Track & Field

      The 2026 track season is over.

      Saturday was another great day at the State Track Meet for the Gobblers as Ashley Asmus earned a 3rd place medal in the 800m and senior Isaiah Baker earned his final medal for the Gobblers with a 5th place finish in the long jump. 

      Ashley Asmus and Isaiah Baker will return to the State Track Meet this week at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Both participated last year with Asmus finishing 6th in the 800m and Baker capturing 2nd in the triple jump. That experience will certainly help them this week as they prepare for the State again. Asmus beat Naiya Ruuska of Esko in the 800m final at UMD last week, running a 2:17.38 just ahead of Ruuska at 2:17.48. Naiya beat her in the event last week in the sub-section. Both ran better this time and shaved 7-8 seconds off their time of a week ago. Asmus talked about the race this time, "I was a little nervous starting out because of the wind and honestly I was praying really hard for the wind to die down. Luckily it did a little. Noah Moss had talked some strategy beforehand with me and said to make sure I run extra fast at the start so I wouldn't get boxed in. I gunned it from the start and was in front the whole first lap. By the second half I could feel Naiya right behind me, and I remembered Noah saying to really kick it in on the last 300 so I started pushing hard. By the last hundred we were almost side by side and each pushing as hard as we could, but I stretched my strides extra far to cross the line just ahead of her." Ashley loves the people she runs against, "It's such a great community and we are always cheering each other on; right when I finished, I was instantly greeted with hugs and fist bumps. It was s such a wonderful day and it was so awesome to see some of my friends do well in their events." Baker had a big day as well, winning the triple jump with a leap of 43.07, nearly three feet better than the second-place finisher. He also had a 2nd in the long jump to advance in that event as well. Baker talked about his day, "First I'm grateful for making it to State in two events, that's huge. I'm a little bummed I didn't hit some of the marks I wanted to, so hopefully I can practice hard this following week to get those marks at State. The Gobblers had a number of other finishes that put them on the podium. The 4x100 relay of Teagan Vogtlin, Lane Anderson, Braden Wagner and Baker finished 4th, Brooklyn Raische was 4th in the high jump, Addison Kehn was 6th in the 100m, Raische was 6th in the pole vault, Weston Kyllonen was 6th in the pole vault, Allie Ostrowski was 7th in the pole vault and Lenny Hughes was 8th in the 800m.  Coach Adam Carlson was happy with his entire team's performance at the Section Meet, "They did really great, there were many personal records today. Addison got a PR in the 100m, Brooklyn got a season best in the pole vault, Hailey had a personal best in the triple jump, Weston in the pole vault and we are excited that Ashley broke the school record in the 800m again and placed 1st. We are also excited that Isaiah placed 2nd in the long jump and won the triple jump. It was a great meet"!

(photos by Julie Asmus and Amanda Vogtlin)

      The Aitkin Gobbler track teams advanced a bunch of athletes to the Section 7A meet Wednesday after action at the sub-section meet at Esko. The Gobbler girls finished 6th in the team standings with Esko winning the meet and C-I in second. The Gobbler boys were 7th with Esko also winning the boys meet by three points over Two Harbors. Isaiah Baker had the only 1st places for Aitkin winning the long jump and the triple jump.

      Here are the Gobblers who advance to the Section Meet next week and their placing at the sub-section.

Boys

Isaiah Baker-1st in long jump and triple jump

Lenny Hughes-2nd in the 800m

4x100 relay-3rd-Teagan Vogtlin, Lane Anderson, Braden Wagner and Isaiah Baker

Weston Kyllonen-4th in the pole vault

Teagan Vogtlin-7th in the 100m

Girls

Ashley Asmus-2nd in the 800m

Elizabeth Morris-3rd in the discus

Addison Kehn-3rd in the 100m

Brooklyn Raisch-3rd in the high jump

Allie Ostrowski-4th in the pole vault

Hailey Munsterteiger-6th in the triple jump

Brooklyn Raisch-6th in the pole vault

Hannah Hunter-6th in the long jump

Paityn Hawkins-7th in the pole vault

      These are the unofficial results.

      The Aitkin Gobbler C-Squad track teams were at the Great River Conference Meet in Ogilvie Friday and for the 8th straight year the girls won the championship scoring 103.5 points to 80.5 for runnerup Mora. The Gobblers had 1st place finishes from Alaina Henline in the high jump, Nora Schletty and Britton Lehrer who tied for first in the high jump and two relay teams, the 4x100 of Myla Schletty, Nora Schletty, Lehrer and Maharlika Burgos and the 4x200 of Schletty, Schletty, Lehrer and Henline. They had 2nd places from Abby Kalis in the 400m and Chey Shaffer in the 100m hurdles. Third place went to La'Mya Patterson in the 100m, 4th places went to Patterson in the 400m and the long jump. Shaffer was 5th in the discus and Patterson in the 200m.

      The boys were 6th which is pretty good since they had just five guys competing. Kaleb Lunde won the high jump and long jump. The 4x100 relay was 2nd with James Flerage, Lunde, Jaden Grunenwald and Ben Speed. and Grunenwald was 2nd in the high jump. Flerage was 3rd in the 200m hurdles and Speed also had a 3rd, in the high jump. Speed had a 5th in the 100m, Grunenwald was 5th in the 200m and Flerage was 5th in the 100m hurdles.

     The Aitkin Gobblers were at the Great River Conference Championships Tuesday at Pine City and both the boys and the girls finished 6th in the team standings. Mora won the boys event while Pine City won the girls team. 

     Ashley Asmus won the 800m in a time of 2:26.24 but that was the only first place finish for the girls. They had a 3rd by the 4x200 relay team of Kate Boyd, Mary Hudrlik, Addison Kehn and Hailey Munsterteiger. The 4x 800 team of Paityn Hawkins, Allie Ostrowski, Emily Nordling and Molly Franke was 4th and Hawkins had a 4th in the 1600m. Brooklyn Raisch was 5th in the high jump and the 4x100 relay team of Hannah Hunter, Grace Hunter, Melaina Collins and Boyd were also 5th.

     Isaiah Baker won two more events, the triple jump with a leap of 42'5" and the long jump with a jump of 22'2.5". He was also a part of 4x100 relay that was 2nd with Teagan Vogtlin, Lane Anderson and Braden Wagner. He was also 2nd in the 100m. Aitkin had two 3rd places, the 4x200 relay team of Vogtlin, Anderson, Wagner and Lenny Hughes and the 4x800 team of Hughes, Noah Moss, Carsyn Miller and Noah Hughes. Lenny Hughes was 5th in the 800m.

      The Aitkin Gobbler girls track team ran away with the "Not going to True State" meet Tuesday at East Central. They had 22 top five finishes to amass 175 points to 147 for second place Two Harbors. Aitkin had four first place finishes including Ashley Asmus in the 800m, Haylee Coil in the 100m hurdles and two relay teams. The 4x200 team of Kate Boyd, Mary Hudrlik, Addison Kehn and Hailey Munsterteiger and the 4x800 team of Paityn Hawkins, Allie Ostrowski, Emily Nordling and Asmus both claimed top spots. Aitkin picked up four more second place finishes, Hawkins in the 1600m, Brooklyn Raisch in the high jump, Ostrowski in the pole vault and Munsterteiger in the triple jump. The 4x100 relay of Hannah Hunter, Grace Hunter, Melaina Collins and Boyd were 3rd along with Kehn in the 100m, Nordling in the 1600m, Coil in the high jump, Raisch in the pole vault and Kehn in the 200m. Here are the 4th place finishers, Linzy Beaufeaux in the 100m hurdles, Hawkins in the pole vault, Boyd in the triple jump, Sydney Obert in the 300m hurdles, Hannah Rasmussen in the 400m and Elizabeth Morris in the discus. 

      The boys finished in 4th place in their portion of the meet. They scored 113 points while Two Harbors won the meet with 138. The Gobblers had five 1st places in the meet, Isaiah Baker won the long jump and the triple jump, Carsyn Miller won the pole vault, and two relay teams captured top spots, the 4x100 relay of Teagan Vogtlin, Lane Anderson, Braden Wagner and Baker and the 4x800 team of Lenny Hughes, Noah Hughes, Miller and Noah Moss. Weston Kyllonen was second in the pole vault and Lenny Hughes finished second in the 800m as well at the 4x400 relay of Lenny Hughes, Moss, Vogtlin and Noah Hughes. Noah Hughes was 3rd in the 1600m and Moss was 3rd in the 800m. Aitkin had two 4th places, Anderson in the 100m and Hunter Ward in the 3200m. Vogtlin had the only 5th, in the 100m.

      The State Track Meet is over for the Class "A" participants and the Aitkin Gobblers should be pretty pleased with their efforts. Brita Westman didn't make the finals in the 100m hurdles, but Isaiah Baker and Ashley Asmus brought home medals in two of the three events they were entered. Baker won the silver medal, 2nd place in the triple jump Tuesday and Ashley Asmus finished 6th in the 800m run Wednesday after leading after 400m in a time of 1:08.526. Ashley talked about the race today, "It was tough weaving between people as I ran. The competition was so close, and it was such a great race. All the girls I ran against were so sweet and such great athletes which made it an incredible experience." Baker was also in the high jump but didn't medal in that event. Baker and Asmus will both return in 2026. Check the photos below, there are some beauties taken by Lex Hills.