed, and my coach just said, ‘Go for it,’ ” McCormick said. “At that point I took over and really turned it on. Then the last 30 meters I saw him come up on me. I dove for it at the end and he got me by a little bit. That’s racing.”

Meanwhile, junior Henry Karelitz finished in sixth place in the 1600 on Friday night. That result came after he took second place in the 3200 on Thursday night.

Together, McCormick and Karelitz helped Nova Classical amass 36 points in the Class A boys team standings. The other points came from junior Sebastian Holland, who took fifth place in the 100 dash and fourth place in the 200, as well as senior Dhayalan Balasubramanian, who took ninth place in the 100.

MAKING A STATEMENT

After finishing right behind Cotter in the Class A preliminaries on Thursday night, Minnehaha Academy knew it had more in the tank for the Class A finals.

That proved to be the case as the foursome of freshman Imani Sullivan Glenn, junior Cadence Mitchum, freshman Liza Timm and freshman Grazina Troup won the 4×100 relay with a time of 50.07.

“It’s been really cool because some of us just met this year,” Timm said. “Now we’re state champions. It was really fun to grow together.”

As soon as Troup crossed the finish line, she shouted at the top of her lungs so everyone around could hear.

Why? Apparently someone on Cotter was talking trash on Thursday night. Minnehaha Academy let its racing do the talking on Friday night.

“We told each other, ‘We’re going to come here to win today. We’re not here to play,’ ” Troup said. “I decided to wait until after the race to talk. That was really fun.”