Throws Community Mourns the Loss of Glenn Amundsen

The track and field community of Minnesota lost one of it's greats this past Saturday.  Glenn was not only the long time throws coach at Stewardville High School, but he coached numerous athletes across southeastern Minnesota.  His love of the sport is recanted by the numerous athletes and lives he touched.  Many of the athletes Glenn coached went into coaching because of the inspiration and guidance he provided.  The Glenn Amundsen Invite, held annually in Stewardville, is named in his honor.  For many of us who only knew Glenn as coach, it's amazing to read his obituary and see the amazing life he has lead.  Online condolences are welcome via the link below.

We send our condolences to his family and all of those who had a chance to work with Glenn, he will be missed.

Visitation and Mass will be held on Wednesday, February 26th at St. Francis Catholic Church. 


http://mackenfuneralhome.com/memorial-services/glenn-b-amundsen/

Senior captain and returning All-American Jon Lehman (Coon Rapids) has been quick to shake off the rust this indoor season.  Lehman broke the school record previously held by Micah Hegerle this evening, winning the Bill Bergen Invitation at Iowa State with a throw of 72-5.  Jon opened the season with a throw of 71-11 to win the Northwest Open at the University of Minnesota on January 18th.  Jon's mark of 72-5 moves him up to 4th in Division 1 as of Friday night.



Lehman is joined in the national ranks by fellow Gophers junior Justin Barber (Mequon, WI) who is 17th in the weight throw and junior Mark Jennings (Marion, IA) who ranks 45th in the shot put.

The Gopher women were in action in the weight throw Friday night as well.  The women placed 4 in the top 12 led by junior Devin Stanford (Milwaukee, WI) fourth (57-7 3/4), sophomore Lyndsey Thorpe (Stanley, WI) in fifth (57-0 1/4), freshmen Kailee Kamps (Beloit, WI) (49-5 1/2) in 10th and freshmen Angie Guenther (White Bear Lake) (49-4 1/2) in 12th.

The Gophers are in action next weekend at the Iowa State Classic.

Mankato State senior Chris Reed has left little doubt the rest of Division 2 will be chasing in 2014.  Reed has broken his own school record in the shot put three times already this indoor season, most notably at the Jack Johnson invite, setting a new meet record with a a throw of 65-5.  Chris has nearly a three foot lead on the rest of division 2 and his throw would put him 9th in all divisions.  Chris also ranks 4th in the weight throw with a mark of 64-10.  Sophomore Ryan Johnson from St. Cloud state also ranks 12th in the weight throw with a mark of 60-5 1/4

Many Minnesotans can now look west to see the state's all time greats competing at Arizona State.  Tom Anderson (Andover) is now competing for ASU after red-shirting his freshmen year.  Tom placed 2nd among collegiate throws (5th overall) in an incredibly deep field at the NAU invite on January 24th.  Tom's mark of 60-4 1/2 currently ranks him 29th overall in NCAA Division 1 and the 2nd freshmen.

Maggie Ewen

Tom Anderson

Maggie Ewen (St. Francis) is redshirting.  Competing unattached Maggie threw 51-5 at the NAU invite, placing 4th.  If Maggie were competing for ASU her mark would also put her 29th in the NCAA field and she would be the top freshmen in the country.

Best of luck to those representing Minnesota competing near and far this weekend.

State Throws 2012 Preview

Friday morning should provide some fireworks with state record holders and defending state champions Tom Anderson of Andover (shot put) and Maggie Ewen of St. Francis (discus).

Tom Anderson comes into the meet with the 5th best throw in the country (65-8).  Anderson has made it known his desire to be the first Minnesotan to break the 70' barrier.  His father, Colin, was the first Minnesotan to break the 60' mark (Golden Valley, 1969).

The Future ASU Sun Devil (Anderson) will have a little stiffer competition in the discus on Saturday.  Bryce Johnson (Champlin Park) comes in with the top mark in the state (183-2).  Looking through the last several years of results, it's a pretty fair estimate to never count out Owatonna.  This year returns Zach Olson (North Dakota recruit) coming in off a season best mark of 164-4 from sections.  

Ewen (172-7) has broken her own state record and comes into the state meet ranked 2nd in the country only trailing current all-time high school record holder Shelbi Vaugh of Legacy TX (191-6).  Ewen will be pushed by a familiar face, White Bear Lake senior, and future Gopher, Angie Guenther.  Guenther has finished second and third behind Ewen the previous two years and comes in the competition riding a season best mark, and US Juniors qualifier, of 154-3 from section championships last week.    

The girls discus competition is extremely deep, with 12 competitors having season best marks over 130'.  9 of the girls competing are ranked in the top 100 All-Time in the discus.

Other names to watch this weekend on the east end of the track:

Ashley Thooft (St. Clair) comes in with the top marks in Class A in both events

Jordan Thornton (Lakeville South) comes in ranked 11th All-Time in both shot put and discus

USATF Juniors/Studt NACAC

Maggie Ewen capped an amazing freshmen season with a personal best of 161'6" on her final throw of competition at Drake Stadium in the USA Junior Track and Field Championships. Ewen moved from 7th to 5th on her final throw and was within 5 feet of qualifying for World Juniors.



Wisconsin freshmen Casey Dehn (Owatonna) finished 9th in the shot put with a mark of 56'10 3/4" beating former teammate and Owatonna Junior, Jake Fensky, who finished 19th with a mark 50'6".



Logan Hussung finished a decorated Farmington career off with an 18th place finish in the shot put with a mark of 53' 8 1/4" and a 19th in discus with a throw of 156'4".



Ewen, Fensky, and Hussung will all be eligible to compete in the 2011 USATF Junior Championships. The top 2 in each event move onto the World Junior Championships if they surpass the qualifying mark (typically referred to as the "A" standard in World/Olympic Championships).

Aaron Studt of the Minnesota Gophers has been selected to represent the United States in the NACAC U-23 meet held in Miramar, Florida July 9th-11th. The Men's Shot Final will be held at 6:30pm on July 11th.

Two Athletes under the age of 23 are selected per event to represent the United States. The NACAC under-23 meet will include athletes representing the following countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, El Salvado, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turk and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States.


Coverage of the NACAC meet will be provided by usportstv.net via a pay-per-view option online. The webcast starts at 7:35 a.m. (CST) on Friday, July 9, with continued coverage on Saturday, July 10 (6 a.m. CST), and Sunday, July 11 (6 a.m. CST). Cost is $7.95 per day or $17.95 for the weekend.

USA Juniors Preview

An outstanding trio of Minnesotan throwers take their show on the road to Des Moines this week to compete in at the USA Juniors. Logan Hussung (Farmington), Jake Fenske (Owatonna), and Maggie Ewen (St. Francis) look to qualify for World Juniors by placing in the top three Thursday and Friday.

Ewen is one of the youngest competitors at Drake and is currently seeded 9th in the discus.

Hussung is pulling double duty competing in both the shot put (12:30) and discus (2:15) on Thursday.

Hussung will not be the only familiar face for Owatonna's Jake Fenske. Fenske will be facing off against fellow teammate Casey Dehn, now competing for the University of Wisconsin.

Dehn is able to compete since the eligibility for this meet is based on qualifying mark and the not turning 20 years of age in the 2010 calendar year. Mason Finley (Kansas via Colorado and national high school record holder in the discus) is skipping the juniors and will be competing in the open section of the meet in both shot and discus. The implements are a 1.75 kg discus (up from 1.6 kg in high school and down from 2.0 in college/pro) and a 6 kg shot put (up from 12 lb in high school and down from 16 lb in college/pro). Because of the weight change the college competitors usually have a significant advantage over the high school competitors in this meet.

The best thing to come out of New Jersey since the fist pump will be on display Thursday afternoon also. Nick Vena (Morristown, NJ) to make the Junior Shot Put one of the marquee events of the meet. Vena, a junior, has won the state title, Penn Relays, and Gatorade Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors for the last three years in New Jersey. Vena has thrown the 12 lb shot over 70'-28 times over the last year and is currently 5th all-time in the US for high school.

Best of luck to the four Minnesotans competing in the throws!!

Watch the Juniors Live here!

http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAJuniorOutdoorTFChampionships/video.asp

State Meet Final Update

With the weather holding out for a majority of Class AA boys discus and girls shot the showdown between Logan Hussung and Luke Johnson in discus did not disappoint.

Johnson took the early lead at 177'3" with his second throw in Prelims only to be bested by Hussung on his first throw in finals. Hussung had an outstanding series of throws with 4 throws over 170' and three over 175'

Kim Hovey of Red Wing avenged her discus loss to Maggie Ewen yesterday with a wire to wire win in the girls shot put. Her mark of 43'0" in shot was enough to hold off Ewen and Emily Lesser of Maple Grove

In Class A Shawn Johnson of Eveleth Gilbert left little suspense with a season best mark of 176'4" in discus in pre-lims. Johnson landed another season best of 178'4" to win the Class A discus by over 20 feet.

In The Circle Report: State Meet Friday update

2010 had the potential for a huge year for throws and it has not disappointed.

In the history of state on 5 throwers in the history of Minnesota have thrown over both 180' in discus and 60' in shot put. The 2010 season marks 3 throwers over both of those marks.

Logan Hussung of Farmington (188'4"/60'6"), Eric Stark of Pipestone (184'0"/60'3") and junior Luke Johnson of Red Wing (183'8"/62'10").

Luke Johnson's marks place him 4th all-time in the shot put and Hussung's mark in the disc is 8th all-time. Hussung, Stark, Johnson, Blaine's Dijon Starr, and Owatonna's Jake Fensky have all hit the US Junior's qualifying mark this season.

The weather tempered the distances in the Class AA shot put today at Hamline. The only finalist to mark a personal best was Sophmore Tom Anderson of Andover who finished third with a throw of 57'7 3/4". Hussung was leading from his first throw in competition until Dijon Starr's 6th and final throw moved him from 3rd to 1st by 1" over Hussung.

View Starr's winning throw here



Eveleth's Shawn Johnson (54'9"/175'10") is the leading thrower for Class A tonight in shot and tomorrow afternoon in disc with the Class A season leader in both events, Eric Stark (Pipestone) ineligible for the state competition.

On the girls side has had it's share of good marks but it has been Kim Hovey of Red Wing battling with freshmen Maggie Ewen of St. Francis. Both were within 1 foot of the All-Time best mark in the event.

Hovey (161'6"/46'4") has the top marks for the season in both events. Ewen edged Hovey today in a very competitice Class AA discus competition (159'4" to 152'1").

Both will square off again Saturday in the shot put. The duo will have company with a very consistent Emily Lesser of Maple Grove who has the potential to make the competition very interesting.

View Ewen's winning throw in today's discus