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STILLWATER — Pipestone Area Schools track and field athlete Troy Mead reported he stood up in front of his teammates, and apologized.
Mead was sorry for his false start to open a 4×200-meter relay at the Section 3A meet. Arrow teammates rallied around him.
“I was devastated,” said Mead, now a Sioux Falls-based firefighter working in the hazardous materials division. “We all came together. We said, ‘Where do we go from here?’”
The Arrows ultimately earned their way to the state true team meet as a wild card. Middle distance specialist and teammate Casey Kooiker was working with Mead at Dar’s Pizza when they both heard the news.
“It meant everything to me, to us,” Mead said.
Pipestone then went about winning the championship with 387.5 points, which was 10.5 points better than Morris Area at Stillwater High School. Blue Earth Area finished third (352.5).
This year marks the 15th anniversary for Pipestone Area Schools winning the Class A boys state true team track and field championship at Stillwater High School. The Arrows won the meet by 10.5 points over Morris Area. (Contributed photo from Troy Mead)
“It was a testament to the guys on the team,” PAS head coach Todd Tinklenberg said. “It’s not what you do on paper. It’s what you do on that day, and how you perform.”
Esko, Jackson County Central, Roseau, Hawley, Rush City and Pine Island also fielded formidable squads at the event.
“We made the most of it,” added Mead, a Class of 2011 PAS graduate. “We were a brotherhood, and we didn’t lose hope. We kept it together.”
Tinklenberg chimed in saying the false start was a teaching point.
Track and field became Aaron Kozlowski’s favorite sport in high school. Kozlowski also credited the camaraderie it fosters.
“We got to see a lot of different places, and it was a lot of fun,” said Kozlowski, these days a risk advisor and outside salesperson for his father’s insurance firm. The 2010 season was the first time Kozlowski reported out for track and field.
Kozlowski earned eight points for the Arrows in the 200 dash, clocking in at 24.84 seconds, and sixth in the 100 (12.30, which provided 13 big points). Teammate Tyler Evans placed fifth in the 100 (14 points, 12.26).
“It was a unique experience getting the opportunity to compete alongside friends,” Shandon Jones explained. “We worked hard to make it happen.”
Jones became a dynamic 110-meter high hurdler during his senior year, and he parlayed that into playing football for Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D.
Music is a hobby for Jones, who participated in a festival at Rapid City this past weekend. He moved back to Spearfish a year ago and “currently with a new construction company.”
Jones scored 18 points with a gold medal in the 110s (16.19). He tallied 17 more points in the 300 hurdles (2nd, 40.83), and captured top spots in both the long jump (20-feet, 10-inches) and triple jump (an outstanding leap of 41-5).
Gathin Veldhuizen, whose sister Larissa Pemberton returned to the Arrow program as an assistant this past season, helped PAS “double up” in points in the hurdles.
While an Arrow student-athlete, he also competed for the cross country program and dabbled in both baseball and basketball.
Veldhuizen spent one year at Augustana University in Sioux Falls before joining the military. He has been in the thrilling career of flight medic for the Avera health system.
“It was a group of guys who had the same focus,” said Veldhuizen, who called it one of his life’s greatest experiences.
“It’s totally different to win something as a team,” Gathin continued. “We were a collective, and we were all on the same page. We all understood our roles.”
Here was the cover of the Pipestone County Star when the Arrow boys’ track and field squad won the true team meet at Stillwater. (Contributed photo by Daphne Likness)
Veldhuizen — and the sports editor is paraphrasing here — said the “true team” format is a litmus test for how good your group is. He was third in the 110 highs (16 points, 16.70), fourth in the 300 intermediates (15 points, 42.53) and tied for fifth in the long jump (19-2).
He also thanked PAS’ stellar coaching staff composed of Tinklenberg, Todd Texley and Bob Nangle (a yoda-like figure in the history of PAS track and field).
These days, Veldhuizen is married with three children, including recent addition six-week old, Arie.
Let’s take a deep dive into some of the results:
In the relays, Pipestone claimed second in the 4×100 (46.42, 24 points), second in the 4×200 (1:35.51, 24), fifth in the 4×400 (3:37.54, 15 points) and seventh in the 4×800 (8:57.12, nine points).
Colin Cooper was the Arrows’ top finisher in the 200 dash (seventh, 23.79, 12 points).
Landon Hamilton and Tylan Vanderwal joined forces to score nine points in the 1,600-meter run, with Hamilton’s time 5:07.19. Matt Hammersma was 15th in the 3,200 run (11:43.70) and Hamilton 16th. That was seven points, and every single one of them mattered.
The Arrows had plenty more heroes in the field events, and that’s despite not having a pole vault specialist.
Eric Stark and Michael Merrill earned gold and silver, respectively, in the high jump with 5-10 marks (35 points). Sawyer Pals added a 13th place finish in the triple jump (35-6.75).
Stark also was golden in the shot put with an eye-popping throw of 55-5.75, and Trevor DeBates sixth (42-9.25), for 31 points combined. The same duo recorded the same placements in the discus, Stark marking at 153-2 and DeBates 122-7.
Pipestone Area Schools logo. (Contributed graphic from the PAS school district)
In true team format, which was contested with the section meet at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood on May 5 this year, schools place two athletes in every single event possible. Everyone scores at least one point, and entries are scored based on the order of finish.
The Minnesota State Track and Field Coaches Association administers both the section and state true team events. This year’s state meet was conducted at Eden Prairie High School on May 16-17.
Tinklenberg said he knew it was going to be difficult to make up points during that section meet, but the Arrows did more than enough and earned that ‘wild card’ bid.
Current PAS school board member Daphne Likness, Gathin Veldhuizen’s sister, captured the moment with photo on the front of the Star sports section from Thursday, May 27, 2010.
And the Arrows had a satisfying cross-state trip home.
Tinklenberg said the true team format will live on for years to come thanks to the coach’s association. And that’s something this sports editor appreciates.
Editor’s Note: This column expresses the views of the author, and not necessarily the Pipestone County Star or Pipestone Publishing, Inc.