Sprinting to success
Heglund, Gunderson big keys for YME boys track team’s return trip to True TeamBy Andy Rennecke
POSTED: May 17, 2008
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Senior sprinters Joey Heglund and Andrew Gunderson have been key cogs to the Sting’s recent success on the track.
Heglund runs in the 200- and 400-meter dash races and is also part of the 4x400 relay team. Gunderson runs in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dashes.
Both Heglund and Gunderson feel the experience they have gained the last three seasons is a big reason why they’re performing well this spring.
“This is our third time going there, but this year seems more important because I’m a senior,” Heglund said. “True Team gives you something to shoot for. I think the team has a good shot at getting a top-five finish. We lost some depth from last year’s team, but I still think we should do pretty good.”
MACCRAY beat YME at the Section 5A True Team meet in Paynesville a little more than a week ago. The Sting qualified for state after winning the “wild card” entry in a paper meet held by the Minnesota Track Coaches Association last Saturday. The other teams at the meet are Fillmore County Central, Le Seuer-Henderson, Southwest Minnesota Christian, St. Croix Lutheran, MACCRAY, Breckenridge-Campbell-Tintah, Maple Lake and Roseau.
YME has taken ninth and fifth place the last two seasons at the meet.
“We’re all really excited for this,” Gunderson said. “I just hope we do good. MACCRAY just barely beat us at sections and St. Croix Lutheran is back. They won it last year and they’re very good. We really want to beat MACCRAY. I think our chances of doing that are pretty good.”
Heglund and Gunderson go up against one another in the 200 and 400. Heglund’s best time in the 400 is a 50.56. In the 200, it’s a 23.6. Gunderson has about the same personal-best in the 200 and is around 52.5 in the 400 and 11.5 in the 100.
Heglund has usually got the better of Gunderson in the 200 and 400.
“Joey is a little bit faster at the 400,” YME boys head track coach Scott Jans said. “In the 200, the go back and forth. They both work hard at practice and occasionally put in a little extra practice. They both have run at True Team the past two years and at the state meet. They’re both just really fast.”
Jans is hoping for a top-six finish for the Sting today in Stillwater.
“Realistically, I think a goal for us would be the top six,” Jans said. “You just never know what the other teams are going to be strong in. Our goal is to get on the bus Saturday afternoon feeling like we have done as well as a team as we could have.”
Heglund said he expects to compete in the 400, 200, 4x400 relay and the triple jump today. Heglund took seventh in the 400 last year at the Class A state meet and was part of the 4x200 team that took sixth. He hopes to qualify in the 200, 400, triple jump and in a relay event this year.
“The 4x4 is probably our best relay right now,” Heglund said. “We’re not sure if the 4x1 or 4x2 is going to be our best in the future. We have to work on a couple of things over the next few weeks.”
Heglund also golfed last year for the Sting. This year, he decided to forego the links and concentrate on track.
“I like track a lot,” Heglund said. “I just decided to stick with it this year because I might have more success at it.”
In the fall, Heglund will attend Northern State (S.D.) on a football scholarship. He’ll also run track for the Wolves next year. Heglund played running back for YME, but will most likely be shifted to wide receiver for the Wolves.
“I kind of like the decision,” Heglund said. “I’m too small to play running back in college. They recruited me for football and I had the option to do track.”
Meanwhile, Gunderson just missed qualifying for the 400 last year after taking third at the section meet. He was part of the 4x100 and 4x200 teams that qualified for state for the Sting.
Not qualifying for the 400 last year still stings for Gunderson.
“I just want to make it to state in something,” he said. “It could be a relay again — that would be nice. All of our relays have a good chance at qualifying. We just need to get the right combinations going.”
Gunderson will run track at Concordia-Moorhead next year. He committed to the Concordia program about three weeks ago.
“I’ll probably run the same events in college,” he said. “They have a nice campus up there and it should be a lot of fun.”
Jans thinks both sprinters have a solid chance at qualifying for state this year.
“I think their chances are strong,” he said. “We have some potential in relays that both Joey and Andrew are involved in.”
Heglund didn’t go out for track until he was a sophomore and Gunderson went out when he was in eighth grade. The two have developed a bond in track where they usually practice against one another.
“We’ve been in sports together since we were in elementary,” Heglund said. “I want to see him do well. He’s a good friend to have.”
Said Gunderson: “We work together in practice. We’ve been in the same events for two years and we try and push each other. He gets out of the blocks really good. I have to try and catch him.”
