Mankato East vaulters finish strong in Class AA girls meet

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Alex Miller
Angela Substad
Colin Paarmann
Eric Johnson

Mankato East vaulters finish strong in Class AA girls meet

Miller finishes second, Substad finishes fourth

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor The Mankato Free Press Sun Jun 12, 2011, 12:52 AM CDT

ST. PAUL — “That was one of the most exciting track and field finishes I’ve seen in a long time,” Mankato East girls coach Neil Paarmann said of Saturday’s Class AA state pole vault event. “What a finish. It was awesome.”

Paarmann’s excitement was understandable as two of his athletes stayed in the running until the very end. When it was over, senior Alex Miller had placed second and senior Angela Substad was fourth.

Miller ended up tied with champion Nicole Naatjes of Lakeville North with a height of 11 feet, 9 inches, but Naatjes got the nod with fewer attempts.

“I had the confidence that I could do it, but I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen,” Miller said. “I was pretty consistent today, I felt good the whole way.

“Angela went 11-6 right in front of me to break my school record and then I went 11-9 to get it back. It was pretty exciting. I just wanted to PR today and it worked out.”

Substad tied Mounds View’s Alex Stych for third at 11-6 but, again, Stych placed ahead of her with fewer vaults.

“I held the school record for about 10 minutes today; that was pretty cool,” Substad said. “My steps were a little bit off on my first few jumps but I got that taken care of and then I felt good.”

Both vaulters will continue on in college. Miller is headed to Minnesota State, and Substad is going to Bethel for track.

Mankato West finished seventh in two girls events Saturday.

Senior Anna Veroeven went 35-81⁄2 in the triple jump and junior Rachel Gravley clocked a 15.73 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.

West’s 4x800-meter relay of Holly Hankins, Courtney Klemme, Alysse Huber and Nyeyoug Gach was ninth in 10:19.93.

In the Class AA boys competition, Mankato East’s Colin Paarmann had the highest area finish.

He placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.87.

“That was the best race Colin has had up at Hamline,” interim East head coach Todd Coyour said. “It wasn’t his season best time but it was pretty good. It was a nice way to end his career.”

Teammate Eric Johnson was sixth in the open 800, turning in a time of 1:56.75. The time was another school record as he set the previous mark in Friday’s prelims.

“What a great way to go out with two school records,” Coyour said. “He definitely peaked at the right time.”

The Cougars failed to place in two other events. Brody Ziegler was 11th in the high jump (6-4) and Paarmann was 21st in the long jump (20-23⁄4).