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| Weightlifters win season ’09-’10 opener |
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Posted: Saturday, January 2, 2010 1:20 am
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CANNON FALLS — Northfield’s Olympic-style weightlifting team opened the 2009-10 season with a victory at the Southern Minnesota High School Open at Cannon Falls on Saturday, Dec. 19.
Northfield took half of its record 71 weightlifters to the Cannon Falls meet. A resurgent Cannon Falls team and a number of excellent lifters from throughout the state were present at the meet, which featured 127 lifters from Minnesota.
Northfield coach Scott Sahli said the Raiders had their hands full in the team event as the competition was fierce and had several very close individual battles.
“I was pretty happy with most of the kids as concerned to their technique, but we need to lift more weight to be real competitive the rest of the season,” Sahli said. “Our emphasis at the beginning of the season is the process, so we have not done real heavy weight yet. I was not real sure how things would turn out.
“I believe we have the largest team numbers-wise in the nation at this point, so many of our beginners were not ready for competition quite yet, so we had them observe. But progress has been good. The next month is critical in our process, we have to make big strides, especially with our strength. But, we are addressing that right now.”
Sahli said the team was missing a couple of lifters due to injury. He expects them to be back after the holiday break.
Placing first at the school-age level (16 and under) for the Raider girls was Sydney Farmer. Erin Melzer and Mari Arneson placed third for the Raiders, while Shelby Callahan placed second.
Placing second for the school-Age Raider boys was Tucker Meillier, who was one kilo from breaking a state record. Kevin Moore also placed second and Bryan Ehlers placed third for the Raiders.
Winning first place for the Junior level (17 and up) girls were Rachel Hanson, Anna Hanson and Lyndsey Callahan. Girls placing second were Natalie Witschorik, Bette Benson and Ashley Winzig. Grace Vasilis placed third for the Raider girls.
Junior boys placing third at the meet were Alex Fritz, Reid Olson and Alex Perkins. Finishing in second place were Jordan Freeman, Matt Bettinger and Josh Corbin. Winning the lone championship for the Raider boys was Tracy Kruchten.
Sahli said many Raider lifters were in very close competition and performed well.
“Tracy Kruchten, Matt Bettinger, Jordan Freeman, Tucker Meillier looked very good for this early in the season,” Sahli said.
Coaches Laura Marks, Dan Meyers and Sahli also felt Lyndsey Callahan, who won the Twin City Open recently, Rachel Hanson and others were really looking in top form for this early in the season.
“We were very pleased with several of our beginning lifters,” Sahli said.
The Northfield Weightlifting team has now won all meets in Minnesota that it has been in for the last five years. The Raiders will host the South Metro High School Open on Jan. 16 at Northfield High School. |
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