GMLOKS state qualifying relay team mixes youth and experience

Published 6:37 pm Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Grand Meadow-LeRoy-Ostrander-Southland-Kingsland 4 x 200-meter relay team has had some growing experiences and some hurdles throughout this season, but now they’re hoping to do something no GMLOKS athlete has done in nearly a decade.

The team of Sydney Bendtsen, Emily Hovden, Jordyn Glynn and Lauren Buccholtz is seeded third and its aiming at a top four finish in the Minnesota Class A state track and field meet, which no GMLOKS athlete has done since 2007.

Bendtsen, a senior, competed in the state meet as an eighth grader and a freshman. Now she’s stepped up as a leader for relay team that includes three underclassmen. Hovden is a sophomore and Glynn and Buchholtz, who will compete in the 400-meter dash at state, are freshmen.

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“We’ve had our ups and downs this year. Emily had a stomach issue and I had a foot issue,” Bendtsen said. “Coming into the year I didn’t really expect [that we’d go to state], but throughout the year it was like ‘whoa, we’re actually pretty good.’ With me already being graduated it makes me a little sad, but this makes it less disappointing.”

GMLOKS head track and field coach Andrea McKichan said it was a little overwhelming this year as the team had 80 athletes and just four coaches. The team leaned on Bendtsen to help teach some of the younger athletes the basics of handing off the baton during a relay.

With a lot of young athletes on the squad, the GMLOKS girls track and field team has a bright future, and the 4 x 200 team is hoping to start it off with a big performance in Friday’s preliminaries to get to Saturday’s finals.

“They’re doing really, really well,” McKichan said. “They’ve come so far and their times have dropped so much. I’m excited for the future.”

For Glynn, Buchholtz and Hovden, the state meet will be a new experience for them. Neither of them are sure what to expect, but they’re excited for the opportunity.

“It’s really nerve racking headed into state,” Glynn said. “I’m looking forward to competing against faster teams and seeing how we do against them.”

Buchholtz, who is seeded fifth in the 400-meter dash, said she wants to get to the finals in both of her races.

“It helps a lot to with the confidence to be seeded,” she said.

However GMLOKS does in the 4 x 200-meter relay, the younger runners are hoping that this is not there last chance to run in a state meet.

“I feel like we can make it again when we’re older,” Hovden said.